ABSTRACT
A range of psychological theories, including several variants of personality theory, has been applied to give an account of why an individual may behave in an antisocial or criminal manner. With regard to terminology, the word 'personality' can take on various meanings within mainstream psychology. It can be used in the general sense of referring to a grand theory – as, say, with Freud's psychoanalytic theory – or it can be used specifically to refer to those theories that fall under the rubric of personality theory. Hans Eysenck defined two personality dimensions, extraversion (E) and neuroticism (N), with each dimension a composite of specific inter-correlated traits. Eysenck applied his theory to explain criminal behaviour, refining his approach over time. Ellison M. Cale reported a meta-analysis of the relationship between personality and antisocial behaviour. The results indicated that across the Eysenck personality types, the Big Five and the Big Three, impulsivity-disinhibition has the strongest association with antisocial behaviour.
