Social Learning Flashcards
What is the key proposition of social learning theory? Make sure to list the 4 key theoretical constructs.
Most of crime/delinquency is learned through socialization; specifically differential association, definitions, reinforcement, and imitation (Akers, 1996).
Criminal behavior is learned through socialization (i.e., with peers).
What is the key proposition of Sutherland (1939)? Out of his 9 tenants, what 2 were important for Akers?
Differential Association: A person becomes delinquent when an excess of definitions favorable to law violations exceed those definitions unfavorable to law violations. Definitions are learned through interactions with intimate personal groups.
When criminal behavior is learned, learning includes (1) techniques of committing the crime and (2) specific direction of motives, drives, rationalizations, and attitudes.
What key extensions did Akers (1996) make building on Sutherland’s work?
Sutherland did not define causal mechanisms or processes.
Specifically added: Differential Reinforcement & Imitation.
Define differential association with example (Akers, 1996).
differential association is the process by which one may interact with delinquent peers. It is through this process of socialization that a person may learn criminal techniques and rationalizations, thereby developing definitions favorable to law violation
Define definitions (Akers, 1996).
definitions are personal beliefs, attitudes, and rationalizations that define the commission of a delinquent act as acceptable, wrong, moral, or immoral
Define differential reinforcement with example (Akers, 1996).
Differential reinforcement is the balance of rewards and consequences (anticipated and actual) of a particular act.
Most reinforcements are social (i.e., peer support).
For example, if reward > punishment = criminal behavior is more likely.
Define imitation (Akers, 1996).
imitation refers to the process of modeling behavior observed by others. One may observe the actions needed to commit an act to replicate it themselves
What important contribution did the following make for social learning theory:
Warr, M., Stafford, M. (1991). The influence of delinquent peers: What they think or what they do? Criminology, 29(4): 851-865.
Did they find supportive/contradictory evidence?
Warr and Stafford (1991) found that peer actions—in delinquency—are more substantial forms of reinforcement than peer attitudes. This indicates that situations conducive to the observation and commission of delinquent acts will be more likely to facilitate the learning process favorable to delinquency (i.e., unstructured socializing with peers, see e.g., Haynie & Osgood, 2005; Osgood et al., 1996).
What importance did Akers, Krohn, Kaduce, and Rodosevich (1979) make for social learning theory? Did they find supportive/contradictory evidence?
Most comprehensive tests of social learning, systematically measuring 16 components of the theory.
N=3,065 adolescents (Grades 7–12)
Learning variables explained 54.5% of the variation in alcohol use and 68.3% of the variation in marijuana use.
-Especially delinquent peer socializing.
-Large R-squared is pretty good.
What was Hirschi’s (1969) core proposition?
Hirschi’s (1969) Social Bonds theory, which posited that delinquency arises when one’s social bonds to conventional society are attenuated
What are the four types of bonds? (Hirschi, 1969)
(1) attachment (i.e., emotional closeness, especially to parents),
(2) commitment (i.e., high educational/occupational aspirations),
(3) involvement (i.e., participation in conventional activities including recreational pursuits),
(4) belief (i.e., embraces conventional norms and laws).
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime.
What was self-control? What caused it? When did it become stable?
Self-control was defined as a unidimensional, permanent, internal state determined by age 8-10 and remains stable throughout the life course. As a sociological theory, self-control is directly impacted by (in)effective parenting management (Hirschi, 2004; Grasmick et al., 1993; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990).
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime.
What was self-control? What caused it? When did it become stable?
Self-control was defined as a unidimensional, permanent, internal state determined by age 8-10 and remains stable throughout the life course. As a sociological theory, self-control is directly impacted by (in)effective parenting management (Hirschi, 2004; Grasmick et al., 1993; Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990).
What important contribution did Grasmick et al. (1993) make?
Created a 6-item self-control measurement.
Finish the sentence:
Parenting management has a direct effect on a child’s self-control through the (in)effectiveness of their……? (Hint: 3 things)
(1) monitoring of the child
(2) recognizing deviant behavior early
(3) punishing/correcting the misconduct to encourage prosocial behavior (Gottfredson & Hirschi, 1990).
Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) General Theory of Crime. What was the core proposition?
If early childhood parenting were ineffective in these three mechanisms, a child would likely develop low self-control. The takeaway is that Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) posit that low self-control is associated with an increased likelihood of committing criminal/delinquent acts (see also Hirschi, 2004).
What were key arguments in Hirschi (2004)?
Reaffirmed that self-control was uni-dimensional and stable by ages 8-10.
What contribution did the following make to social learning theory:
Matsueda, R. (1988). The current state of differential association theory. Crime and
Delinquency, 34(3): 277-306.
Review’s literature and finds support for DA.
He argues that social learning is NOT a cultural deviance theory; it is a differential socialization theory (in refutation to Kornhauser, 1978).
What did the following find for social learning & did they find supportive/contradictory evidence:
Matsueda, R. (1982). Testing control and differential association: A causal modeling approach
Differential association measures were supported over control measures.
What did the following find for social learning & did they find supportive/contradictory evidence:
Young, J. (2011). How do they ‘end up together’? A social network analysis of self-control, homophily, and adolescent relationships. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 27(3), 251-273.
This study employs exponential random graph modeling to test hypotheses derived from self-control theory using approximately 63,000 respondents from 59 schools from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health).
In contrast to the predictions made by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) and the conclusions drawn from prior research, there is little evidence that self-control influences friendship selection.
What did the following find for peers and crime & did they find supportive/contradictory evidence:
Haynie, D., Doogan, N., Soller, B. (2014). Gender, friendship networks, and delinquency: A dynamic network approach.
AddHealth; (N = 1,857)
Girls are more likely than boys to be influenced by their friends’ involvement in violence.
Partial Support.
What did the following find for peers and crime & did they find supportive/contradictory evidence:
Haynie, D. (2001). Delinquent peers revisited: Does network structure matter?
American Journal of Sociology, 106(4): 1013-1057.
Used social network analyses in which youth reported their own delinquent behavior, and the findings show that peers still matter even after controlling for the response effect.
What did the following find for social learning & did they find supportive/contradictory evidence:
Pratt, T., Cullen, F., Sellers, C., Winfree, L., Jr., Madensen, T., Daigle, L., Fearn, N., & Gau, J. (2010). The empirical status of social learning theory: A meta-analysis. Justice Quarterly, 27(6): 765-802.
Meta-analysis of 133 studies.
Reported that in terms of predicting crime or analogous behaviors (i.e., drug use), the social learning variables of differential association and delinquent definitions had effect sizes that rivaled effect size for self-control.
–less robust support was found for Reinforcement and Imitation.
How do Control Theorists argue that differential association is incorporated in their theory?
Differential association is captured in a control context.
–Differential Association = attenuated bonds with prosocial figures (i.e., parental attachment) = increased socialization with delinquent peers in unstructured contexts (see also Haynie & Osgood, 2005).
