Individualistic - learning theories Flashcards
Learning theories
based on assumptions that criminal behaviour is learned
2 ways we learn behaviours
- directly through reward and punishment
- indirectly through observation and imitation
Who proposed social learning theory?
Albert Bandura
What is social learning theory (SLT)?
attempts to explain socialisation and its effects by looking at individual learning processes
SLT and crime
people engage in crime through association of others that are involved in crime learnign beleifs and behavious through criminal ‘models’
Vicarious reinforcement
if someone sees an individual rewared for a behaviour they are more likely to copy that behaviour and vice vera for punishment being a discouragement from certain actions
‘Models’
people whom we learn behaviour from modelling ourselves off them but only of higher status than us
Study that Bandura carried out?
BOBO doll study
BOBO doll: procedure
- children seeing two different ‘models’
1. aggressive - showing aggression towards the doll, punching, kicking etc.
2. non aggressive model
group 1 saw adult praised
group 2 saw adult punished
group 3 control group
BOBO doll: results
- boys more likely to show aggression if their model did
- More likely to copy the model if they are the same sex as the child
- both boys and girls more likely to copy if the model was rewarded
SLT evaluation : strengths
- takes into accunt we are social beings
- highlights how we learn
- shows importance of role models in learning deviance
SLT evaluation : weaknesses
- artifical lab setting so lacks ecological validity and mundane realism
- ignores freedom of choice
- not all observed behaviour os easily imitaited
Operant learning theory
if a behaviour results in reward it will be repeated but if outcome is undesirable it will not be repeated
Behaviourism
cause of someones behaviour is a result of the reward/punishment they receive
Operant conditioning study
Skinners box
Skinners box
rat in a box under different conditions: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment
Positive reinforcement
when a behaviour is displayed it is rewarded cauing the behaviour to be repeated, in skinners box if the rat presssed the lever it got a treat and so pressed the lever again
Negative reinforcement
taking away an undesirable stimulus to increase a behaviour, in skinners box the rat was being shocked electrically but when it pressed the lever the shocks stopped so it continued pressing the lever
Punishment
an undesirable outcome to an action, in skinners box when the rat touched the lever it got shocked
Operant evaluation: strengths
- can be applied to offending
Operant evaluation: weaknesses
- animal study - not crime in humans
- ignores internal schema like thinking and personal values
- focuses on criminal behaviour soley on reward and punishment
- humans have free will and can choose course of action
Differential association theorist
Edwin Sutherland
Differential association, what is it?
people learn values and techniques for criminal behaviour from those around. result of 2 factors
1. imitation
2. learned attitudes
Learned attitudes
group socialisation influences attitudes as we tend to pick up on behaviour of those around us so someone with more criminal associates more likely to see criminality as ‘normal’
Osbourne and West
sons of criminal and non criminal fathers found that if father has criminal conviction 40% of sons had one too by 18. only 13% in non-criminal fathers
DAT evaluation: strengths
- crime families support the idea of learned norms
- matthews - juvenile delinquents likely to associate with antisocial friends
DAT evaluation : weaknesses
- not everyone exposed to crimnal behaviour beomes a criminal
- may learn to commit crimes yet never actually commit one
