Expression of Aggression and Personality Functioning in Selected Groups of White Criminal Offenders

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of aggression in the personality functioning of murderers by comparing them with assaulters, thieves and a group of non-offenders. It was hypothesized that (1) murderers from the New Zonderwater Prison differ from murderers in the other prisons with regard to the expression of aggression as measured by the Buss-Durkee Hostility Scale, and (2) thieves, assaulters, murderers, and non-offenders differ with regard to the expression of aggression as measured by the Buss-Durkee Hostility Scale and the Picture Situation, and in personality functioning, as measured by the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire and the Thematic Apperception Test. The sample consisted of 111 murderers, 26 assaulters, 129 thieves and 52 non-offenders, all of European descent. Both hypotheses were supported by the results of the study. Murderers in the New Zonderwater Prison (M1-group) manifested a personality profile characterized by a lack of impulse control, while murderers from the Open Zonderwater Prison, Pretoria Central Prison and Kroonstad Male Prison (M2-group) manifested a personality profile characterized by rigid control in the expression of aggression. Psychodynamically there is a lack of smooth fluctuation and equilibrium between impulse and control mechanisms in both groups, which indicates immature personality development. The assaulters were similar to the M1-murderers in their expression of aggression. The M2-murderers resembled the thieves in some personality traits, but were in many traits more similar to the non-offenders than to any of the other offender groups. Several differences were found between non-offenders on the one hand and offenders on the other.