Criminal Behaviour - Social Psychological Explanation Flashcards
What are the Social Psychological Explanations?
- Differential Association Theory
2. Gender Socialisation
What is Differential Association Theory?
- Proposed by Sutherland
- Suggests that offending behaviour can be explained entirely in terms of social learning
- Suggests that people are socialised into crime
Describe the Concept of Association.
Individual associates with others more/less favorable attitudes towards crime
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mix with people who have favorable attitudes/behaviors
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become influenced + have a positive attitude towards crime
Individual associates with others more/less favorable attitudes towards crime
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mix with people who have less favorable attitudes/behaviors
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become influenced + have a negative attitude towards crime
What is Learned?
- Children will learn which particular types of crimes re desirable - burglary = acceptable violent crime = not acceptable
- Potential criminal is someone who has learnt pro-criminal attitudes
- Also learn specific methods for committing crime
Who is Learnt From?
- Attitudes + beahviours are learned from intermediate personal group (e.g. friends/families)
- Also learn from wider community/neighborhood - degree to which local community supports/opposes criminal involvement determines differences in crime rates from place to place
- Individual/social groups may not be criminals themselves in but may still hold deviant attitudes/acceptance of behaviour
How is it Learned?
- Frequency/length/personal meaning of relationship determine degree of influence
- Sutherland did not specify the mode of learning - likely to be direct + indirect operant conditioning
- Role models provide opportunities to model behaviour - role models successful criminal - provide vicarious reinforcement
- Social group established social norms defined by behvaiour - creates what is ‘normal’ for people to do
Differential Association Theory Evaluation
Major Contribution
POSITIVE
- Charged people’s views about the origins of criminal behaviour
- Shift from blaming individual factors to pointing to social factors
- Crime could explained through social experiences
- White collar crimes - transgressions against the law committed by people otherwise seen as respectable + high in social status - non-violent crimes by businesses + government professionals - examples = fraud/bribery/copyright infringements/forgery
Differential Association Theory Evaluation
Supporting Evidence
POSITIVE
- Criminality appears to run in families
- Osborn + West (1979) = father whose a criminal = 40% sons also committed a crime compared with 13% of sons with non-criminal fathers
- Akers (1979) = surveyed 2500 males+female adolescents - found that most important influence was from peers in drug + alcohol use:
68% weed + 55% alcohol
Differential Association Theory Evaluation
Methodological Issues
NEGATIVE
- Data collected is correctional - what is the cause+effect?
- Criminals seek out other criminals
- Theory is not testable
- Issue = how we measure the effects of numbers + strength of associations
- Not clear what ratio of favorable to unfavorable influence would tip the balance
Differential Association Theory Evaluation
Cannot Account for All Types of Crimes
NEGATIVE
- Confined to smaller crimes - accounts for more crimes
- Cannot explain why most offences committed by youth - 40% under 21
- Eysenck = risk taking = young people
- Desire for risk = key factor
- 500 Homicides Vs 400000 burgles
What is Socialisation?
- Process by which we learn the norms/customs/skills necessary to participate in our society
- Socialisation is considered to be a major reason for gender difference seen in criminal behaviour
What has Research found Relating to Patterns of Socialisation?
What does it Show?
- Sutherland (1949) = boy encouraged to be risk takers and to be tough - girls were not - during socialisation girls are more closely supervised + controlled than boys
- Society were expected girls to be conforming than boys
- Difference become ingrained + lead to more young men becoming criminals - have both inclination + opportunity to commit more crimes
How Does Social Learning Theory Relate to Gender Socialisation?
- Suggests that we can learn about gender behaviours through observation + imitation
How are the Key Role Models for Boys + Girls?
Boys = Father Girls = Mother
What has Research Shown About Role Models?
- Cohen (1955) = more difficult for boys than girls - girls have easy access to their mothers whereas fathers are traditionally been more exclusive role models - as a result boys rebel against socialisation offered by mother especially if socialisation led to feminine traits
How did Cohen’s Research Develop the Social Learning Theory for Gender Socialisation?
- Boys pursue any opportunities that offer them a chance to develop masculinity
- Boys seek all male peer groups - reward demonstrations to masculine behaviour
Decsribe the Differences in Social Control
- Patriarchal societies reduce the opportunity for women to commit crimes
- Heidensohn (1985) = women are controlled at work/home/public
How are Women Controlled at Work?
- ‘Glass Ceiling’ effect prevents women for rising to senior positions + having fewer opportunities to commit white collar crimes
How are Women Controlled at Home?
- Daughters dependent on care of parents
- Also not able to stay out as late as sons because they have more house work
- Girls learn to develop socialising opportunities within the home
How are Women Controlled in Public?
- Reports on crime (e.g. rape) control women by increasing fear - less opportunities to commit crimes
- As adults women have fewer opportunities to commit crimes due to greater time + movement restrictions placed on them by their domestic ideas
- Way media reports on female criminals - reduced opportunities
Gender Socialisation Evaluation
Chivalry Hypothesis
- A point to Consider
- Chivalry hypothesis suggests women commit more crimes than official statistics suggest
- Police/magistrates/judges all tend to be men - men have been socialised to act more chivalrous towards women
- Pollak (1950) = men in criminal justice system tend to have more protective attitude towards women
- Suggests that not only gender of person demonstrating criminal behaviour but also gender of justice system reaponsible for lower levels of criminality
Gender Socialisation Evaluation
Men Are Less Likely to be Punished
NEGATIVE
- Criminal justice system biased against women
- Men let off comparatively lightly as they only overstepping the expectation the expectations set by their gender
- Carlers (1997) = women are perceived as a good mother are less likely to be imprisoned - often assessment of character of women in relation to traditional gender roles rather than severity of offence
- Challenges chivalry hypothesis + suggests difference between men + women in terms of criminality is even gender than imprisonment
Gender Socialisation Evaluation
Hormones in Males
An Important Consideration
- Testosterone found in both men + women - related to aggression - higher in men
- Dabbs (1987) = 9/11 inmates with lowest testosterone committed a non-violent crime - 10/11 inmates with highest testosterone committed a violent crimes
Gender Socialisation Evaluation
Hormones in Females
A Point to Be Aware Of…
- Females are less likely to demonstrate criminal behaviour - have higher levels of social behaviour promoting hormones
- Oestradiol - promotes empathy - higher in females
- Erickson (2003) = compared hormone levels of aggressive male drunks + control groups - aggressive drunks showed a negative correlation between oestradiol + testosterone
