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Conduct disorder and antisocial behavior: Some thoughts about processes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2008

Joan McCord
Joan McCord
Affiliation:
Temple University
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“Whether we form habits of one kind or of another from our very youth…makes a very great difference, or rather all the difference,” claimed Aristotle, wrestling with notions of conduct disorder (CD) and antisocial behavior two thousand years ago (Bk. II, chap. 1). As I respond to the invitation of John Richters and Dante Cicchetti to reflect on “where research on antisocial behavior has been, is now, and is going,” I think about the implications of Aristotle's claim. On the one hand, Aristotle points to the training received during childhood as key to understanding subsequent misbehavior. On the other, he believed that individuals must be responsible for their behavior and that, therefore, they must be able to make choices regarding how to act.

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Development and Psychopathology , Volume 5 , Issue 1-2 , Winter-Spring 1993 , pp. 321 - 329
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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