Criminal Personality Essay, Research Paper

Criminal Personality

In order to determine what makes a criminal a “criminal,” you must first understand their personality. Behavior is largely a result of the way a person things. A personality is what makes a person. Even though a person might have the look of a criminal, the thought patterns of that person are what make them a criminal. In this paper I would like to identify key points which link criminals to their personalities.

Criminals decisions to commit crimes come from abnormal thinking patterns, says psychoanalysts from St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Researchers Yocheleson and Samenow identify similar thought patterns found in crimes, which include: constant lying, fail to develop empathy, expect their desires to be catered to them, loving someone for doing what they want, black and white thinkers (no middle ground or moderation), blames other, etc. Criminals which have been tested are proven to be less responsible, intolerant, and deficient in self-control, according to the California Psychological Inventory.

Dealing with personality Hans J. Eysenck spent years defining whether criminal behavior had any relationship with personality. He broke his theory into two parts, identifying that personalities have three dimensions. Psychoticism, which describes people as being aggressive, egocentric, and impulsive. Neuroticism describes people with low self-esteem, anxiety, and wide mood swings. The third is extroversion, which describes the personality of an individual who is sensation seeking, dominant, and assertive. A majority of these traits are found in the criminals, which have been studied and classified.

“Finding what matters to a person is crucial to furthering change”*. A person is a lot like a clock. To really know how it works you have to take apart and put all the pieces together one by one. And even though a person is not at all like a clock, in order to figure out how one’s mind works and why they do what they do what must pick it apart and examine all the parts.

Bibliography

Samenow, Stanton E., 1998, Straight Talk About Criminals, jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