Expert answer:Need sociology help with Social Reinforcers and Pu
Answer & Explanation:Gangs and gang violence persist as a significant concern for criminal
justice and society at large. Considering the social learning theory and
the links to antisocial behavior, describe how social reinforcers and
punishers as well as differential associations may be linked to gang
involvement and gang-related delinquency. What involvement might peer
rejection play in the onset of delinquency and in the decision to join a
gang? Locate at least one scholarly article to support your discussion.
Your initial post should be at least 250 words in length. Support your
claims with examples from the required material(s) and/or other
scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.
crj_308_chapter_06.pdfcrj_308_chapter_07.pdf
crj_308_chapter_06.pdf
crj_308_chapter_07.pdf
Unformatted Attachment Preview
6
© JP Laffont/Corbis
Crime From the Behaviorist/
Social Learning Perspective
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:
•
•
•
•
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 161
Explain the behaviorist perspective and explain its approach to human behavior.
Identify the major constructs in the social learning perspective.
Differentiate the social learning theories of Sutherland, Akers, and others.
Provide evidence that links social learning theoretical constructs to crime.
11/14/12 2:19 PM
Introduction
CHAPTER 6
Introduction
P
sychoanalytic thought—more specifically, the ideas of Sigmund Freud—has diffused throughout the popular culture even though the criminological treatment of
psychoanalytic theory is mixed, as explored in Chapter 5. The same is not true for social
learning theoretical concepts and their relation to crime. Among conventional wisdom
and among scholarly researchers, social learning theory is a fundamental part of the
understanding of crime. Indeed, Ronald Akers and Gary Jensen, two of the leading
proponents of social learning theory, suggested that it is “a general theory that offers
an explanation of the acquisition, maintenance, and change in criminal and deviant
behavior that embraces social, nonsocial, and cultural factors operating both to motivate and control criminal behavior and both to promote and undermine conformity”
(2006, p. 38). It is so significantly related to crime that psychologists and sociologists
alike made social learning theory a central part of their theoretical platforms. Few other
conceptual areas can claim such universality.
Social learning theory suggests that behavior is motivated by the effects it produces and
is largely based on mimicry of behaviors that one is frequently exposed to. The main reason the theory is popular is that so much of childhood is based on learning. In the home,
children are continuously exposed to behaviors and verbal instruction from their parents
and siblings about the appropriateness of various behaviors. Although parents often do
their best to intentionally inculcate prosocial behaviors and values in their children, much
of this inculcation occurs in an indirect, almost subconscious way. What this means is
that much of learning occurs by observation and exposure to situational contexts. For
instance, parents often teach their children about the importance of hard work, and the
message may or may not be internalized. On the other hand, parents who work each day,
who prepare their clothing and lunch the night before going to work, who leave early in
the morning to arrive on time for work, who invest their time and energy in exchange
for productive labor that brings with it income and benefits, and who generally invest in
work as a social institution are displaying—each and every day—what it means to be a
functioning member of society. Learning occurs directly and indirectly, from observation
of and interaction with role models who perform the behavior to be learned.
The identical process occurs for negative behaviors. Consider an example in which parents cannot hold down a job for more than a few weeks at a time. Being either unable
or unwilling to meet the responsibilities of their jobs, they either get fired or quit. Once
at home, the parents vehemently critique their former bosses, lament their unemployment, and engage in unhealthy, unproductive behaviors (e.g., substance use, drug selling, gambling, etc.) to quell their boredom and meet the financial needs of their family.
Although these parents might simultaneously praise the value and importance of work,
their behavior tells another story, and their children are exposed to behaviors that are
internalized and unfortunately mimicked. This scenario can be made much worse. The
parents can abuse or neglect their children, introduce them to drugs and alcohol, engage
in violence within the home, or commit any combination of these crimes. These behaviors
are observed, internalized, and unfortunately, learned.
