Criminology Chapter 5: Social Learning Theory

Akers & Burgess - Identification of the learning process, included elements such as operant behavior, respondent conditioning, discriminative stimuli, and schedules of reinforcement

Process through which an individual rationalizes, evaluates, and assigns right and wrong - Can be general or specific

A theory of crime and delinquency developed by Sutherland. The 9 steps of social theory - claiming that criminality is a result of engaging in inappropriate behavior.

A modification of differential association theory - In this view, people commit criminal or delinquent acts if they believe that it will lead to acceptance of important people in their lives.

Refers to potential rewards and punishments for committing or not committing a criminal or deviant act

Internal or external factors or cues that aid an individual in determining an appropriate response to a given situation

Behavior modeled by others for an individual may be copied by that individual

This refers to an individual escaping something painful as a punishment or reprimand by committing a certain act

This type of definition helps a person justify committing a crime by making it seem that although the act itself may be wrong, under certain conditions it is right

The view that voluntary actions and decisions made by an individual are influenced and shaped by punishments and rewards found in the external world

This refers to an individual receiving something of value for committing a certain act

This process is based upon differential association and often takes place in a group setting working with both offenders and non-offenders. Concept suggests that the offenders in such groups who join on the side of the non-offenders in attempt to get the other offenders to change their definitions favorable to law violation, actually wind up reducing their own definitions favorable to crime.

This refers to the exercise of self control used by an individual to reinforce his or her own behavior, by seeing that behavior through the eyes of another

Process that both criminal and conforming behaviors are acquired, maintained, or changed by the same process of interaction with others. The difference lies in the conforming or deviant direction or balance of social influences such as reinforcement, values and attitudes, and imitation.

This refers to the actual, perceived, expected, tangible or intangible rewards or punishments conveyed upon an individual by society or a subset of society

A model proposed by Akers in which social structural factors have an indirect effect on an individual's actions through the social learning process

The process by which 2 or more individuals share a commonly understood language or set of symbols. All individuals can incorporate other people's reactions into their own behavior and use that to understand themselves

Sociologist & Criminologist, collab'd with Burgess to develop the differential reinforcement theory

Psychologist & Child developmental expert, examined stages of development and concluded that conduct develops at particular stages when certain interaction stimuli are present

Behavior sociologist, collaborated with Akers to develop the differential reinforcement theory