A researcher used the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire to select 400 children aged 10: 200 who scored high on both extraversion and neuroticism, and 200 who scored low on both. Parents reported whether discipline at home was consistent or inconsistent. At age 18, the researcher checked whether each child had a recorded offence.
| Personality group at age 10 | Discipline at home | Number of children | Number with a recorded offence by age 18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| High E and high N | Consistent | 120 | 18 |
| High E and high N | Inconsistent | 80 | 24 |
| Low E and low N | Consistent | 118 | 7 |
| Low E and low N | Inconsistent | 82 | 19 |
E = extraversion and N = neuroticism.
Using the findings from the investigation, explain one weakness of Eysenck's explanation based on conditioning and one weakness of using high extraversion and high neuroticism to predict later offending.
135 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 1.2 Theories/Explanations of why criminal/anti-social behaviour occurs, covering 1.2.1 SLT: identification with role models, 1.2.2 SLT: observation and imitation, 1.2.3 SLT: vicarious reinforcement, 1.2.4 SLT: direct reinforcement and internalisation; criticisms, 1.2.5 SLT research study: Cooper and Mackie (1986), 1.2.6 Eysenck's Criminal Personality Theory, 1.2.7 CNS, arousal and criminal personality, 1.2.8 Brain function, synapses and dopamine in psychoticism, 1.2.9 Dopamine reward, RAS and cortex in extroversion, 1.2.10 Autonomic nervous and limbic system in neuroticism, 1.2.11 Early socialisation and conditioning; criticisms, and 1.2.12 Criminal Personality research study: Heaven (1996). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.