ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses several contributions antisocial cognition and criminal thinking make to criminological theory in general and to biosocial theories of crime in particular. The results of taxometric research have important implications for theory, research, and practice. Risk factors for criminal thinking run the gamut from the purely biologic to the wholly environmental. Interactions between risk factors may be even more important than individual risk factors in determining liability for criminal thinking. Taxometrics may be optimal for determining whether the latent structure of a construct is continuous or categorical, but it is of little use in identifying the number of dimensions or categories in a construct. Hierarchical models clearly serve a heuristic function in that they make it easier to understand and conceptualize complex relationships and patterns. A solution exists, nevertheless, in the form of mediation and moderation analysis whereby third variables are integrated into existing single variable theories.
