Theories of Behavior Flashcards
Exam Tips:
Theories
- clarify: whether crime theory points to instrumental vs reactive criminal behavior
- 3 general applications of theories and demonstration of solid knowledge
Societial Framework of Explaining
- macro level
- inequalities in society
- poverty
- economic disparities
- poor rule of law
- cultural norms that support violence
Communal Framework of Explaining
- related to the specific social group/peers
- poverty
- high levels of: unemployment, residential stability, crime norms
- local drug trade loop
- situational factors
Relationship Framework of Explaining
- interpersonal relationships
- often seen in behavior toward authority
- poor parenting
- marital miscord
- violent paternal conflict
- friends who engage in violence
- low SES of household
Individual Framework of Violence
- micro level
- victim of child neglect or abuse
- psychological or mental disorder (personality)
- alcohol or substance use
- history of violent behaviors
Psychodynamic Approaches
- object relations theories
- attachment theories
- strange situation theory
Behavioral Approaches
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- observational learning
Cognitive Approaches
- cognitive styles or distortions
- information processing
- moral development
- maladaptive schemas
Sociological Approaches
Social Structure Theories
* anomie
* general strain
* cultural deviance
Social Process Theories
* social learning
* social control
* reaction or labelling
General Strain Theory: 1992
sociological
Agnew
* expanded on Merton’s Strain theory because it was too vague and didn’t account for any criminal activity that did not result in financial or monetary gain
* Core Idea: people who experience strain or stress become distressed or upset and this may lead to criminal behavior as a form of coping.
* Three Categories of strain: failure to achieve goals, removal of positive stimuli, introduction of negative stimuli
1. Failure to achieve goals example: failure to get a scholarship due to poor grades despite study efforts
2. Remove Positive Example: mentor to student leaves school for another job
3. Introducing Negative Example: student deals with hazing or bullying from peers
- Strain defined as: a person’s inability to achieve any goal or aspiration they have through legitimate means
- Things that contribute to the deliquent coping behaviors:
1. intense stressors are harder to deal with using normative coping methods – making illegal methods appealing
2. low social control – refers to individuals who have few connections with groups or institutions of society
3. interpretation that the strain is unfair or unjust – leads to easier justification of these more illegal or extreme responses - Strengths: shows a strong correlation between negative emotions caused by a “stressor” leading to criminal activity
- Weaknesses: fails to explain why some people DON’T become criminals when experiencing “stressors”
Social Learning Theory: 1977
sociological
Bandura
* social learning via modeling
* observe rewards, attempts to imitate their behaviors
* this theory serves as a bridge between cognitive and behavioral theories
* you are the company you keep
* expanding on Sutherland’s theory
SUTHERLAND: criminal behavior is learned both in context and in process, NOT actual social conditions /structures but instead their meaning
* Sutherland’s key causal determinants of differential association:
1. interaction with criminal associates
2. identification with antisocial patterns
3. acquisition of antisocial attitudes
4. engagement in criminal activity
Cognitive Styles and/or Distortions : 1969
cognitive
Beck
* Developed the theory that pertains mostly to depression (Sykes and Matza used this for crime)
Basics of Theory:
* negative self schemas
* cognitive triad (self/other/world)
* thought process that can be used to explain why there is sustained criminal behavior
Cognitive Distortions:
1. fallacy of change (aka others should change for me)
2. all or nothing thinking (aka black and white)
3. minimization (aka shrinking importance/impact)
4. overgeneralization (aka single event is never-ending pattern)
5. negative mental filter (aka dwelling on bad)
6. disqualifying the positive (aka acknowledges a positive but rejects it, most common)
7. mind reading (aka assuming people reacting poorly to you)
8. fortune telling (aka predict things turn out badly)
9. magnification (aka blowing things out of proportion)
10. emotional reasoning (aka reasoning based on feelings)
11. “should” statements (aka criticizing self or others)
