Introduction
Since the beginning of our colonization, the study of criminology has always been an area of interest for researchers and has continued to evolve in result. Over the recent decades, crime rates have continued to vary, with a sharp increase in the nineteen sixties, following with a a steady decline after the nineteen nineties. In result of the erratic crime rates over the past century, the study of criminology has become more prominent than ever. Criminology is a way for researchers to understand the specific causes of crime and methods that could be used in order to prevent it from occurring. Theories were developed as a tool to be used by criminologists to gain a understanding as to why certain criminal behavior is affected …show more content…
Sutherland. Sutherland constituted nine principles to support his theory, some of which emphasized that criminal behavior was learned process through symbolic interactions with individuals, through the process of communication in intimate groups. However, it was the sixth principle in which Sutherland identified was the main concept behind differential association. According to Akers and Sellers, “This is the principle that a person commits a criminal act because he or she has learned definitions (rationalizations and attitudes) favorable to violation of law in “excess” of the definitions unfavorable to violations of law” (2013, p. 79). The process of becoming a criminal, however, is not a simple matter of association with criminals as Sutherland also emphasized the importance of his seventh principle. Akers and Sellers noted, “That is, if persons are exposed first (priority) more frequently, for a longer time (duration), and with greater intensity (importance) to law violating deviation that be law abiding definitions, then they are more likely to deviate from the law” (2013, p. 80). While differential association theory was the first and most prominent micro level learning theory developed, it still possessed common misconceptions and criticisms which researchers felt needed to be further addressed. Two of the major criticisms of the theory is that a good description of the definitions …show more content…
As stated above, social learning theory integrates principles from the theory of differential association with learning principles of operant and respondent conditioning that is drawn from social learning theory in psychology (Cullen et al., 2014). This theory also relies heavily on the element of symbolic interaction, which was also found in differential association theory as well. Akers and Burgess’s theory, however, have relied mainly on four major concepts which include, differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, and
Since the beginning of our colonization, the study of criminology has always been an area of interest for researchers and has continued to evolve in result. Over the recent decades, crime rates have continued to vary, with a sharp increase in the nineteen sixties, following with a a steady decline after the nineteen nineties. In result of the erratic crime rates over the past century, the study of criminology has become more prominent than ever. Criminology is a way for researchers to understand the specific causes of crime and methods that could be used in order to prevent it from occurring. Theories were developed as a tool to be used by criminologists to gain a understanding as to why certain criminal behavior is affected …show more content…
Sutherland. Sutherland constituted nine principles to support his theory, some of which emphasized that criminal behavior was learned process through symbolic interactions with individuals, through the process of communication in intimate groups. However, it was the sixth principle in which Sutherland identified was the main concept behind differential association. According to Akers and Sellers, “This is the principle that a person commits a criminal act because he or she has learned definitions (rationalizations and attitudes) favorable to violation of law in “excess” of the definitions unfavorable to violations of law” (2013, p. 79). The process of becoming a criminal, however, is not a simple matter of association with criminals as Sutherland also emphasized the importance of his seventh principle. Akers and Sellers noted, “That is, if persons are exposed first (priority) more frequently, for a longer time (duration), and with greater intensity (importance) to law violating deviation that be law abiding definitions, then they are more likely to deviate from the law” (2013, p. 80). While differential association theory was the first and most prominent micro level learning theory developed, it still possessed common misconceptions and criticisms which researchers felt needed to be further addressed. Two of the major criticisms of the theory is that a good description of the definitions …show more content…
As stated above, social learning theory integrates principles from the theory of differential association with learning principles of operant and respondent conditioning that is drawn from social learning theory in psychology (Cullen et al., 2014). This theory also relies heavily on the element of symbolic interaction, which was also found in differential association theory as well. Akers and Burgess’s theory, however, have relied mainly on four major concepts which include, differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement, and