Title Head: PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIME
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Introduction
Most of the common behaviors are acquired through observation and imitation. Children learn moral behaviors much the same way they learn a new language. The environment in which the child stays determines whether he will turn out to be a good or a bad individual. The social theory of learning deals with learning activities that take place within social contexts. The general assumption of the social learning theory is that it is from each other that people learn. People learn as they interact from each other though such things as observational learning, modeling and imitation. It is a theory advanced by, among others, Albert Bandura whom people consider as its chief proponent. Social learning can be more specifically described as acquisition, instigation and regulation.
The social theory of learning is concerned with the psychological explanations into a persons aggression that touch on acts that are injurious and which border on aversive motivation. Study into aggression has identified that the intention of the aggressor is actually limited. In most of the cases the aggressor has no intention of harming the victim. It is an act that occurs spontaneously and before the aggressor notices, the victim is already harmed. The causes of such actions are actually not known and the only thing that can be done is to incarcerate the offender. The term aggression is used to imply the act of inflicting injury to another person, which may sometimes be fatal. It is not limited to bodily harm only as it is also used to signify destruction of property. Injury may be in the form of physical harm or psychological devaluation. For a certain behavior to be judged as aggression depends on whether it is proved to be intentional. Cases of accidental injury do not qualify to be termed as aggression as the motive is not premeditated and may be an act of extreme provocation (Skeem, 2004).
Under normal circumstances people are careful not to aggress in manner that may lead to a retaliatory action against them. They ensure this by avoiding aggressing in a very conspicuous way. They are very careful to avoid being noticed in a bid to avoid a counterattack.
Social learning theory has several principles and the most prominent one is the one that says that people learn by observing others. The behaviors of other people as well as the outcomes of those behaviors determine what a person will copy from them. It is a widely held view that people within a society learn some certain behaviors by observing what others do and as such it is by coping others that people acquire the behaviors they display. It is also held that a person can learn some form of behavior without displaying a change. It is the belief of behavioral experts that for learning to be deemed to take place it must be accompanied by a change in behavior which is permanent. Theorists of social learning argue that people can learn by observing alone, although performance may not reflect their learning. Learning does not always result in a change in behavior. In learning, cognition is very crucial as it plays part in the process of interpreting meaning in human action. While on cognition, it is very important to note that expectations as well as awareness for future reinforcements coupled with punishment leads change in behavior. People choose to have good behavior although they may not like it due to fear of reprisals in terms of punishment (Geis, 2008).
The theory of Social learning is a transition or a bridge that links behaviorist theories with cognitive learning theories. This therefore implies that social learning theories encompass behaviorist as well as cognitive learning theories. According to Ormrod (1999), modeling other peoples behavior acts as a basis for modeling in social learning theory. Bandura (1976) adds that the environment also helps in reinforcing modeling. This can happen in a couple of ways. He is categorical that the model reinforces the observer. A person who changes his of her way of dressing so as to identify with a certain group stands a great chance of being accepted by that particular group, thus the group reinforces him or her. A third person also can reinforce the observer. The observer can choose to model the deeds of a person they respect for example the favorite teacher. Upon noticing this, the teacher compliments the student for putting the effort to model the behavior of the teacher and in the process help to reinforce the behavior. The behavior that is imitated may itself lead to reinforcing effects. People more often than not learn most of their behaviors from other people. These behaviors produce reinforcing or satisfying effects. A student may observe a satisfying behavior in a fellow student and in turn copy it to receive enjoyment. Bandura (1976) also talks of vicarious reinforcement whereby the effects of the behavior of the model affect the behavior of the observer in a vicarious way. A group of people may see the model being praised for doing something and without reinforcing; this group may also start doing what the model was doing.
There are several conditions that are essential for modeling to occur effectively. It is through paying attention to the model that a person can acquire a certain behavior. Retention is also important as the observer must put an effort at remembering the observed behavior. Motor production is the third most important factor as the observer should be able to replicate the behavior that has been demonstrated by the model. Motivation is a very crucial factor and for a certain behavior to be acquired there has to be a motivator. This makes the observer have the urge to demonstrate the behavior that has been observed (Bower, B et al, 2001).