12. labeling or mislabeling (aka identifying with shortcomings)
13. personalization (aka assigning blame to self for out of control events)
14. control fallacies (aka controlling all or nothing)
15. fallacy of fairness (aka everything should be fair and equal)
Neutralization Theory : 1957
cognitive
Sykes and Matza
* deliquents are individuals who subscribe (generally) to morals of society but who is able to justify “unacceptable” behaviors through neutralization
* juvenile deliquents float between law abiding and law breaking throughout development
4 Observations:
1. express guilt over illegal acts
2. frequently respect and honor law abiding individuals
3. certain groups they won’t harm
4. not immune to conformity / demands of social norms
Methods of Justification:
1. denial of responsibility
2. denial of injury
3. denial of victim
4. condemnation of the condemners
5. appeal to higher loyalties
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (1998)
cognitive
Kohlberg
* sought to find out how people decide what is wrong or right
* 6 stages grouped into 3 major categories, people rarely meet the 5/6th stages of moral development
PreConvenetional Morality:
* focuses on self-interest, authority as reference for right and wrong, punishment is avoided and rewards are sought (typically seen in Adults when under pressure)
Conventional Morality:
* people care about the affects of their actions on others, people pleasing, gaining approval of society by being a good member who complies with the law (most common)
PostConventional Morality:
* goes beyond the convention of other’s and social standanding, instead focuses on universal ethical values and conduct that may or may not reflect legal activity
note: study and theory based on male sample
* preconventional often used in exams !!
Maladaptive Schemas : 1991 & 2003
Young
* developed in childhood and can affect the relationships people form while adults
* experiences throughout the person’s life reinforces what they experienced as a child so negative schemas are reinforced
* people are/sometimes attracted to situations that reinforce schemas because they feel safe and predictable (aka we want to experience things that confirm or support our view, people seek out things that confirm their thinking)
* once these schemas are developed they are highly resistant to change due to the “core belief” level
* 5 domains and 18 sub-schemas
5 emotional needs of children:
1. feel: safe, stable, nurtured and accepted
2. have autonomy, feel: competent and sense of identity
3. have freedom to express needs and emotions
4. act spontaneously and play
5. live in a world with realistic limits – assist in applications of self control
5 Domains related to each NEED:
1. Disconnection and Rejection (aka the world is rejecting and even abusive)
2. Impaired Autonomy and Performance (aka the world is neglectful)
3. Impaired Limits (aka the world is chaotic and full of rules that apply to others)
4. Other Directedness (aka the world offers care conditionally and other’s needs are more important)
5. Over-Vigilance and Inhibition (aka the world is frightening)
18 sub-schemas:
Domain 1: Disconnection and Rejection
1. abandonment (chronic anxiety around “loss”)
2. mistrust or abuse (belief one will be mistreated)
3. emotional deprivation (ignoring emotional needs)
4. defectiveness or shame (deep shame about self)
5. social isolation (feeling of belonging nowhere)
Domain 2: Impaired Autonomy and Performance
6. dependence or incompetence (needing others to survive)
7. vulnerability to harm or illness (fear of something happening to them)
8. enmeshment or underdeveloped self (don’t have a strong or stable sense of self due to lack of “other person”)
9. failure (continuous feelings of failure, self-sabotaging)
Domain 3: Impaired Limits
10. entitlement or grandiosity (rules do not apply to them)
11. insufficient self-control or self-discipline (cannot resist impulses or discomfort)
Domain 4: Other-Directedness
12. subjugation (self-needs are not important, feeling powerless)
13. self-sacrifice (choosing to put others first)
14. approval or recognition seeking (sense of self is based on opinions of others)
Domain 5: Overviligance or Inhibition
15. negativity or pessimism (focuses on negative side to life)
16. emotional inhibition (acting or feeling emotions is a bad thing, positive or negative)
17. unrelenting standards (perfectionism, high criticism)
18. punitiveness (mistakes should be punished, never forgiven, known to be cyclical//generational)
