Criminal Behaiours - Social Psychological Explanations: Differential Assocation Theory

Question 1

When describing this explanation, what are the 5 components to describe

Answer 1

• what is it
• what is learned
• who is it learned from
• how is it learned
• the 9 key principles

Question 2

Describe what it is

Answer 2

• Created by Edwin Sutherland (1939)
• He says that offending behaviour is entirely explained by social learning from factors in your environment
• You learn through observing and then imitating them. You are socialised into a life of crime
• The concept is that people vary in the frequency in which they associate with others who have more or less favourable attitudes towards crime, and these attitudes inevitably influence their own attitudes and behaviour.
• So if you mix with people who have favourable attitudes towards crime, you will be influenced by them and have a positive attitude towards crime, and so will commit crime
• Sutherland believed that it’s possible to develop a formula that could predict if someone would turn to crime based on:
  1) Frequency
  2) Duration
  3) Intensity (what you do together)

Question 3

Describe what is learned

Answer 3

1) Pro-criminal attitude: You have learnt an attitude that views crime as acceptable and desirable
2) Types of crime: You have learnt certain types of crime are desirable (perhaps parents have done it and so you view it as acceptable). Peers view violence and murder as bad, however also view drugs as okay → so you won’t commit one crime but then you will do the other
3) Method: If friends are burglars, you may learn methods of stealing such as picking locks or cracking safes. You learn from your peer group how to do the crime

Question 4

Describe who it is learned from

Answer 4

• Attitudes and behaviours are learned from intimate personal groups, such as family or peer groups. It can’t be from a stranger
• You can also learn it from the wider neighbourhood. It depends on what the community feels about crime. If they are pro-crime, you can learn from them. E.g. if in an area where everyone opposes crime, there will be lower crime rates.

Question 5

Describe how it is learned

Answer 5

• Sutherland suggests that the frequency, length and intensity of such association will determine the degree of influence. He doesn’t specify the actual mode of learning, but it is likely done by direct and indirect operant conditioning
• Direct operant conditioning: where you directly have been punished/rewarded. E.g. you stole a cookie and have to sit on a naughty step which discourages the bad behaviour. Equally though, a sibling may praise you for bad behavior and you so could be more likely to repeat the behavior
• Indirect operant conditioning: role models are the ones doing the behaviour. E.g. a friend steals cookies and gets away with it and receives praise and reinforcement from the peer group and THEY are reinforced, not you. And so to receive that sort of praise, you repeat THEIR behaviour because you have been vicariously reinforced. This could happen from watching films or seeing celebs on TV
• Social groups also establish norms, which are what behaviours are seen as ‘normal’ to do. If crime is perceived as normal = more likely to commit crime.

Question 6

Describe the 9 key principles

Answer 6

1) Criminal behavior is learnt
2) It’s learnt by association
3) The association is with intimate personal groups
4) What is learnt is the techniques, motives, rationalizations and attitudes
5) This learning is directional – either for or against crime
6) If the number of favorable attitudes outweighs unfavourable ones then a person becomes an offender
7) The learning experiences vary in frequency and intensity for each person
8) Crime is learnt through the same process as any other behaviour
9) General ‘needs’ (e.g. for money) is not a sufficient explanation for crime because not everyone with those needs turns to crime.

Question 7

When evaluating the explanation what do you talk about

Answer 7

:)
- supportive research
:(
- methodological issues
- can’t account for all types of crime

Question 8

Write a paragraph for the strength of having supportive evidence

Answer 8

P: One strength of the explanation is that it’s backed up by supportive evidence which shows how associations made in intimate personal groups can lead to criminal behaviour
E: Akers et al (1979) surveyed 2,500 boys and girls in US and the influence of peers on their behaviour. They found differential association, differential reinforcement and imitation combined to account for 68% of the variance in marijuana use
T: This large sample increases the internal validity of the research showing that when associations are made in peer groups, it increases the likelihood that they will do criminal behaviours
COUNTER: However the issue with this research is that it lacks historical validity because the behaviour is now legalised in many parts of the US and no longer a criminal behaviours. Therefore, it can’t prove that differential association leads to criminal behaviour

Question 9

Write a paragraph for the weakness of the explanation having methodological issues

Answer 9

P: A weakness of differential association theory is that it is difficult to test scientifically due to its reliance on correlation
Evidence: For example, Cox et al. (2014) argued that it is challenging to measure the number and strength of associations or to determine what ratio of favorable to unfavorable influences leads to criminal behavior. While studies like Akers et al. have tested some aspects of the theory using correlation, measuring the precise mechanisms remains problematic.
T: This is a weakness because it undermines the empirical reliability of the theory. If the key concepts cannot be operationalized or measured accurately, it is difficult to assess the theory’s validity and its ability to predict criminal behavior. The lack of testability also limits its utility in practical interventions, as there is no clear way to quantify or manipulate the “balance” of influences.

Question 10

Write a paragraph for the weakness of the explanation not being able to account for all types of crime

Answer 10

P: A weakness of differential association theory is that it cannot explain all types of criminal behavior.
E: For instance, social learning influences are more relevant to “smaller” crimes like burglary than to violent or impulsive offenses, such as rape or murder, which are often driven by factors like emotional states or biological predispositions. Furthermore, Tim Newburn (2002) found that 40% of crimes are committed by individuals under 21, which may be better explained by theories focusing on youth risk-taking, such as Eysenck’s personality theory.
T: This is a weakness because it suggests that differential association provides only a partial explanation of criminal behavior. While it offers valuable insights into learned behavior for non-violent crimes, it fails to account for impulsive or emotionally driven offenses. Moreover, its inability to explain age-related patterns in offending further limits its scope.
COUNTER: However, it is worth noting that smaller crimes, which the theory does explain well, make up the majority of offenses, meaning the theory still has significant explanatory power overall.