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Theories of Crime
- Psychological theory of
crime
- Self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP)
- suggests that an
observer's stereotypes
can affect the observed
- if an observer holds false beliefs about another
person or social group, these beliefs change
how the observer behaves, specifically making
them respond in ways that are likely to evoke the
expected behaviour from the observed individual
- confirming their expectations and
reinforcing this stereotype
- confirming their expectations and
reinforcing this stereotype
- Applied to crime
- the SFP suggests that negative expectations
cause individuals to behave towards others in
ways that evoke criminal behaviour because their
stereotypes change their social interactions
- the SFP suggests that negative expectations
cause individuals to behave towards others in
ways that evoke criminal behaviour because their
stereotypes change their social interactions
- Recidivism
- SFP also explains recidivism
- once labelled, the image is hard to shift as
other people reinforce it with their behaviour
- once labelled, the image is hard to shift as
other people reinforce it with their behaviour
- repeating an undesirable
behaviour after receiving some
form of treatment/punishment
- SFP also explains recidivism
- Madon (2005) found that when mother's
believed their children would drink more,
this expectation was likely to be fulfilled
- however, possible that the
mothers were good judges of
their offspring's future behaviour
- however, possible that the
mothers were good judges of
their offspring's future behaviour
- suggests that an
observer's stereotypes
can affect the observed
- Self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP)
- Social theory of
crime
- Social learning theory
- suggests that learning occurs when
one individual (the learner) observes
and imitates another (the model)
- Bandura (1977) - observer must pay
attention, be able to retain and also
reproduce what they have observed
and be motivated to do so
- motivation may be internal or external
- internal motivation
= generated by
identification with
a model
- external motivation =
from direct reinforcement
or vicarious reinforment
- vicarious reinforcement =
seeing a model benefit
from their behaviour
- vicarious reinforcement =
seeing a model benefit
from their behaviour
- internal motivation
= generated by
identification with
a model
- however, lab.
experiment so can't
represent criminal
behaviour in real life
- motivation may be internal or external
- suggests that learning occurs when
one individual (the learner) observes
and imitates another (the model)
- Applied to crime
- children whose parents are criminals
or who are surrounded by other role
models who are criminals are likely to
be motivated to imitate this behaviour
- children whose parents are criminals
or who are surrounded by other role
models who are criminals are likely to
be motivated to imitate this behaviour
- Individual differences
- learner
characteristics
also matter
- individuals with low self-esteem
are more likely to imitate
- important as low self-esteem is
linked with criminal behaviour
- important as low self-esteem is
linked with criminal behaviour
- learner
characteristics
also matter
- however, Bandura suggests that
there are factors other than
models that determine which
specific acts will be imitated
(more verbal aggression in girls,
and physical aggression in boys)
- Social learning theory
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