As often said, the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. According to the table, antisocial personality and criminal history are two of the best predictors of criminal behaviour. Now at least, we can give criminal history a more theoretical basis. This theory, like all social learning theories, places emphasis on learning within social groups. An individual learns criminal behaviours from watching and imitating the antisocial behaviour of offenders and receiving their approval.
Individuals can, and do, learn ways of thinking that support antisocial behaviour.
If they describe a victim as deserving of harm, then they can hurt that individual without feeling guilty. Individuals learn these ways of thinking about others and evaluating their own behaviour through interaction with others who model and reward these sentiments. With repeated reinforcement, these cognitions and sentiments can become as habitual and easy to do as tying a shoelace. Summary A general personality and social psychological perspective of criminal conduct proposes that many factors are involved in the production of criminal behaviour. It is not enough to assess only one or two predictor domains.