Transcript Learning Theories - Personal.psu.edu

Learning Theories
A Life of Crime?
• Could you go out tomorrow and begin a life
of crime?
– What kind of crime would get into?
– How would you get started?
Learning Theory
• Criminal behavior is learned in a social
context
• The main difference between criminals and
non-criminals is what they have learned
Edwin Sutherland’s (1934)
Differential Association Theory
1. Criminal behavior is learned…
2. In interaction with other people…
3. Particularly intimate groups (family and
peers)
Differential Association Theory
4. Learning includes
a. Techniques
b. Motives/drives
c. Rationalizations/attitudes
5. Criminals learn to define the legal code as
unfavorable
The Heart of Differential
Association Theory
6. Crime results from an excess of definitions
favorable to law violations over definitions
unfavorable to law violations (a ratio)
Differential Association Theory
7. Differential associations vary in
a. Frequency
b. Duration
c. Temporal priority
d. Intensity
Differential Association Theory
8. Learning crime is the same as learning
anything else
9. Criminal and noncriminal behavior are the
result of learned needs and values (desire
for material success)
Refining Differential
Association Theory
• Problem with Diff. Assoc. Theory
– Learned attitudes -> behavior
• Differential Reinforcement Theory
(Burgess, Akers)
Distinguishing Features of
Diff. Reinforcement Theory
• Differential Reinforcement
– Lifetime balance of anticipated or actual
rewards and punishments -> probability of
behavior
• Imitation
Overview
• Differential Association Theory
(Sutherland)
• Differential Reinforcement Theory
(Burgess and Akers)
Limits of Learning Theory
Ever Smoked Pot?
Yes
69.4%
Smoke Pot Weekly?
Yes
12.5%
How can we explain this?
Becker’s View
• The motivation to get high regularly is
learned
• Users must learn to experience pot
smoking as pleasurable
• Assumption: Users and non-users are
fundamentally the same
Necessary Condition, 1
• Learning the Technique
Necessary Condition, 2
• Learning to connect the drug to its effects
Necessary Condition, 3
• Learning to Enjoy the Effects
Why is s/he a pothead?
• Motivation to get high regularly is
learned in the process of smoking
• No learning, no motivation, no regular
pot smoking
Other Applications of
Learning Theory in Criminology