INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIME : SOCIAL LEARNING Flashcards
what individualistic theory of crime is social learning?
Bandura’s Bobo Doll study
what is observational learning?
when someone imitates the behaviour of others
how many children were included in Bandura’s research?
72 children of equal boys and girls split into 3 groups of 24
what 3 conditions were each set of 24 children under?
aggressive
non-aggressive
no model (control)
children who had witnessed the aggressive model…
mimicked the actions from the aggressive demonstration
24 children who had observed the non-aggressive model…
didn’t show hostile behaviour towards the doll
what gender was more aggressive in the Bobo Doll experiment?
boys
in what three places is observational learning more likely to take place?
in the family
in subcultures e.g. peers
through cultural symbols e.g. films and books
who supports Bandura’s theory?
Sutherland
what did Sutherland say about social learning theory?
in prisons, people can learn new methods of committing crime and develop favourable attitudes, explaining the high reoffending rate
what did Sutherland call prisons?
the universities of crime
research from Osborn and West shows…
sons with criminal fathers are over twice as likely to commit a crime (40% crim father sons had crim conviction by 18 compared to 13% of non-crim)
what is a real life example of social learning theory?
the case of Jamie Bulger
what are 3 limitations of social learning theory?
demonstrations were measured immediately
don’t know fi the children had long lasting psychological harm
cannot determine if a single exposure has long term effects
how did Cumberbatch criticise the bobo doll?
children who had not played with the bobo doll before were 5x more likely to imitate the model
