Final answer:
The MacDonald triad refers to three behaviors—animal cruelty, fire setting, and persistent bedwetting—which were once thought to predict violent tendencies later in life, although modern research questions its reliability.
Step-by-step explanation:
The MacDonald triad is a set of three behaviors that some criminologists and psychologists believe may be indicators, or predictors, of a person's likelihood to commit violent crimes later in life, especially serial offenses. The three behaviors associated with the MacDonald triad are:
- Animal cruelty
- Fire setting
- Enuresis (bedwetting past an age when children would typically outgrow it)
It was first suggested by psychiatrist J.M. MacDonald in 1963, who hypothesized that these behaviors in childhood were indicative of violent tendencies as an adult. Modern research, however, has cast doubt on the predictive power of the triad, and it is not universally accepted as a reliable marker of future violence. Nonetheless, it remains a concept taught in some criminology and psychology courses.