4 - Environmental Factors

the four sociological theory varieties

1. learning (differential association)

2. strain

3. control

4. labelling

differential association theory

Edwin Sutherland

• reaction to prevailing and psychological and psychiatric conceptualizations

rooted in observation that crime appears to concentrate in areas especially plagued by low SES, overcrowding, high unemployment, etc.

9 propositions of differential association theory

1. criminal behaviour is learned

2. learning is from social interaction

3. interaction must be firsthand

4. content of learning is technique, motives, attitudes, and supporting cognitions

5. learned content is only criminal if it conflicts with the law. it isn’t inherently “anti-law”. It’s about a clash of cultures

6. degree of criminality depends on how much content is learned (or code is internalized)

7. degree of criminality is a function of length, frequency, intensity, historical sequencing, and personal impact of exposure

8. true learning affected by reinforcement, not mimicry

9. learning is not a function of material need

ratio of criminal to non-criminal associations is of _______ importance (differential association theory)

paramount

exposure to criminals norms and attitudes is ______ to learn from them

(differential association theory)

required

differential identification

deviant or criminal behavior is learned from strangers and non- strangers alike based on the extent to which individuals identify with them rather than the frequency of contact with these real or imaginary persons

• ex., sympathetic for the bad guys on TV

problems with differential association theory

1. fails to address person/exposure interactions

2. causation or correlation?

   1. some people gravitate to the lifestyle, associate with antisocial peers due to shared interests

3. we can’t be sure that shifts of attitude change can precipitate crime

4. generates few testable hypotheses

5. doesn’t adequately specify the sub-processes

strain theories

Merton & Durkheim

crime isn’t about clash of cultures, but agreement of desires

strain / anomie

disparity between goals and means of obtaining goals of society

class structure

why isn’t everyone from the lower class criminal? (5 options)

(strain theory)

• conformity: accept means and goals

• innovation: reject means, accept goals

• retreatism: reject means and goals

• ritualism: accept means, reject goals

• rebellion: new means, new goals

problems with strain theory

1. mechanism of selection (ex., who rejects means or goals) is unclear

2. crimes exist at all levels of SES

control theory

Hirschi

we are barbarians by nature, conformity is unnatural

delinquency risk increases with feelings of alienation

how conformity would come about in control theory

• intact self-concept

• positive goal orientation

• sufficient frustration tolerance

• personal commitment to social norms

• roles and relationships that fulfill social needs

what stops us from delinquency in control theory?

1. attachment to others

2. keeping busy with productive and legal pursuits

3. commitment to pro-social norms

problems with control theory

1. Agnew found attachment and commitment aren’t good predictors of avoidance

2. how bonds are loosened or broken is unclear

3. doesn’t account for “self-control”, all control presumed to be socially exerted

labeling theory (3 assumptions)

Lemert

three assumptions:

1. the rich and influential get to decide what is criminal (crime is a social construct)

2. the justice industry base treatment of offenders on their demographic characteristics, not their crime

3. once folks have labelled you as deviant, a vicious cycle begins

secondary deviance

after labelled as criminal, you are always criminal

primary deviance

initial crime is immaterial, the subsequent stigma does more damage

problems with labelling theory

1. stipulated weak relationship between crime and punishment simply isn’t there

2. Morash, experienced delinquents are less affected by social affects of labelling

   1. labelling most impactful on higher SES, females, white, low-time offenders who aren’t likely to reoffend anyways

little evidence to support this theory

three classes of learning theories

• applied behavioural analysis (radical)

• neo-behavioural (pavlovian and instrumental) / ABC

• social learning theory (cognitive-behavioural)

social learning theory

• symbolic mental processes: are vital means of testing behaviours and evaluating possible outcomes

  • thoughts influence behaviour

• role of reinforcers: create expectancies

• role of individuals in shaping environment: important, large effect

applied behavioural analysis

• symbolic mental processes: “mini” behaviours, shaped by learning not conscious

  • mental narrative is irrelevant

• role of reinforcers: simply strengthen beahviour

• role of individuals in shaping environment: effect only incidental

Mowrer-Miller two-process model

1. situational cues become Pavlovian CSs for USs

   1. aversive US results in fear and anxiety

2. avoidance of those cues is instrumentally reinforced for aversive URs, pursuit for appetitive USs

in pavlovian learning, reinforcement is administered ______ of if organism behaves in a certain way

irrespective

Samurai Mowrer-Miller two-process model

pavlovian: observed others killing on command, and then celebration (pairs killing with extreme pleasure)

instrumental/operant: once a student gets to kill, it becomes an operant learning

Col Dave Grossman

had website about how people become killers, controversial

• said to stop teaching our children to kill through desensitization of violence in the media

• video games help with accuracy and firing the more realistic that they are, the more reinforcing

socialization is largely a matter of _____ ______

response inhibition

why don’t CRs develop adequately in deviants?

1. punishment cues are not adequately established in childhood

2. individual responds abnormally to punishment contingencies

   1. could be neuropsychologically based

problems with Mowrer-Miller theory

avoidance learning is perfectly possible in the absence of anxiety or arousal

• affective responses develop in the course of mental rehearsal

• prior conditioning of various imagery and vicarious processes

• vicarious processes are also included

• “status” of model is important

self control

self-administered rewards and punishments

• can be modified by internal dialogue

desistance vs. guilt

just a question of where in the response chain self-punishment is applied

• earlier = desistance

• later = guilt