FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGY - psychological explanations: Differential association theory

Question 1

Explain the main ideas of differential association theory?

Answer 1

Through interactions with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for criminal behaviour.

Question 2

What does a Sutherland’s (1939) differential association theory state?

Answer 2

Criminal activity is not due to biology or personality. It is indiscriminate of race, class or ethnic background..

Question 3

How is offending a learned behaviour?

Answer 3

Learning offending behaviour occurs through interactions with people who are significant in a child’s life. eg family or peer group

Question 4

What are the two factors learned in differential association?

Answer 4

1. Attitude toward crime.
2. Techniques.

Question 5

Explain learning attitudes towards crime.

Answer 5

When a person is socialised into a group they will be exposed to values and attitudes = if pro- criminal attitudes outweigh the number of anti-criminal attitudes a person acquires, they will go onto offend.

Question 6

Explain learning techniques.

Answer 6

Offender may learn particular techniques for committing offences. eg how to break into a house or car.

Question 7

Explain socialisation in prison.

Answer 7

Sutherland theory accounts for why many people released from prison go onto reoffend = inmates learn techniques from more experienced criminals through imitation or observation

Question 8

Outline the procedures and findings of Farrington et al 2006.

Answer 8

• longitudinal survey of development of offending and antisocial behaviours in 411 boys
  FINDINGS = important childhood risk factors were family criminality, poverty and poor parenting.

Question 9

Give strength of differential association theory.

Answer 9

+ Sutherland successfully moved emphasis away from early biological theories = explain offending to be due to weakness in individual. Draws attention to dysfunctional social circumstances and environment to blame for criminality = more desirable and realistic

+ can account for offending within all sectors of society. E.G burglary occurs in working class community and other offences occur in wealthy sections of society ( white collar crime - middle class ). = principles of differential association can be used to explain all offences.

Question 10

Give limitations of differential association theory

Answer 10

• ENVIRONMENTALLY DETERMINIST = differential association runs risk of stereotyping individuals who come from crime ridden backgrounds. Theory suggests exposure to pro-crime values is enough to produce offending and ignores the fact that people may choose not to offend despite such influences
• it is difficult to test because many concepts cannot be operationalised. eg to measure numbers of pro criminal attitudes a person is exposed to = lack scientific credibility.
• sutherland suggests family influences are crucial, determining whether individual is likely to offend. Therefore, it supports biological explanations as criminal can be explained by genetic influences = makes it hard to draw conclusions.