The Integrated Cognitive Antisocial Potential (ICAP) Theory

Abstract

This chapter describes an empirical test of the integrated cognitive antisocial potential (ICAP) theory based on the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), which is a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 South London males beginning at age 8 years. It describes the ICAP theory and its contrasting of between-individual differences in long-term antisocial potential and within-individual variations in short-term antisocial potential. The chapter then describes the CSDD, its research on two generations of males, and its measurement of comparable risk factors in the two generations. A new test of the development of long-term antisocial potential in the ICAP theory is then presented. This chapter concludes that predictions from the ICAP theory have generally been supported.