WJEC Level 3 Applied Certificate & Diploma Criminology sample

AC2.2 DESCRIBE INDIVIDUALISTIC THEORIES OF CRIMINALITY Research shows criminality is concentrated in a small number of families. Research by Osborn and West (1979) considered sons of criminal fathers and those of no criminal fathers. They found that where the father had a criminal conviction, 40% of the sons also acquired one by the age of 18. However, only 13% of sons where the father was not criminal had a criminal conviction. While not conclusive it is consistent with a genetic view on offending. Explain the social learning theory. [6 marks] Albert Bandura’s social learning theory proposes the idea that people will learn from those around them. People often do this by observing their peers and family, and using their conduct as a model that is then imitated. Children are often most influenced by the adults around them and will repeat behaviours or reject certain behaviours based on the consequences they see for those adults. For example, if an adult enjoys a particular activity, a child may mimic this to experience the same pleasure; whereas, if an adult is punished for a particular activity, a child is less like to copy it. This is known as observational learning and can take place within the family, in prevalent sub-cultures and via the media (film, television, books, video games, etc.). Modelled aggression was illustrated in Bandura’s bobo doll experiment, which suggested that violence and aggression are produced by an arousal event. Children exposed to the aggressive modelling picked up hostile language and increased their attraction to guns. A real-life example of this could be the case of Venables and Thompson who murdered James Bulger. The judge in their case felt that exposure to violent films ( Child’s Play 3 ) could have played a part in the violent behaviour they displayed. Sutherland proposed the phrase differential associations and asserted that attitudes to crime can influence behaviour; if more favourable attitudes about crime are learned, rather than negatives, then people see criminal behaviour as acceptable. People can also learn from those around them how to commit crimes and effective methods to carry out criminal behaviours, such as committing a robbery or fraud. Sample answer Assessment: 6/6 This answer is detailed and uses appropriate terminology. It refers to research such as the bobo doll experiment and includes the support of Sutherland’s work. An example is also supplied with Child’s Play 3 . An improvement area could be to develop the bobo experiment, citing the variations used and subsequent results. However, for a 6-mark question this is not essential. 99