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AC2.2 Unit 2 Describe individualistic theories of criminality £4.98
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AC2.2 Unit 2 Describe individualistic theories of criminality

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This document is for anyone in Year 12 - Criminology Unit 2 AC2.2 (EXAM BOARD - WJEC). These notes are written in a flow pattern, allowing you to understand how an answer can be formed.

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  • December 11, 2021
  • 13
  • 2022/2023
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  • ac22 unit 2 criminology
  • ac22 individualistic theories of criminology
  • wjec ac22 unit 2
  • criminology ac22

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UNIT 2 – CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES NOTES
AC2.2 – Describe Individualistic Theories of Criminality
What are Individualistic Theories of criminality?
This section is all about how psychology could contribute to our understanding of why
people commit crime, they look at:
o Look for psychological explanations
o Trying to understand how the working of the mind might cause criminality
This looks at:
1) Behaviour/Learning theories
2) Psychodynamic theories
3) Psychological/personality theories

LEARNING THEORIES
These are interested in what we learn from the environment and the people around us
Focus is on nurture not nature
Comes from the Behaviourist branch of Psychology
All of our behaviour can be explained in terms of learning (everything is a learnt)
Behaviourism: Two main ways in which we learn…
o Operant conditioning: this happens when our behaviours are ‘reinforced’
 They are rewarded or punished in some way *we are conditioned*
 We are likely to repeat behaviour that is rewarded
 And unlikely to repeat behaviours that are punished

o Social Learning: this happens by watching people
 And by imitating/copying them *we socially learn*

OPERANT CONDITIONING:
o This was originally called ‘instrumental learning’ by Edward Thorndike who
experimented using a ‘puzzle box’ for cats
o This was later called ‘operant conditioning’ by BF Skinner
o Skinner researched with carefully controlled experiments (repeated for strong
conclusions)
o He used rats and pigeons in a ‘Skinner box’
o He kept them hungry so that he could use food as a reward
o At first, he would give a food pellet whenever the animal did something close to
what he wanted

, UNIT 2 – CRIMINOLOGICAL THEORIES NOTES
AC2.2 – Describe Individualistic Theories of Criminality
o E.g., he would reward only when the pigeon came near a red disk
o Then only when it pecked near it and then only when it pecked the disk itself
o Eventually, through ‘successive approximations’, he taught the pigeon to peck a disk
for food
*SKINNER BELIEVED THAT ALL BEHAVIOUR IS LEARNT THROUGH CONDITONING*
Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Punishment

o A desired behaviour is o Something unpleasant is o This is when something
rewarded with something taken away because the pleasant is taken away
pleasant desired behaviour is
produced o Or something unpleasant
o So, the desired behaviour is is given because someone
likely to be repeated o So, they are more likely to has shown undesired
repeat the behaviour behaviour
(e.g., you revise for an exam
and you get a certificate, you (e.g., you have not done o Therefore, they are less
are happy so likely to repeat) work, so get detentions, but likely to repeat the
start doing work and then behaviour
the detentions go away)
(e.g. slapping)

Skinner argued that operant conditioning could happen whenever there was:
Operant Conditioning – How does this apply to criminality?
Jeffery’s differential reinforcement:
Jeffery drew on Skinner’s ideas and developed the idea of ‘differential reinforcement
theory’
A person might engage in crime if the rewards outweigh the punishments
E.g., making money, gaining respect, friendship, belonging to a gang…
Jeffery argues that to explain crime, we need to look at the balance of rewards and
punishments
If a person is gaining more reward for it than punishment, then they are more likely to
continue that behaviour. This helps us understand gang culture or criminal families.

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