Parents act as socialization agents, but so do teachers, coworkers, and peers. Whenever
there is exposure to other individuals, there are opportunities to learn and imitate. Indeed,
the very function of school is to acquire the knowledge and skills that are needed for
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 162
11/14/12 2:19 PM
CHAPTER 6
Section 6.1 The Behaviorist Perspective and Human Behavior
survival in a particular society. The preponderance of learning that occurs in our lives
is positive; however, when exposure to antisocial individuals and criminogenic settings
occurs, there are also opportunities to adopt certain negative behaviors. Social learning
theory gives credibility to the common saying that “birds of a feather flock together,”
which means that individuals generally behave like those with whom they associate.
In the psychological study of crime, social learning theory is unique in that it was developed and influenced by both psychologists and sociologists. And within American criminology, the social learning approach has served as a core method of understanding and
explaining crime. Some of the psychological roots of the social learning perspective, and
the later research that influenced criminologists, are briefly examined next.
6.1 The Behaviorist Perspective and Human Behavior
O
ne of the most famous and frequently cited quotations in psychology comes from
John Watson:
Give me a dozen healthy infants, wellformed, and my own specified world to
bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to
take any one at random and train him
to become any type of specialist I might
select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchantchief, and, yes, even beggar-man and
thief, regardless of his talents, penchants,
tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of
his ancestors. (1930, p. 82)
Watson (1878–1958) was the founder of the behaviorism school in psychology. Behaviorism is a
social learning-based theory that suggests behaviors are the product of conditioning that occurs
as an individual interacts with the environment.
Behaviorism rejects the notion that internal, person-specific factors are the drivers of behavior. In
this respect, it is antithetical to the temperament
and personality approaches that were examined
in Chapters 3 and 4. As the famous quotation suggests, behaviorism is also hostile to the notion
of individual-level differences in terms of emotional expression, self-regulation, intelligence,
and other factors that, for example, are associated
with becoming a doctor versus a beggar or thief.
Indeed, behaviorism is usually portrayed as an
extreme-environmental perspective on human
behavior, where individual-level constructs are
minimized or excluded in favor of an emphasis
on learning from one’s environment.
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 163
John Watson and the behaviorism
perspective asserted that humans were
blank slates whose behaviors were
entirely produced by environmental
exposures and the learning that
occurred.
© Underwood & Underwood/Corbis
11/14/12 2:19 PM
Section 6.1 The Behaviorist Perspective and Human Behavior
A timeless philosophical question dating back to work
by John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and others centers
on whether humans have inborn skills, capacities, and
tendencies or if the environment is mostly responsible
for producing them.
CHAPTER 6
It is easy to criticize Watson
and the behaviorist approach as
being too extreme and for ignoring content areas that are also
obviously important causes of
behavior. However, the behaviorist approach implicitly recognized that the production of
behavior was more social psychological in nature (see further
discussion of this in the section
on Sutherland) than entirely
social. Whatever the effects
of the environment, it nevertheless had to affect the individual to result in behavioral
manifestations.
An important legacy of behaviorism for understanding crime
© Hemera/Thinkstock is a blank slate conceptualization of human behavior. The
idea of a blank slate, or tabula rasa, which is attributed to the philosophers John Locke,
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and John Dryden, is that people are born basically the same in
terms of their innate abilities and that experience molds their behaviors. The blank slate
is an optimistic worldview that
exists against the idea of widespread individual variation. The
implication for understanding
crime is that learning-based theoretical approaches generally
view the criminal offender as an
innately blank slate who is then
corrupted by negative or crimeinducing environmental features and personal connections.
B. F. Skinner and Operant
Conditioning
B. F. Skinner was a psychologist
widely known for his research
on operant conditioning, a
learning theory that suggests
behavior is produced and modified based on the reinforcements
and punishments it elicits (see
Skinner, 1966, 1981). Over time,
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 164
Operant conditioning research indicates that behaviors
are learned, continued, or terminated based on the
reinforcement and punishment that they produce. These
students at Judge Rotenberg Educational Center show
off their purchases at the Reward Store inside the center.
The center is seen as controversial because it employs a
rewards and punishment system, with punishments in
the form of skin shock therapy, administered through a
backpack or fanny pack that students wear.
© Rick Friedman/Corbis
11/14/12 2:19 PM
CHAPTER 6
Section 6.1 The Behaviorist Perspective and Human Behavior
a particular behavior is paired with specific consequences that either strengthen the behavior or weaken it. There are four types of reinforcement related to operant conditioning
(see Figure 6.1): positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and
negative punishment.
