Personality Theories

Psychological Theories of Crime: Personality Theories

Introduction to Personality Theories

Personality theories attempt to explain how people acquire predispositions toward certain behavior. These predispositions are sometimes discussed in terms of personality traits, such as impulsiveness and stubbornness, or personality types, such as introvert and extrovert. All other things being equal, people will consistently display behaviors that they are predisposed toward. Accordingly, some social scientists believe that certain predispositions or personality types may be associated with criminal tendencies or activities.

In his work in the late 1800s and early 1900s Austrian physician Sigmund Freud described emotional development as the process of achieving a balance between conflicting desires. According to Freud, humans must resolve the tension between their purely self-interested tendencies, which he called the id, and the control of these forces by the combination of conscience and moral attitudes, which Freud called the superego. This process begins in infancy, at which time the id reigns without conflict.

As the child develops, conflicts occur between the id and superego, which are ultimately resolved by the ego-the sense of self. This process results in a person who strikes a balance between individualism and society, between hedonism (pleasure seeking) and repression of his or her desires. According to Freud, when this development process goes wrong any number of personality disorders can result, including a tendency toward criminal behavior.

Personality theorists have attempted to gauge the effects of personality development on criminal behavior by administering personality tests to groups of criminals and noncriminals. The evidence from these studies is mixed. In some instances, researchers found differences between the two groups on certain dimensions of personality, such as impulsiveness. However, in other instances no differences were found. Studies of mental disorders comparing prisoners and other populations suggest that only a few relatively rare crimes, such as sexual crimes of violence involving extremely deviant acts, can be attributed to mental illness.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

• Information about Personality Theories in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Personality Theories

In this Section

Criminology, Criminology Development (including Classical Criminology, Modern Criminology, Criminology Italian School and Independent Criminology), Criminology Goals, Biological Theories of Crime (including Crime Genetic Factors and Neurological Abnormalities), Psychological Theories of Crime (including Moral Development Theories, Social Learning Theories and Personality Theories), Environmental and Social Theories of Crime (including Social Causes, Social-Structural Theories, Subcultural Theories and Economic Causes of Crime) and

Criminal Opportunity.