In social learning theories modeling can have a positive or negative effect in reinforcing behavior. Modeling can have the effect of teaching new behavior. It also tends to have an influence over the frequency in which behaviors were learned previously recur. Modeling can also encourage or influence the reemergence of behaviors that were previously forbidden. It also increases the occurrence of behaviors that are similar. A student may feel encouraged to excel in mathematics because a friend excels in biology. In terms of self efficacy, people tend to adopt behaviors which they feel they are able to succeed in hence a belief that they have the capability to execute them successfully. This implies self-efficacy. This is basically means having confidence in oneself towards learning.
Social learning theory is useful in helping people learn through observation. Modeling is also important as it assists in instilling desired behaviors in people. This implies that behaviors that are appropriate are passed on to other people through modeling. This is useful in teaching good behavior within the society in order to avoid delinquent behaviors such as crime. Through social learning theory, people learn to have realistic expectations as they are aware of what they are capable of achieving. This means that people ought to have expectations that are neither too high nor too low. Through social learning, people learn the virtue of self regulation and as such they are able to improve on their behavior and acquire new behaviors that are desirable in the society (Stuttaford, 1998).
There are several behaviors that can be learned through modeling. Aggression is among the behaviors that are mostly learned through models. Others are reading in which students can learn through watching others for example teachers or parents and senior students. It is through modeling that people learn moral behavior. Moral behavior is mainly influenced as people observe and model others who possess the desired morals. Moral behaviors entail making moral judgments concerning what is right and what is wrong and this is mostly developed by way of modeling.
The cause of Jennifer’s criminal behavior can be explained in terms of the social learning theory. Bandura gives an insight into this in his comprehensive work covering this topic. It is rather strange that Jennifer, a girl aged only 16 years, should find herself behind bars for capital offence as a result of aggressive behavior which is attributable to association with bad groups. Peer influence in the usual suspect in the crime that was committed by Jennifer as she was accompanied by her 18 years old friend in committing the crime. Together with her friend she murdered a foreign tourist by stabbing him to death in the streets. The collective injurious tendencies of Jennifer and her friend can best be tackled though several theories in criminal sociology. She ought not to have committed that crime had it not have been for observational behavior. Modeling is mostly responsible for such behavior as she would not have learned it by herself (Chance, 1999)
According to Jennifer, it mattered more how her father behaved more that anything else. It matters the kind of friends one acquires for people to judge them. Using social learning theory to analyze Jennifer’s case it is easy to notice that her case has to do with modeling. Jennifer has gone through a lot trauma after her father left their family. It does not help that her mother got married to another man who actually showed no concern for the family after her father let the family. To start with, the biological father to Jennifer was a very irresponsible man, who, according to social cognition, must have modeled her into the behavior that she displayed immediately after leaving home. A critical look into Jennifer’s case into Jennifer’s case does not reveal a person who actually intended to get into crime (Bing, J et al, 1999).
It is important to consider people in situations similar to Jennifer’s. According to Bandura, people who exhibit behaviors similar to that of Jennifer need to be given a more critical consideration because most of the times it is not out of their choosing that the exhibit such behaviors. Jennifer is not beyond redemption. She is one girl who can be helped. To understand that she has gone through psychological trauma will help a lot in making her retrace her steps. Perhaps a look into Jennifer’s past will help in better understanding the kind of tribulations she is undergoing. It is obvious that she never really chose to commit the kind of crime hat she is now being charged for. For Jennifer’s case, Social learning theory has it that she can be reformed.
To look at Jennifer’s case from a subjective point does not help improve the situation. Indeed, it will take people who are objective to help her because she does not suffer from a case that is alien to psychology. Her mother was very irresponsible to leave her to feign indifference to the torture that she had to go through. It is informative that Jennifer’s sister had to run away. This should be the point of departure for a classical and a case study for criminal psychology.
Jennifer’s mother has contributed more to the girl’s problem more than her sister has. Her mother should have raised the alarm the time she noticed that Jennifer’s father in law was abusing her elder sister. It would have been arrested way before it got to the stag it has gotten at the moment. It does no matter that Jennifer’s mother did not know what was going on and the reason her elder sister ran away. She should have known that her daughter was bound to follow in the shoes of her sister way before she actually ran away. The case of Jennifer’s family has actually negatively modeled her. It all started with the ways of her biological father who ran away for obvious reasons.