Figure 6.1: Operant conditioning
Negative
Reinforcement
Negative
Punishment
Behavior
Positive
Reinforcement
Positive
Punishment
The principle of operant conditioning suggests that positive reinforcement, negative
reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment influence the likelihood of
behavioral acts and whether those behaviors are continued or discontinued.
Positive reinforcement is a type of reinforcement that involves a behavioral response followed by a rewarding or reinforcing stimulus (also known as a “reinforcer”). The rewarding stimulus serves to strengthen the behavioral response. For instance, children who
display good behavior (response) are likely to receive praise, warmth, and affection (reinforcer) from their parents, which serves to further encourage the good behavior. Negative
reinforcement is a type of reinforcement that involves the strengthening of a behavioral
response through the removal of an aversive stimulus. For instance, a child who receives
a stern lecture from his or her parents for neglecting chores can end the lecturing (aversive
stimulus) by performing the chores (response) in the first place. In positive punishment,
a particular behavior or response is decreased or weakened when it is followed by an
aversive stimulus. A stern stare from parents (aversive stimulus) will often immediately
stop the problem behavior (response) that a child is exhibiting. In negative punishment, a
behavior or response is weakened through the removal of a valued stimulus. For example,
if a parent prohibits the use of a valued item (such as a smart phone) because his or her
children broke their curfew, the children may learn not to break curfew again. The removal
of the smart phone (valued stimulus) will decrease the likelihood that the children will
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 165
11/14/12 2:19 PM
Section 6.1 The Behaviorist Perspective and Human Behavior
CHAPTER 6
continue to stay out late (behavior). Operant conditioning played an important role in
updating criminological explanations of crime that used social learning, particularly those
relating to the role of reinforcement in perpetuating behavior.
Bandura’s Social Learning Approach
Albert Bandura is another important figure in social learning approaches to crime,
although he was born more than 40 years after Sutherland and more than 20 years after
Skinner. Bandura is discussed extensively in another chapter for his work on social cognitive processes in aggression (Chapter 7), but he is also a hugely influential figure in social
learning based on his research on aggression. Over his nearly seven-decade career, Bandura demonstrated that aggression is produced from exposure to role models who display aggression and the imitation of it (Bandura, 1973, 1978; Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961).
According to Bandura, “People are not born with preformed repertoires of aggressive
behavior; they must learn them” (1978, p. 14). In his model, observational learning, reinforced performance, and structural determinants, such as socioeconomic status, family
background, cultural features, and other sociological factors, are the origins of aggression.
From these origins, there are five instigators of aggression. These are modeling influences,
aversive treatments, incentive inducements, instructional controls, and bizarre symbolic
controls. Generally, the five instigators of aggression are the social interactions that serve
as the raw material from which to learn aggressive responses. For example, physical
assaults, verbal threats and insults, and other intimidating situations, such as bullying,
provide exposure to aggressive behaviors that not only directly affect the victims of these
attacks, but also affect their socio-cognitive processing of these attacks. Moreover, a person who is frequently exposed to physical and verbal aggression learns to tolerate, perpetuate, or stop aggression based on the reinforcements that are applied.
The following schoolyard example will help illuminate these problems. Imagine a child
who bullies other children during a game of basketball. He is causing direct harm to the
target of the bullying, but he is also causing indirect harm to others by exposing them
to the aggression. In turn, the other children might mimic the bullying behaviors, not
necessarily because they endorse them, but to protect themselves from potentially being
the target of the bully. If left unchecked by an adult, these bullying behaviors and aggressive exchanges increasingly harm the children involved. If, however, a teacher immediately and swiftly punishes the bully for his conduct, the negative punishment will help to
ensure the aggression does not continue.
The next stage in Bandura’s model is called regulators of aggression, and it contains four
types. External reinforcements include tangible rewards, social/status rewards, expressions
of injury, and the alleviation of aversive treatment. Punishment includes processes that
are inhibitory or informative. Vicarious reinforcement is based on observed reward and
observed punishment. Self-reinforcement includes self-reward, self-punishment, and the
neutralization of self-punishment. The lasting contribution of Bandura’s work on aggression is that antisociality and antisocial actions are produced according to learning processes and will become more or less prevalent over time depending on how the behaviors
are reinforced or punished by environmental factors.
