INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIMINALITY : LEARNING THEORIES Flashcards
What are the INDIVIDUALISTIC theories of criminality (Learning theories)
Skinner - Operant conditioning
Bandura - Social Learning Theory
Briefly outline Skinner’s operant conditioning as an explanation of criminality
According to this, behaviour is shaped by reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement increases the chance of behaviours being repeated.
POSITIVE reinforcement: rewards the repetition of a certain behaviour
NEGATIVE reinforcement: removal of an unpleasant thing/feeling when repeating a certain behaviour
Punishment decreases the chance of behaviours being repeated.
Explain reinforcement when applied to crime
Positive reinforcement explains that criminality is due to rewards for carrying out criminal behaviour, e.g. being praised from peers for vandalism or gaining financial reward from stealing means they are more likely to repeat that behaviour.
Negative reinforcement explains that criminality is a response to removing something unpleasant, e.g. continuing to buy heroin to remove the unpleasant feelings from withdrawal.
Explain punishment when applied to crime
Punishment refers to a negative consequence for certain behaviours. If someone is punished for a crime, e.g. being fined or imprisoned, they are less likely to repeat that behaviour again.
One strength of operant conditioning as an explanation of criminality: Practical application within criminal justice system
Offenders are punished through the removal of their civil liberties through imprisonment, and this intends to reduce recidivism in the future.
Token economies in prisons show how reinforcement can encourage better behaviour. They receive tokens for ‘good’ behaviour and are able to exchange these for goods or treats they wouldn’t normally have access to.
This shows that operant conditioning effectively explains criminality as prisons use these concepts when dealing with offenders.
One weakness of operant conditioning as an explanation of criminality: Oversimplicity of criminality
Reducing criminal behaviour to simple concepts like reinforcement and punishment oversimplify the complexity of criminality and ignore wider societal impacts on criminality.
Becker’s labelling theory argues that the stereotyping of certain groups (e.g. young working-class males) as ‘criminals’ means that a self fulfilling prophecy forms as the police focus more on these groups than others which evidently leads to higher convictions of labelled individuals.
This means that ‘reinforcement and punishment’ are overly simplistic explanations for criminality as convictions may be rooted in the labels applied to individuals within society, therefore making operant conditioning more ineffective when explaining criminality.
One weakness of operant conditioning as an explanation of criminality: Reliant on nurture
Relies heavily on nurture in explaining causes of criminality when there is biological evidence that criminality could be inherited via our genes. Adoption studies remove the possibility that criminal biological parents have reinforced criminal behaviour in their children.
Also, Hutchings and Mednick compared adoptees with and without criminal records and found that adoptees with criminal records were more likely to have biological parents with criminal records than adoptees parents who didn’t have criminal records.
This shows that nature may play a role in determining criminality, and nurture alone does not offer a fully effective explanation for criminal behaviour.
Briefly outline Bandura’s social learning theory process as an explanation of criminality
Bandura argues that criminal behaviour such as aggression is learnt via observation and imitation of violent role models with whom we identify –> If the aggression by the role model is rewarded, this acts as vicarious reinforcement for the observer –> The observer makes a mental representation, i.e. weigh up the likelihood of them also being rewarded if they imitate that behaviour. If they think they will be rewarded, they will carry out that aggressive act –> Reward for the behaviour will lead to its repetition, and the observer will develop self efficacy in behaving aggressively in the future.
One strength of social learning theory as an explanation of criminality: Supporting research
Bandura carried out a lab experiment with a sample of 4-5 year old children with three conditions:
Group 1 - saw version of a film where role model was rewarded with praise for attacking a bobo doll
Group 2 - saw version of a film where role model was punished for attacking a bobo doll
Group 3 - control group, saw version where role model was neither rewarded or punished
Found that the children in group 1 were more likely to imitate the role model as seen in the film. From this, he concluded that aggressive behaviour can be learnt via observation, reinforcement and imitation.
This shows that aggression can be learnt when individuals see role models being rewarded for their own aggressive behaviour.
One weakness of social learning theory as an explanation of criminality: Reliant on nurture
Relies heavily on nurture in explaining causes of criminality when there is biological evidence that criminality could be inherited via our genes. Adoption studies remove the possibility that criminal biological parents have reinforced criminal behaviour in their children.
Also, Hutchings and Mednick compared adoptees with and without criminal records and found that adoptees with criminal records were more likely to have biological parents with criminal records than adoptees parents who didn’t have criminal records.
This shows that nature may play a role in determining criminality, and nurture alone does not offer a fully effective explanation for criminal behaviour.
One weakness of social learning theory as an explanation of criminality: Failure to explain criminality that hasn’t been observed
Criminal behaviour such as the London Riots involved roughly 15,000 people spontaneously looting shops and vandalising property causing £250 million in damage. It isn’t possible that all of these people had witnessed such acts being carried out by role models in the past.
This shows that more effective explanations of criminality can be offered by sociological theories such as Marxism which argues that the inequality of a capitalist power structure in society causes alienation and frustration and this is what leads to crime.
