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Crime, personality and intelligence: how do they relate?

Crime, personality and intelligence: how do they relate?

March 28, 2024

Psychological research has tried to determine the relationships between delinquency and psychological variables mainly through correlational methods, which involve difficulties in establishing causality because the different possible effects overlap frequently.

In this article we will analyze theoretical proposals and empirical studies about the relationship of crime with personality and intelligence . However, as we will see, psychosocial and economic factors seem to have a relatively greater weight in the appearance of antisocial behavior.

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Relationship between crime and personality

Several authors have linked personality traits with crime. It should be noted the theory of the criminal personality of Eysenck , according to which criminal behavior is due to failures in the acquisition of moral conscience.


This would develop by conditioning the avoidance of punishment and anxiety associated with antisocial behavior.

1. Extraversion

According to Hans Eysenck, extraverted people have a low level of cortical activation, which leads them to seek stimulation constantly; This can be associated with certain criminal behaviors, such as the consumption of substances, which in turn favors antisocial behavior.

Also the researches of this author reveal that Extroverts have more difficulties in conditioning stimuli and responses . Therefore, in these cases the deficits in the conditioning of moral behavior could be partially explained from a biologicist perspective.


2. Neuroticism

Eysenck theorized that emotionally unstable people also have difficulties in conditioning, as they react intensively and enduringly to stressful stimuli. Thus, they probably detect to a lesser extent the difference between their normal physiological reactions and those due to aversive conditioning.

  • Related article: "Neurosis (neuroticism): causes, symptoms and characteristics"

3. Psychoticism

The trait that Eysenck labeled as "psychoticism" collects hostile and aggressive behavior at the interpersonal level , so it is not surprising that people with high scores in this temperamental dimension commit more frequently criminal behaviors, which also tend to be more violent and repetitive.

Like extraversion, psychoticism is related to the need for continuous stimulation. Zuckerman proposed that impulsivity and the search for sensations are more relevant, two characteristics that Eysenck encompasses within this macrorrasgo.


4. Impulsivity and low self-control

People with self-control deficits they have problems delaying gratification , that is, to resist the temptation to obtain a reinforcement in exchange for another one later. It has been found that juvenile delinquents tend to be impulsive, which may be due to deficits in the learning of reflective behavior (think before acting).

  • Related article: "Psychopathology, delinquency and judicial imputability"

5. Sensation search

Zuckerman drew attention to this personality trait and popularized its use in different fields. The search for sensations, which is associated with extraversion and psychoticism, is defined as the Active predisposition to experience emotions and stimuli new , even if they involve taking risks.

6. Low empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand and identify with the emotions and cognitive contents of other people. The lack of discrimination of the mental states of others facilitates the commission of crimes that harm others; The lower the degree of empathy, the less emotional the victim's suffering has for the person.

How does intelligence influence crime?

In the past authors such as Lombroso and Goring claimed that the criminal behavior was basically due to cognitive deficits . Furthermore, according to the theory of degeneration, "moral weakness" was transmitted and intensified from generation to generation, which in turn explained social classes. Fortunately, these hypotheses have been abandoned in a majority way.

According to the American Psychological Association (APA), The correlation between crime and IQ is significant but low , approximately -0.2. This indicates that, on average, people who commit crimes are slightly less intelligent than those who do not commit them - or rather those who commit them and are not discovered.

Specifically, it has been found that there is a particularly large number of people who have committed crimes in the range of between 80 and 90 points of IQ, which corresponds to the limit intelligence, that is, below the average but without reaching disability. intellectual.

However, in these cases the intelligence scores tend to be lower in the verbal IQ than in the manipulative , which tends to be normal. More specifically, verbal, visuospatial and visomotor deficits are frequently encountered; it has been suggested that these results actually indicate mild cognitive deficits due to socioeconomic variables

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Personal history and socioeconomic factors

Despite the human tendency to give unicausal and internalist explanations to behavior, the truth is that social and economic conditions are more relevant in the appearance of criminal behavior. Even so, we should not neglect the weight of temperamental and cognitive factors.

Early personal history is key to explaining crime. The children of parents who mistreat them, neglect their responsibilities , do not develop a secure attachment or consume alcohol and drugs have a greater probability of consolidating antisocial behavior patterns. The same happens with conflicting families and with many children.

In addition, obviously, young people born in neglectful families or in disadvantaged environments have fewer opportunities to adjust satisfactorily to society (eg find a decent job) and redirect their maladaptive behavior patterns. This is also influenced by negative modeling by significant persons.

Some psychosocial factors that are particularly relevant in crime are Unemployment and learning difficulties , especially those related to reading. Children with delays in cognitive development and academic problems are more likely to end up with low IQ and commit crimes.

  • Related article: "The different forms of child abuse"

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