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 166
11/14/12 2:19 PM
Section 6.2 Criminology and the Social Learning Perspective: Major Constructs
CHAPTER 6
6.2 Criminology and the Social Learning Perspective: Major
Constructs
W
hile Watson, Skinner, and Bandura are enormously influential psychologists for
their work in the learning tradition, the application of this approach to crime was
done by sociological criminologists. Before examining their research, however, an explanation of the following major constructs is necessary: differential association, definitions,
differential reinforcement, and imitation.
Differential association refers to the varying associations or friendships/acquaintanceships that individuals directly and indirectly have with others. Differential is a term that
suggests there are differences between individuals. In the case of differential association,
some individuals associate with many criminals, some associate with criminals occasionally, and some never associate with criminals. These friendships/acquaintanceships
involve behaviors and the expression of values and beliefs that support the behaviors.
Importantly, differential association also includes indirect identification with reference
groups outside of one’s immediate contact, such as an individual’s involvement in an organization or online chat group.
Although the person does not
physically have access to these
associates, there is nevertheless
the transmission and learning of
values, beliefs, and behaviors.
Differential association is theorized to have greater effects
on behavior depending on the
duration, frequency, intensity,
and priority of the associations
(see Figure 6.2). How the duration, frequency, intensity, and
priority of these associations
predicts conventional or crimiAlton Coleman was a multistate serial killer who was
nal behavior depends on the
ultimately executed by Ohio authorities. His girlfriend/
characteristics of the persons
codefendant Debra Brown was also originally sentenced
with whom one associates. For
to death, but she later had her sentence commuted
example, Schreck, Fisher, and
to life imprisonment because it appeared she was
Miller (2004) examined the
dominated by Coleman and committed crimes partially
relationship between friendin duress. How does this criminal couple illustrate the
ship networks and violent vicsocial learning perspective?
timization (often the flipside
© Bettmann/Corbis/AP Images of violent delinquency) among
respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. They found
that adolescents and young adults who were popular and well-connected in conventional friendship networks were very unlikely to be victims of a violent crime. A similar
effect, albeit in the opposite direction, was found among those who were popular, wellconnected members of antisocial friendship networks: They were more likely to be violently victimized.
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 167
11/14/12 2:19 PM
Section 6.2 Criminology and the Social Learning Perspective: Major Constructs
CHAPTER 6
Figure 6.2: The parameters of differential association
Duration
Frequency
Differential
Association
Intensity
Priority
Relationship parameters such as duration, intensity, priority, and frequency can help
determine the effect differential association will have on an individual’s behavior.
Other research focusing on the work setting and delinquency also demonstrates the differential value of differential association. For instance, Gibson and Wright (2001) analyzed
data from the Tri-Cities Adolescent Employment Survey, which is a survey of students
from eight high schools in northeast Tennessee. They found that workplace delinquency,
which included behaviors such as lying about the number of hours worked on one’s time
card, shortchanging customers, giving away goods or services for free, theft, using drugs
or alcohol on duty, and helping coworkers steal employers’ property, was predicted by
coworker delinquency. On the other hand, coworkers can exert a positive influence on
their colleagues. Utilizing data from the National Youth Survey, Wright and Cullen (2004)
found that associating with prosocial coworkers dismantles delinquent peer networks
and results in reductions in delinquency and drug use. Taken together, these findings
indicate that differential association with bad or good influences at work has important
effects on whether an individual is commensurately well-behaved or deviant.
deL80458_06_c06_161-188.indd 168
11/14/12 2:19 PM
Section 6.2 Criminology and the Social Learning Perspective: Major Constructs
Definition …
Purchase answer to see full
attachment
How it works
- Paste your instructions in the instructions box. You can also attach an instructions file
- Select the writer category, deadline, education level and review the instructions
- Make a payment for the order to be assignment to a writer
- Download the paper after the writer uploads it
Will the writer plagiarize my essay?
You will get a plagiarism-free paper and you can get an originality report upon request.
Is this service safe?
All the personal information is confidential and we have 100% safe payment methods. We also guarantee good grades