The Social Learning Theory of Criminality
How Do We Learn to Offend? Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory (SLT) explains criminal behaviour as something learned from other people, not something a person is born with. It argues that children learn to offend by watching role models and copying what they do. A role model could be a parent, an older sibling, a friend, or a celebrity. Adopting a role model’s attitudes and behaviour as your own is called identification. Children are more likely to identify with a role model who is the same sex as them, is high in status, or who they see being rewarded for their behaviour.
The Social Learning Theory of Criminality argues that children are more likely to identify with — and copy — role models who are similar to them, who hold power or status, or who they see being rewarded for their actions.
Observation and Imitation
Once a child identifies with a role model, they pay close attention to that person’s behaviour. This is observation. If the child then copies what they have seen, this is imitation. For example, a child who repeatedly watches a parent shoplift, and sees this go unpunished, may imitate the behaviour later on. Observation and imitation do not require the child to be directly rewarded — simply watching is enough for learning to begin.
Vicarious Reinforcement
Whether a child goes on to imitate a behaviour depends on what happens to the role model as a result of their actions. If the child observes the role model being rewarded — praised, given money, or gaining respect — for criminal or anti-social behaviour, the child experiences vicarious reinforcement. This makes the child more likely to copy the behaviour, because they expect the same reward. If the role model is punished instead, the child is less likely to imitate it.
Vicarious reinforcement happens when a child sees someone else rewarded for a behaviour and becomes more likely to copy it themselves — the child does not need to be rewarded directly for learning to take place.
Direct Reinforcement and Internalisation
Learning does not stop at observation. If a child tries out the imitated behaviour themselves and is directly rewarded for it — for example, gaining money, praise, or peer approval — this is direct reinforcement. Over time, if a behaviour is repeatedly reinforced, either vicariously or directly, the child may adopt it as a permanent part of how they behave. This final stage is called internalisation — the behaviour has moved from something copied to something the person now does automatically, as part of who they are.
Social Learning Theory explains criminality as a four-stage process: identification with a role model, observation and imitation of their behaviour, reinforcement (vicarious or direct), and finally internalisation, where the behaviour becomes a permanent part of the person.
Research Study: Cooper and Mackie (1986)
OCR requires you to know a named study supporting Social Learning Theory: Cooper and Mackie’s (1986) study into video games and aggression in children.
Background and aim: video games were becoming popular with children, and psychologists were concerned that playing violent video games might work like observing an aggressive role model, leading children to imitate aggressive actions. Cooper and Mackie aimed to find out whether playing an aggressive video game increased aggressive behaviour in children afterwards, and whether the effect was different for boys and girls.
Method: this was a laboratory experiment using fifth-grade children (around 9-10 years old), working in pairs (22 pairs of boys and 20 pairs of girls). Pairs were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: an aggressive video game, a video game with little aggression, or a non-video maze-solving game. In each pair one child played the game for 8 minutes while the other watched. Afterwards, each child was taken alone into a separate room for an 8-minute free-play session, which researchers observed and rated for aggressive behaviour (for example, time spent playing with an aggressive toy) using agreed behaviour categories.
Results and conclusions: girls who had played the aggressive video game showed more aggressive behaviour in free play than girls who had played the non-aggressive game. For boys, there was no significant difference in aggression between the two conditions. Cooper and Mackie concluded that playing an aggressive video game can increase aggression, supporting Social Learning Theory’s claim that children imitate observed aggressive behaviour — although the effect appeared to depend on gender.
Criticisms and the Nature/Nurture Debate
Social Learning Theory has strengths, but it also faces criticism, and you should be able to evaluate it.
Cooper and Mackie’s study took place in a laboratory, which raises questions about ecological validity — children’s behaviour in an artificial free-play session may not reflect how they behave in everyday life. Being watched by researchers may also cause demand characteristics, where children behave differently because they know they are being observed. The study also only measured short-term aggression straight after play, so it cannot show whether any effect lasts.
A wider criticism of Social Learning Theory is the nature/nurture debate. SLT assumes criminal behaviour is entirely learned (nurture), but it does not explain why, when exposed to the same role models, some children go on to offend and others do not. Biological explanations, such as Eysenck’s Criminal Personality Theory, suggest inherited personality traits (nature) also play a role — meaning SLT alone may be an incomplete explanation of criminality.
Applying the Theory
Social Learning Theory has real-world applications. If criminal behaviour is learned through role models and reinforcement, then reducing children’s exposure to criminal role models, and making sure anti-social behaviour is not rewarded, should reduce future offending. This idea underpins some approaches to rehabilitation, such as using positive role models to encourage pro-social behaviour instead.