Jennifer was tormented by the way her biological father treated her. According to social cognition, she emulated her father’s violent behavior and consequently became aggressive as time went by. It is quite clear that their father would beat them up for no apparent reason. He should have known that the girls were bound to copy his behavior through the behavior of modeling. It is not contestable that Jennifer was emulating g her father in being aggressive. Unknown to her father, she was copying her father’s behavior bit. Taking Jennifer away from her father in law would have been the most the most appropriate way to help her. It is worthy noting that she did not get into crime out of her own volition.
Jennifer acquired her deviant behavior through observation and imitation. Hers is one among many cases whereby teenagers learn bad behaviors through observing their parents. It is upon parents to teach their children moral behaviors because it is fro the immediate environment that children learn most of what they grow up to be. At the tender age of sixteen, Jennifer ought to be enjoying parental love instead of being sexually abused, both at home and on the streets where she had been selling sex. People start acquiring moral behaviors at a relatively early stage, even before they can learn how to speak. Childhood is the determinant stage at which a person learns behaviors and it is essential that parents take good car of their children in order to instill a sense of responsibility in whatever they do (Dalrymple, 1998).
Jennifer was subjected to a harsh environment and as a result she learned to treat people in a harsh way, just the way she was treated. The social theory of learning and cognition proposes that people learn from others and as such Jennifer learned most of her deviant behaviors from her partner in crime who indeed proposed that they engage in crime so that they can get money to buy hard drugs. It must be stated that it all started with learning the vice of taking hard drugs, then learning how to do drugs and finally crime. She interacted with people of bad behavior and she eventually learned how to behave the way they did, according to social theory of learning. Jennifer was more of a victim of observation in terms of social theories of education. She was motivated by what had happened to her and as such she became a victim of her own experience.
It was through observational learning, modeling as well as imitation that Jennifer learned her bad moral behavior. Bandura (1976) observes that such behaviors are learned though acquisition, instigation as well as regulation. Jennifer was more of an observational learner becoming aggressive. Modeling also played a very big role as her behavior was reinforced by that of her peers on the streets. Her co-accused should share most of the blame considering her age and experience on the streets. Without sounding judgmental, Jennifer was forced by circumstances into what she has found herself into, more specifically through what she has had to undergo both home and away.
The poor girl’s case can be explained by adopting a adopting a psychological point of view. Her aggression can be more understood if psychological explanations were made. Hers is purely a case of injurious acts that are indeed motivated by aversion. Jennifer hated her father due to the mistreatment he meted out on her. Her hatred was taken a notch higher as her mother married another man and instead of helping her heal her woods, the man in fact got more physical and started molesting her sexually. Sexual molestation is not one thing that children easily forget and t6he trauma persists up to a point whereby vengeance is adopted as an option. Jennifer decided to meet out her anger on the foreign tourist who was stabbed to death by her friend.
Jennifer’s aggression was not intended as it was actually an act of vengeance. She was deeply traumatized by the acts of her biological father as well as her step father who worsened things by defiling her. Jennifer’s situation needs psychological help. People who have already gone through such trauma ought to be counseled. It is very unusual for a person of her age to do such a thing. It is actually unimaginable that Jennifer (Skeem, 2004)
The case of Jennifer would have been easier to deal with if her step father was more caring instead of molesting her. It may be very difficult to deal with her case as the damage has already been done. Hers is a social activity that took place within a social context and hence she has already formed a certain social trend which will take a l0one time to change. Cases of deviant behavior are hard to deal with especially in teenagers. Jennifer had already gone through a lot of psychological trauma before she was sixteen. Dealing with cases of sexual abuse needs a person who is able to socialize the patient as is Jennifer’s case. Although people may want to assign a criminal dimension to her case, Jennifer is actually ailing from the crimes that were done on her both by her father and step father.
