Social Learning Theory : Social Theory

Social control theory and social learning theory are two theories that suggest why deviant behavior is chosen to be acted upon by some individuals and not others. Both take a different stance on the issue. Social control theory suggests people’s behavior is based on their bonds to society, if they have strong bonds to society they conform and if not they have a tendency to act out or become involved in criminal or deviant behavior. Social learning theory suggest that through vicarious learning people learn from observing others and based on what the observe make the choice of whether to copy those actions to obtain desired results or chose not to if

The Social Learning Theory and the Outcome on Criminal Behavior Introduction I’ve chosen the social learning theory because I believe that juveniles committed crime due to associations which is the outcome of this theory. There are numerous reasons that could justify why juveniles commit crime or become delinquent, but I feel and believe that the social learning theory really explicate why juveniles do what they do. The social learning theory explains why people are motivated and are able to develop certain abilities to commit crime. This theory describes how crime is learnt and motivated from people who they are associated with such as significant others, family, and peers.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social learning theory of crime, and how it relates to certain criminal acts. Ronald Akers would say that a person’s desire to engage in crime is learned “through exposure to and the adoption of definitions favorable to crime” (Cullen, Agnew, & Wilcox 2014, p. 140). When an individual commits a crime they are acting on impulse because of actions they saw others engage in primarily during childhood, and therefore mimic those actions. Akers saw the need to extend Sutherland’s Differential association theory therefore creating a modern viewpoint known as Social learning theory (Cullen, Agnew, & Wilcox 2014). Social learning theory has four main mechanism of learning to describe how crime is learned.

It’s honestly hard for me to think of reasons why violent video games and movies appeal to so many people because I honestly can’t stand violence. I constantly look away from a movie scene if there’s a fight or any other form of violence. I tried asking my roommate if she had any guesses to why people may be attracted to violence in the media and she had the same trouble as I did coming up with a reason because she’s also very against watching violence scenes. If I had to take a guess I think people are drawn to these violent media forms because it’s a more socially acceptable way for them to get out their own anger, especially if they’re playing a violent video game. The video game allows them to “punch”, “kick”, and “hit” somebody else

as a general concept, social learning theory has been applied to the many different fields of social science to explain why certain individuals develop motivation to commit (or abstain from) crime and develop the skills to commit crime through the people they associate with. Social Learning Theory (SLT) is one of the most frequently looked at theories in the criminology field. This theory was introduced by Ronald L. Akers as a reformulation of Edwin H. Sutherland 's (1947) differential association theory of crime meld with principles of behavior psychology (Bradshaw, 2011). Akers retained the concepts of differential association and definitions from Sutherland 's theory, but conceptualized them in more behavioral terms and

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory describes the process through which people acquire new info, forms of behavior, or attitudes from others firsthand or vicariously. The likelihood of a behavior presenting itself will rely on the amount of reinforcement it receives and the value that the individual associates to it. While some behavior may be rewarded, others may produce unfavorable responses. An individual will learn from the consequences of these actions and when a similar situation arises, they will alter their behavior according to what was most successful in the past.

Social learning theory, developed by Bandura, discusses how people learn from one another through observation, modeling, and imitation bridging an individual’s attention, memory and motivation. Social learning theory identifies the importance of cognition, observable behavior, individual self-efficacy, and the extent of how the events surrounding an individual affect them; their locus of control. Social learning theory also looks at individual problem behavior being influenced by positive or negative reinforcement (Ashford & LeCroy, 2012).

Trying to understand why crime happens if a very important concept. Throughout history, criminologist have debated on which theory of crime is most accurate. Currently, social bond and social learning theory are two of the leading theories in the criminological world. Between these two theories there are a variety of differences and similarities. In addition to these theories Gottfredson and Hirschi have published a book where they use the concept of self control to describe crime. Analyzing these three theories can be important to understanding the current criminological world.

Behaviouristic theories of learning are essentially theories of conditioning and emphasize the role of reinforcement in learning. One of the mot predominant theories is Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which assumes that. People learn through observing others’ behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors which is called observational learning, that is an indirect form of learning known as vicarious learning and indirect forms of reinforcement which is called vicarious reinforcement .Bandura renamed SLT as social cognitive theory to accommodate the ever increasing importance in his thinking of cognitive factors .SLT has also

Based on Ronald Akers ideology of social learning theory, many people commit crimes based on the observations they encounter. These observations can come from a number of sources such as, media, family, and peers. Family and friends as well as the social norms of a neighborhood can be influential to an individual because of acceptance. This theory also says that based on positive or negative reinforcements an individual’s behavior will be based on the rewards or punishments that are given. If given an opportunity to change the violence that occurs among neighborhoods there are many who choose to do so (Akers, 1990).

Social Learning theorist believe that crime is a result of learning the norms, values and

The social learning theory says that people learn their behaviors from those they associate with, meaning if a person’s best friend is a “good” person, that behavior will rub off onto that person. According to social learning theory, people engage in crime because of their association with others who engage in crime (Crossman). Their criminal behavior is reinforced and they learn beliefs that are favorable to crime (Crossman). They essentially have criminal models that they associate with (Crossman). As a consequence, these individuals come to view crime as something that is desirable, or at least justifiable in certain situations (Crossman).

Social learning theory is a general theory which takes into account cultural, social, and non-social factors to explain crime and deviance. There has been much support for this theory including cross-culturally, smoking among teens in Iowa stud, Akers test with Drinking of the elderly, cheating with college students, adolescent and drug/alcohol abuse with Boys Town study, and more. Social learning theory states that it social learning shapes a person self-control, so growing up a person that learns from non-deviant peers and family members will learn to have high self-control. This theory focuses on four different concepts to explain crime and deviance.

In this essay, I will try to evaluate Social learning theory as originated by Albert Bandura. I am going to use three pieces of evidence, in a form of case studies, which have been done previously to support or contradict Bandura’s theory. I will demonstrate my knowledge of these studies throughout their analysis, trying to highlight their strengths and limitations.

Akers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).