Rejecting behavior as the proper topic of study in psychology, Walters defines the subject matter for psychology as the human organism's interaction with the internal and external environments. In offering an overarching theoretical model based on 12 different theoretical traditions, Walters runs counter to the currently popular practice in psychology of constructing conceptual mini-models that restrict themselves to highly circumscribed areas of psychological inquiry. In Walters' view, the proliferation of mini-models has given the field a fragmented appearance.

A major tenant of the...

Walters sets forth an interactive model of lifestyle development, which is divided into three phases. Initiation, the first phase of lifestyle development, is the point at which lifestyle-supporting belief systems evolve from interactions taking place between incentive (existential fear), opportunity (risk factors and learning experiences), and choice (decision-making). Before a pattern becomes a lifestyle, it must proceed through a transitional phase in which lifestyle-promoting outcome expectancies are formed and lifestyle-congruent skills are learned. This is followed by a third phase...

Walters integrates information from traditional criminological models and findings from developmental psychology to form a system of five belief systems (self-view, world-view, past-view, present-view, and future-view) designed to explain crime initiation and maintenance. While reviewing belief systems that support crime, Walters also offers a model of change through which belief systems incongruent with crime can be constructed.

He begins with a review of six traditional criminological models, each of which is considered to possess sufficient breadth and substance to advance our...