Compare and contrast Agnew’s general or “super traits” theory with David Farrington’s integrated cognitive antisocial potential (ICAP) theory.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Farrington’s ICAP theory stresses antisocial potential and cognition and how these things are shaped in pro- or antisocial directions at different times and in different situations. Farrington distinguishes between long-term and short-term antisocial potential. Short-term antisocial potential occurs primarily during adolescence.
Agnew argues that biological factors have a direct effect on irritability/low self-control and an indirect effect on the other life domains through things such as irritability/low self-control. Agnew argues that irritability is analogous to the trait most psychologists call negative emotionality. Agnew that the immaturity of adolescent behavior is tied to the immaturity of the adolescent brain, and adolescents tend to become more irritable because their brains are undergoing a period of intense “remodeling.”