Kohlberg’s Theory Flashcards
what does the differential association explanation of offending suggest
suggests that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motivation for criminal behavior.
What happens when a person is socialised into a group?
individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques and motives for criminal behaviour through association with others who have favourable attitudes towards crimes. These attitudes then influence their own criminal attitudes and behaviour.
When will people go on to offend?
If the number of pro-criminal attitudes outweighs the number of anti-criminal attitudes that the person acquires
According to social learning theory, how does the learning of crime occur?
Role models may provide opportunities to model deviant behaviours, and if the role models are successful themselves in these criminal activities, this would provide vicarious reinforcement, making the individual more likely to offend in order to achieve the same reward.
methodological issues
the research done is usually correlational so other factors could be involved such as people with criminal tendencies might associate more with people with the same deviance.
how is the theory limited
It does not explain why some people who are exposed to criminality do not go on to become criminals themselves. This suggests that other factors such as moral reasoning and free will influence the choice of these individuals.
research support from osbourne and west
Osborne and West (1979) found that where there is a father with a criminal conviction, 40% of sons had committed a crime by the age of 18, compared to 13% of sons of non-criminal fathers.
how is differential association theory socially sensitive
as it could lead to the stereotyping of individuals who come from criminal backgrounds as likely to commit crimes themselves and based on this prediction, opportunities could be denied to them. This could also lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
