Social Learning Theory Explain Crime And Deviance

The way individuals learn to interact with society as children tends to predict how they will interact with society and respond to its environments as adults. There are social theories that help the understanding of why individuals choose deviant behaviors and how they progress through life. Social process theories view criminal and deviant criminal behaviors as evolving mechanisms learned through societal interaction. Social development theories view deviant and criminal behaviors as part of a maturation process. Social theories are conclusions that have come about based on the response of individuals to

An individual need to encounter it some place for them to have that attitude of a criminal. This can be gained from peers, parents, teachers neighbors, etc. According to the Social learning theory which is, "learning behavior that is controlled by environmental influences rather than by innate or internal forces" (Britannica Criminology 2017) has been connected to this program and is the motivation behind why pack savagery diminished. In this program, there are similarly invested individuals who endeavor to better their groups, encourage the instruction and unite individuals through positive neighborhood group events. The social learning hypothesis additionally suggests that youngsters who learn positive conduct will keep on becoming positive grown-ups. Indeed, even individuals who have had pessimistic inclinations can change their negative behavior patterns when they are encompassed around individuals with propensities that help better them. Aristotle once said, "Good habits formed at youth make all the difference". He believed that when you are growing up that is the most imperative time in someone's life due to the fact that the brain is learning new information rapidly. Children are also able to distinguish the difference in social class as well.

There are many theories that contribute to what may cause Juvenile Delinquency, one of which is called Social Learning Theory. Social Learning Theory states that behavior is modeled through observation, either directly through intimate contact with others or indirectly through media. Social learning theorist Albert Bandura, Walter Mischel, and Richard Walters indicate that children model their behavior according to the reactions they receive from others, the behavior of their parents, and the behavior they view through media.

According to learning theories, social learning theory is the view that people learn by observing others (CHEGG). The social learning theory shapes behaviors and attitudes, in ways that promote law breaking criminal activity. Social learning theory is associated with the work of Albert Bandura. Albert Bandura believed that

Definitions are ones attitudes or meanings that one attaches to a given behavior. Those definitions could influence deviant behavior if asscotiated to crime."Human interaction and the fact that learning occurs both directly, through socialization agents, and indirectly through the observation of others behavior and consequences" is important to acknowledge when looking at social leraning theory as stated by Radar and Haynes (2011, p. 291-292). These human interactions influence the types of definitions favorable to unfavorable to

From birth, our families, friends, and society influenced our choices. We were told what we could and could not accept. The music we listened to, the food we ate, and the clothes we wore were all influenced by someone in our community or household. These experiences from your childhood tend to determine the choices we will make as adults. We are living in a world that approaches life with a black or white perceptive, meaning decisions in life are either morally right or morally wrong. Differential Association Theory is defined as a criminological theory created by Edwin Sutherland that focuses on criminal behavior being learned through association with others (Walsh, 559). The theory focuses on an individual’s life that could lead them to a life of crime.

Social learning theory refers to Akers’ theory of crime and deviance. Akers attempted to specify the mechanism and processes through which criminal learning takes place by explaining crime and deviance; he did this in such a way that the likelihood of conforming or deviant behavior based on the influence of an individual’s history of learning was accounted for. This theory was based off Sutherland’s differential association

This paper will be going over social learning theory and how it affects juveniles and its relation to Juvenal delinquency. Social learning theory states that learning social behaviors happens through observation and learning from others. This paper will be explaining how family, friends, and socialization affect the child's behaviors in relation to juvenile delinquency. Also going over the strengths and weaknesses of the social learning theory.

Social learning theory is the theory that is the closes in attempting to solve why crime happens but even more why crime happens within unsupervised youth. Social learning theory is basically stating that people learn from other people through observing, modeling, and imitating (Bandura, 1977). In a way, it tries to magnify the relationship between social structures and behavior and how they correlate when it comes to crime. As recently explain in this paper social structures have a good amount of influence on criminal behavior which this theory also ties to. When placed in society the location in which is around you has a very significance in your day to day life in context.

Social learning theory, “Most often associated with the work of Albert Bandura, social learning theory incorporates principles of both behaviorism and cognitive theories of learning. In its simplest form, social learning theory explains how people learn by observing the behavior of others” (Kretchmar, 2017). These behaviors can be good or bad depending on the individual’s environment. This theory allows the social worker to obtain a better understanding of why/how Jackie has become involved in illegal behaviors. She not only is surrounded by negative behaviors from her father but her friends also bad influences.

Criminal behavior is influenced by abuse or neglect in their childhood. Children can have bad luck, consider abused children. Bad luck it is when young children are the unfortunate victims of poor supervision and treatment conditions which contributes towards detrimental behaviour. However what causes them to become abusers themselves can be explained through the Social Learning Theory.

The limitation of the differential association theory lay in the question: if deviant behaviour is learned and is indeed "contagious", then why do so many in high crime areas, including criminals own siblings not become criminals? . Sociological conceptions, which regard an individual as a hapless victim of pernicious influences, are limited in providing a critical explanation of deviance, as they ignore the role of personal choice .

Differential Association theory was designed by Sutherland and Cressey (1960) which has a concept that mainly states criminal behavior is learned. The theory itself brings forward nine separate points that’s described what can lead to criminal behavior being learned. Some of those include; criminal behavior is learned in interaction with other persons, the setting is within intimate personal groups, techniques of committing the crime are learned, a person becomes delinquent because of an excess of definitions favorable to violation of the law. However the final point of this theory defines that while “criminal behavior is an expression of general needs and values, it is not explained by those general needs and values since non-criminal behavior is an expression of the same needs and values”

     The use of how the theory has been used, an increased number of studies have begun to focus on differential association.  As such, the theory itself is making a come back into the field of criminology, as well as several other disciplines.  Thus, Sutherland’s theory has been in use now for over 64 years and continues to be quite popular in explaining why individuals commit deviant acts.

Differential association theory enables the prediction crime and an understand the cause of criminal behaviour. The Thomas Antwi Bosiakoh in Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning defines it as “a process by which individuals come to have differential access to criminal values through interaction with other people” In summary it suggests that delinquent behaviour is learned thought interaction with other pro-criminal people. Initially DAT was presented by Sutherland in 1939, however in 1947 it was revised, consisting of nine outlining principles. These include: criminal behaviour is learned, criminal behaviour is learned in interactions with other people, criminal behaviour occurs in an intimate group, criminal learnings include techniques and motives, motives are learned from definitions of legal codes as favourable or unfavourable, a person is a criminal because of excess of of definitions favourable to the violation of law over definitions unfavourable to the violation of law, differential association varies, the processes of learning criminal behaviour is the same mechanism as learning any other processes and both criminal and noncriminal behaviours are expression of the same needs and value. These outlining principles form the bases of the theory. DAT has remained one of the most influential theories in understanding the impact of group behaviour and the formation of criminal behaviour.