Criminal Behaviour - Social Psychological Explanation

Question 1

1 What did Sutherland propose?

Answer 1

9 key principles to explain how criminal behaviour results from social interaction with others including:
- Criminal behaviour is learned rather than inherited
- It is learned through association with others
- This association is with intimate personal groups
- What is learned are criminal techniques, motives and attitudes towards crime
- If the number of favourable outcomes outweigh the unfavourable ones, then a person becomes an offender

Question 2

1 What is this theory suggested as being?

Answer 2

A sociological theory as it suggests that people are socialised into a life of crime

Question 3

1 What is differential association?

Answer 3

People vary in the frequency with which they associate with others who have more or less favourable attitudes towards crime, these attitudes inevitably influence their own attitudes and behaviour

Question 4

1 What does a child learn?

Answer 4

• Attitudes towards crime (desirable/undesirable)
• Which particular types of crimes are desirable
• specific methods for committing crimes

Question 5

1 What are attitudes and behaviours learned from

Answer 5

Intimate personal groups such as family/peer groups as well as the wider neighbour hood. the degree to which the local community supports or opposes criminal involvement determines the differences in crime rates from one area to another

Question 6

1 What did Sutherland suggest?
Didn’t specify?

Answer 6

The frequency, length and personal meaning of such associations will determine the degree of influence.
Did not specify the mode of learning- likely to be indirect/direct operant conditioning

Question 7

1 Direct operant conditioning?

Answer 7

A child may be directly reinforced for deviant behaviours through praise, or may be punished for such behaviour by family and peers

Question 8

1 Indirect operant conditioning?

Answer 8

Role models would provide opportunities to observe and imitate behaviours. if role models are successful themselves in criminal activities, this would provide reinforcement

Question 9

1 Supporting research (families) for differential association theory?

Answer 9

Osborn & West (1979) - where there is a father with a criminal conviction, 40% of the sons had committed a crime by the age 18 compared to 13% of sons of non-criminal fathers

Question 10

1 Limitations of families?

Answer 10

Could be explained in terms of genetics - sons share 50% of their DNA with their father

Question 11

1 Supporting research (influence) for differential association theory?

Answer 11

Akers - found the most important influence on teenage deviant behaviour was from peers and that differential association accounted for 68% of the variance of marijuana use and 55% of alcohol use.

Question 12

1 Issues of cause and effect for differential association theory?

Answer 12

Peer influence - it could be that criminals seek out other criminals which would explain why criminals are likely to have peers who are criminals rather than exposure to attitudes

Question 13

1 Unfalsifiable theory?

Answer 13

Cox et al (2014) - the issue is baout how one measures the effect of number and strength of associations on subsequent attitudes

Question 14

1 Partial explanation (social learning influences) for differential association theory?

Answer 14

Probably confined to ‘smaller crimes rather than violent and impulsive offences (rape/murder)

Question 15

2 What is socialisation?

Answer 15

process by which we learn norms and values around what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in society.
Has long been considered to be a major reason for the gender differences seen in criminal behaviour.

Question 16

2 What did Sutherland claim?

Answer 16

During socialisation:
- Boys are encouraged to be risk-takers and to be tough, whereas girls are not
- Girls are also more closely supervised and controlled by boys
- Our society expects girls to be more conforming than boys

Question 17

2 What do these differences lead to?

Answer 17

More young men becoming criminals as they have both the inclination and opportunity to commit more crime

Question 18

2 What does the social learning theory suggest?

Answer 18

We learn our gender behaviours through observation and imitation of role models

Question 19

2 What did Cohen (1955) suggest?

Answer 19

Socialisation is a more difficult process for boys than girls
- Girls - more access to their mother
- Boys - traditionally, fathers are less available
Boys rebel against the socialisation offered by their mother, especially if that socialisation leads to any typically feminine traits.

Question 20

2 What do boys pursue?

Answer 20

Any opportunity that offer them a chance to develop their masculinity - seek out male peer groups which may reward demonstrations of ‘masculine’ behaviours such as aggression, toughness, risk-taking and rule-breaking

Question 21

2 What do such theories point to?
What did Heidensohn (1985) claim?

Answer 21

The nature of society. Many societies are classified as patriarchal
Heidensohn - women are ‘controlled’ at home, at work and in public.

Question 22

2 How are women controlled in the workplace?

Answer 22

In the workplace - the ‘glass ceiling’ prevents them from rising to senior positions and having fewer opportunities to commit white collar crime.

Question 23

2 How are women controlled at home?

Answer 23

At home- dependent on the care from their parents. they are not allowed to stay out as late as sons, are required to do more housework leading to girls learning to develop socialising opportunities involving the home.

Question 24

2 How are women controlled in public?

Answer 24

In public - the way media reports on crime (rape) also controls women as it increases their fear of being outside especially alone at night.
Women are also risking ‘double jeopardy’ not only by rejecting society’s norms and values but also their own femininity

Question 25

2 Why do women have fewer opportunities to commit crime?

Answer 25

The greater time and movement restrictions placed on them by their domestic roles such as caring for young children.

Question 26

2 Supporting evidence (‘man up’ project) for gender socialisation theory?
Aim?
Outcome?

Answer 26

‘man up’ project - run in prisons, young offender institutes and other community groups.
Aims to challenge masculine identity and reconstruct a way for men to show their ‘maleness which doesn’t lead to antisocial or criminal behaviour.
84% of ppts said the programme was an ‘effective course to challenge offending behaviour’

Question 27

2 Contradictory research (chivalry hypothesis) for gender socialisation theory? Pollack (1950)?

Answer 27

Suggests that women commit more crimes than the official statistics suggest.
CJS all tend to be men - socialised to act in a more chivalrous manner towards women.
Pollack - men in the CJS tended to have a protective attitude toward women - less likely to be arrested, charged, prosecuted or convicted.

Question 28

2 Alternative explanation (hormones) for gender socialisation theory? Dabbs (1987)?

Answer 28

One way in which men and women differ is thought the production and levels of certain hormones (testosterone)
Dabbs - 9/11 inmates with the lowest testosterone concentrations committed nonviolent crimes compared with 10/11 of those with the highest concentrations who committed violent crimes

Question 29

2 Alternative explanation (oestradiol) for gender socialisation theory? Eriksson (2003)

Answer 29

Oestradiol - thought to promote empathy which is lacking in some criminals
Eriksson - compared hormone levels of males who had a history of aggression with a control group of 44 men with no such history. The aggressive men showed a negative correlation between oestradiol and testosterone - both male and female hormones play a role in at least some criminal behaviour.