ABSTRACT
Most famously from a purely criminological perspective, Wilson and Herrnstein (1985) asserted that personality differences in traits such as impulsivity may be strongly related to the development of frequent and long-term anti-social behaviour. Central to their reading of criminality is the concept of ‘present orientation’: the idea that a ‘rapid cognitive tempo’ and ‘shortened time horizons’ are responsible for impulsive and disinhibited behaviour. This line of thinking is extremely apparent in right realist criminology more generally. While, typically, discussions of right realism make much of both the cognitive strategies of rational choice and the causal influence of social conditioning, less is made of the converse, the fact that impulsivity and instant gratification are also central planks of right realist thought. On the face of it, right realists might appear to be agnostic about why someone sets out to commit a crime, but buried deep within these criminologies is an implicit concern with the emotional element of criminality – namely, the conceptions of ‘selfexpression’ and ‘self-control’. Consider, for instance, Wilson’s text Thinking About Crime (1985), perhaps the cornerstone of right realist theory. Often neglected in this work is the great store Wilson places on the emotions that act on and affect ‘internalized commitment to self-control’. For example, at one point, Wilson (1985: 237-38) asserts that, as a result of the erosion of the modernist moral order, two contrasting modes of self-expression have emerged: first, rampant individualism linked to immediate gratification and greed; and, secondly, a more innovative and
38 Eg, Buss (1966); Maher (1966); Eysenck (1970); Robins (1978). 39 See Unikel and Blanchard (1973); Blanchard et al (1977); Widom (1977); Newman et al (1990,
1992). 40 See Farrington et al (1990); Moffitt (1993); White et al (1994).
