Psychological Explanations : Schizophrenia Ao3

Question 1

Strengths

Answer 1

Can account for crime within all sectors of society
Sutherland was particularly interested in white collar crime and how this may be a feature of middle class social groups who share deviant norms and values
- Theory marked as important shift from blaming individual factors to pointing to social factors
- Osborne and west 1979 found that where there is a father w a criminal conviction 40% of sons had committed a crime by the age of 18 vs 13% of sons of non criminal fathers
- Akers et al 1979 surveyed 2500 adolescents in the US and found that the most important influences on drinking and driving beh was from peers
Differential association and reinforcement and imitation combined to account of (68% of the variance in marijuana use and 55% in alcohol use

Question 2

Weaknesses

Answer 2

®The data from the supportive evidence is correlational. It may be that offenders seek out other offenders rather than being influenced by them. Additionally, Osborne and West’s results could just as easily be explained by genetics as differential association.
® There is a danger within DAT of stereotyping individuals who come from impoverished, crime-ridden backgrounds as
‘unavoidably criminal.’ The theory tends to suggest that exposure to pro-criminal values is sufficient to produce offending in those who are exposed.