Explanations for Crime

Social Learning Theory

SLT suggests antisocial behaviour is modelled and is imitated by observers. Role models are
people that an individual identifies with in some way e.g. age, gender or someone with status. If
the role model is observed doing something antisocial such as being aggressive, this information
may be retained by the observer. They will the reproduce this behaviour when in a similar
situation to that observed if they have the skills and ability to imitate this behaviour. In order for
this to occur the individual observing must be motivated to do this – this can be internal
motivation where they do it for the thrill, or external motivation which is based on positive and
negative reinforcement. If the role model is seen being praised by their peer group for getting in a
fight and gaining status for this the behaviour is likely to be imitated. Likewise, if someone sees
someone stealing and being admired because they have the latest IPhone they may also copy due
to negative reinforcement and removing the bullying they may receive for not having the latest
fashion items. Punishment however can also apply – it the role model is seen being punished or
there being a negative consequence to their actions e.g. being arrested, being unpopular; then the
individual is less likely to imitate the behaviour.

Evaluation

Supporting evidence:

Bandura found that children imitated an adult role model hitting a Bobo doll. In particular, boys
were more physically aggressive than girls who showed more verbal aggression. Both boys and
girls were likely to imitate role models of the same sex as them, however girls were also likely to
imitate the male role which may be based on the assumption that aggression is a male
characteristic.

Opposing evidence:

However evidence such as Bandura is based in a lab where some children may experience
demand characteristics. children may have been brought up to follow the orders of adults, so if
they see an adult behaving like that to the Bobo doll feel that this is expected of them. It also did
not measure whether the effects lasted outside of the lab, and therefore we cannot draw full
conclusions from this

There may be a time lapse between observation and imitation which makes it difficult to say
whether it was the observation which leads to the behaviour being imitated.

Opportunistic crime cannot be explained SLT as it does not involve seeing someone produce the
behaviour first. Therefore it can only account for some crimes such as stealing which are easily
observable rather than crimes such as murder

Just because someone witnesses a crime they may not copy it. There are a number of factors
involved such as upbringing and personal experience which may affect whether or not behaviour
is imitated.

It is unethical to study aggression and encourage it. Therefore lab experiments such as Bandura’s
have been used, however the effects of this study may be unclear as they only focus on certain
behaviour within a controlled environment.

Different explanation:

Self fulfilling prophecy says it is due to the effects of labelling that may lead to antisocial
behaviour. This suggests it is the way someone is treated which may affect behaviour.

Also it may be biological factors such as personality. People who score high on extrovert,
neuroticism and psychoticism have been associated with criminal behaviours

Application:

This theory suggests that by introducing positive role models and using reinforcement can help to
rehabilitate offenders. It also could contribute to the watershed and rating certificates on film and
video games.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy

A person commits an act is considered criminal/antisocial and they become labelled as such.
Based on this label, the individual becomes treated differently by those around them. The label
will become internalised by the individual, in particular if more than one person agrees with the
label and if the label is not far from the individual’s normal behaviour. This makes the individual
feel there is no opportunity to change and thus fulfils the prophecy of them being a criminal by
acting the way the label suggests.

An example would be that older people may have the stereotype that people wearing hoodies are
troublemakers. They see a young person wearing a hoodie and label them as a trouble maker.
Based on this label they avoid talking to them and cross the road to avoid them. Based on this
expectation from others the young person internalises this label of and begins acting in an anti-
social.

Evaluation

Supporting evidence:
Jahoda found Males born on Wednesday had a significantly higher arrest rate (22%) than males
born on Monday (6%). This is a self fulfilling prophecy because boys born on Mondays are named
KWADWO (Considered to be mild mannered) whereas boys born on a Wednesday are named
KWADKU (considered to be aggressive and short tempered). This is valid data as it comes from
crime records, however it has not been replicated so this may just be a one off

Rosenthal and Jacobson found that students labelled as bloomers had improved IQ scores and
continued to thrive for the next 2 years in comparison to other students in the class. This suggests
the ‘prophecy’ came true because the teachers responded differently to them. This study was well
controlled – children were randomly allocated to each condition, however It may be due to
teachers beliefs that they were being observed and felt they needed to act on the information they
were given. Also this was an educational setting rather than crime.

Opposing evidence:

Studies are correlational - they show a link between expectations and outcome but cause could be
due to any amount of reasons. Also a lack of ecological validity – research cannot always be
applied to real-life due to the amount of other influencing variables involved in experiments.

Not everybody conforms to the label they have been given and may do the opposite to prove that
person wrong

We cannot experimentally test the effects of SFP due to ethics - to create criminals by treating
them differently would be immoral

Few studies have been conducted into labelling and self-fulfilling prophecy because finding a
false belief (e.g. ‘about to bloom’) is difficult

Much of the research has been in field of education – teacher/pupil relationship and other
relationships may not have this effect

Different explanation:

There are alternative explanations e.g. upbringing, SLT, personality. People who score high on
extrovert, neuroticism and psychoticism have been associated with criminal behaviours. SLT says
it is the influence of role models and the individual copies this behaviour