D

Social learning theory as an explanation of crime

2.3 Observational learning as an explanation of criminal and antisocial behaviour

Social learning theory

You may recall social learning theory as one of the mechanisms of learning from the Learning Approach at AS Level. Social
learning theory is based on the principals of operant conditioning and observational learning. Operant conditioning uses
reinforcements and punishments to explain how characteristics may be learned:
 positive reinforcement involves receiving something good for an action, which ‘reinforces’ or encourages the
behaviour to be repeated
e.g. one might get material gain from criminal activity, such as robbery, and so is likely to repeat it for the same
rewards
 negative reinforcement involves the removal of a burden or something bad when a certain behaviour is reproduced,
which again reinforces that behaviour to be repeated
e.g. a criminal who steals might have their financial hardship removed, and so will sustain this by stealing again

Based on these principles, social learning theory would expect most criminals who commit a second crime to have
committed the same crime twice, rather than two different crimes.

Observational learning is another aspect of social learning theory, which uses the principles of vicarious reinforcement
whereby behaviours are learned through reinforcement as above, but by observing others and seeing them be rewarded
or punished appropriately (for example, if someone sees a criminal getting sentenced to imprisonment, they are less
likely to commit the crime themselves, whereas if a criminal friend makes a lot of money from theft, they might learn to
do the same so they can have the same rewards).

Modelling
Learning behaviours through others via reinforcement occurs through a process known as modelling. Modelling explains
how observational learning can only take place where someone identifies with another person in some way (this person
will be their role model). Role models are likely to be of the same sex, roughly the same age and share similar interests as
the person doing the learning, and are likely to be in a position of power, success or fame.

Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)

In 1961, Bandura, Ross and Ross decided to investigate modelling and social learning theory with their Bobo doll
experiment. Full details on this experiment can be found in the AS notes from the Learning Approach from the AS site:
http://aspsychology101.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/5-6-bandura-ross-and-ross-1961.pdf

The researchers found that those who were observing role models of the same gender were much more likely to imitate
their behaviour (in this case, abusing an inflatable Bobo doll with various items of toy weaponry). They also noticed that
children were more likely to imitate role models who were aggressive than those who were not. Boys were found to be
more easily influenced by aggressive behaviour of role models than girls, although girls were still affected.

There are a series of stages involved in the modelling process. Bandura (1977) described what he considered to be the
four cognitive processes in observational learning. These were:
 attention – the role model must have attention and the behaviour should be observed
 retention – the observer must be able to retain a memory of the observed behaviour
 reproduction – the observer must have the ability to reproduce the learned behaviour
 motivation – finally, there must be a motivation for the observer to reproduce the behaviour

Also, Bandura (1977) identified three factors which he thought determined whether or not a model is to be imitated:
1 vicarious consequences – if the model is punished, behaviour is less likely to be copied, and if the model is rewarded
for showing a certain behaviour and the observer views the crime as victimless (e.g. shoplifting), it is more likely to be
imitated, due to both success and reward of the crime and the lack of victims

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 2 external motivation – once the behaviour has been copied then the rules of operant conditioning apply (i.e.
behaviours which are rewarded are more likely to be repeated, and punishment will likely deter behaviours)
3 self-reinforcement – a behaviour is more likely to be repeated if it satisfies some internal needs, for example
excitement when committing the crime or a feeling of power

Evaluation of social learning theory as an explanation of crime

Although in psychology social learning theory is used more as an explanation of antisocial behaviour and aggression than
it is for crime (it is in sociology that social learning theory is applied to explaining criminal behaviour), the same principles
apply and the theory can be used in a criminal context. Below are some evaluative points for the theory as an explanation
of criminal and antisocial behaviour:

 There is a lot of evidence to show that behaviour does
get imitated, including evidence to show that aggressive
behaviour is often copied (see 2.4 Violence in the media
for some examples of research into this)
 The theory has a practical application as the principles
can be used to rehabilitate offenders, using good role
models to reinforce appropriate behaviours with
appropriate reinforcements to change the ways of
criminals
 The theory does not look at individual differences,
only at how an individual is affected by social factors,
and so biological aspects are not considered in this
explanation
 The theory does not provide an explanation for
opportunistic crime which has not been observed and
learnt first (so mainly applies to light crimes such as
theft and aggression, rather than murder and rape,
for example)

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