The fact that Jennifer does not consider what she did a crime is enough proof that she actually did not intent to do any harm to the person that her friend stabbed. The moat effective remedy to her situation is to be taken to a rehabilitation center wh3ere she can be corrected and socialized back to the society. Most people who display cases that are similar to hers are best suited for rehabilitation centers s that they can be weaned back into the normal society. She needs to be taken through interaction with normal people so that she can learn normal ways of interacting with people through social cognition. Living in a normal society whereby she is treated with love will help her sober up and forget her violent ways. Aggression is acquired and can be de-learned. It is hard to imagine that a girl who is barely sixteen can be so vicious but considering what she had to go through it is easy to understand her predicament. Her aggression started when she was living with her step father. The time h3er father in law tried to force him on her is the time she got the courage and decided that enough was enough. This is something that she must have contemplated for a long time.
According to social theory of learning, Jennifer was very careful to aggress in a manner that would not make her victim get the advantage to retaliate. When she hit he father she made sure that she ran away so that she could not be caught. Social theory of learning suggests that people are careful to aggress in a manner that they will not be caught by their victim and in most cases they are car4eful to ensure that the victim does not notice them (PROFILERS, 2004).
Conclusion
It is crucial for parents to realize the importance of modeling in building behavior in their children. It has been observed that most delinquent cases arise out of lack of concern by the parents or care takers. Jennifer acquired her behaviors through observation as well as imitation. This is common with most people as they learn moral behaviors just the same way they learn new sets of rules or language language. The environment in which Jennifer used to stay was the determinant factor to her defiant and delinquent character. The social theory of learning reveals that social contexts it is within social contexts that social activities take place, and in the case of Jennifer they were negative. It is actually by learning from each other that people acquire new behaviors. People learn as they interact from each other though observational learning, modeling and imitation. It is a theory advanced by, among others, Albert Bandura whom people consider as its chief proponent. Social learning can be more specifically described as acquisition, instigation and regulation.
In most of the cases the aggressor does not intend harm the victim. It is an act that occurs spontaneously and before the aggressor notices, the victim is already harmed. The causes of such actions are actually not known and the only thing that can be done is to incarcerate the offender. The term aggression is used to imply the act of inflicting injury to another person, which may sometimes be fatal. It is not limited to bodily harm only as it is also used to signify destruction of property (Kluger, 2007). Injury may be in the form of physical harm or psychological devaluation. For a certain behavior to be judged as aggression depends on whether it is proved to be intentional. Cases of accidental injury do not qualify to be termed as aggression as the motive is not premeditated and may be an act of extreme provocation.
Jennifer was careful to avoid aggress in manner that may lead to a retaliatory action against them. They ensure this by avoiding aggressing in a very conspicuous way. They are very careful to avoid being noticed in a bid to avoid a counterattack. Social learning theory has some principles and the most prominent one is the one that says that people learn by observing others. The behaviors of other people and the outcomes of those behaviors determine what a person will copy from them. It is a widely held view that people within a society learn some certain behaviors by observing what others do and as such it is by coping others that people acquire the behaviors they display. It is also held that a person can learn some form of behavior without displaying a change. It is the belief of behavioral experts that for learning to be deemed to take place it must be accompanied by a change in behavior which is permanent. Theorists of social learning argue that people can learn by observing alone, although performance may not reflect their learning. Learning does not always result in a change in behavior. Cognition is very vital in learningl as it plays part in the process of interpreting meaning in human action. While on cognition, it is very important to note that expectations as well as awareness for future reinforcements coupled with punishment leads change in behavior. People choose to have good behavior although they may not like it due to fear of reprisals in terms of punishment (Ormrod, 1999).
Social learning theory is a transition or a bridge that links behaviorist theories with cognitive learning theories and is applicable in Jennifer’s case. This therefore implies that social learning theories encompass behaviorist as well as cognitive learning theories. Modeling other peoples behavior acts as a basis for modeling in social learning theory. Bandura (1976) adds that the environment also helps in reinforcing modeling. This can happen in a couple of ways. Model reinforces the observer. A person who changes his of her way of dressing so as to identify with a certain group stands a great chance of being accepted by that particular group, thus the group reinforces him or her. A third person also can reinforce the observer. The observer can choose to model the deeds of a person they respect for example the favorite teacher. The teacher compliments the student for putting the effort to model the behavior of the teacher and in the process help to reinforce the behavior. The behavior that is imitated may itself lead to reinforcing effects. People are able to learn their behaviors from others. Jennifer’s behavior can be corrected through isolation from her group on the street.
REFERENCES
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