Differential association psychological explanation

Question 1

what did Edwin Sutherland suggest initially

Answer 1

criminal behaviour is explained through social learning

Question 2

explain social learning theory of crime

Answer 2

people learn criminality through association with intimate personal groups

Question 3

what can individuals learn

Answer 3

criminal attitudes or techniques

Question 4

explain the different types of attitudes

Answer 4

attitudes can be pro-crime or anti-crime. if pro-crime attitudes outweighs anti-crime attitudes, the individual will go on to offend

Question 5

how does learning vary

Answer 5

with frequency, intensity and duration of exposure to deviant and non-deviant norms and values

Question 6

how is reoffending explained

Answer 6

p’s can be exposed to techniques in prison from other, more experienced criminals which they then practise on release

Question 7

E1-changed views about origins of crime…

Answer 7

instead of crime being dispositional it is due to social experiences. lead to practical applications as we can manipulate learning environments but not genes

Question 8

E1-Akers et al what did he do? to study what? found what?

Answer 8

Akers et al surveyed 2,500 male and female teens in the US to study drinking and drug behaviours. Found the most important influence was from peers and differential association, reinforcement and imitation accounted for 55% of alcohol use

Question 9

E1-too unscientific…

Answer 9

hard to measure the number of pro-crime attitudes. difficult to know when the criminal behaviour will be learnt. therefore, the data is correlational with no cause and effect

Question 10

E2-individual differences…

Answer 10

not everyone exposed to pro-criminal attitudes goes on to commit crimes. there is a danger of stereotyping individuals from crime-ridden backgrounds as unavoidably criminal. many choose not to offend despite the attitudes around them

Question 11

E2-doesn’t account for all crimes…

Answer 11

such as rape/murder. confined to smaller crimes - smaller crimes account for a bigger % of crimes committed. e.g. in England and Wales in 2014 there were about 500 homicides but more than 400,000 burglaries

Question 12

E2-doesn’t explain why young people commit the most crimes. Newburn found what % of crimes are committed by U21’s? why doesn’t it explain this issue?

Answer 12

Newburn found 40% of crimes are committed by people under the age of 21. It doesn’t explain this issue as epigenetics isn’t considered.