Learning Theory

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Learning Theory
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Ever Smoked Pot?
Yes 69.8
Smoke Pot Almost Every Day?
Yes 14.3
What motivates a person to go from the first
group to the second?
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Beckers View

• Because pot is not physically addicting, the
  motivation to get high must be learned
• Getting high takes practice
• Users and non-users are fundamentally the same
  only differ in what they have learned

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Necessary Condition, 1

• Learn techniques from others
• Direct instruction from mentors
• Indirect watching and imitating
• If the proper technique is not learned, use will
  cease

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Necessary Condition, 2

• Learn to perceive the drugs effects
• Dizzy, thirsty, intense hunger, light-headed,
  rubbery legs, warped sense of time, paranoia
• Sensations must be connected to the drug
• If the user does not learn to connect the
  sensations to the drug, use will cease

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Necessary Condition, 3

• Learn to perceive the effects as enjoyable
• Could be getting sick, going crazy, or having a
  great time
• If the user does not learn to perceive the
  effects of the drug as pleasurable, use will cease

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ConclusionMotivation is Learned

• Motivation is learned in the process of smoking
• No need to consider other causes, such as stress,
  need for escape, low-self esteem
• Bottom line no learning, no motivation, no pot
  smoking

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A Life of Crime?

• Could you go out tomorrow and start a life of
  crime?
• What kind of crime would get into?
• How would you get started?

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Learning Theory

• Deviant behavior is learned in intimate social
  contexts
• Attitudes, values, norms, techniques, and motives
• Deviants are the same as everyone else
• The difference lies in what they have learned,
  from whom, and in what contexts

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Edwin Sutherlands (1934)Differential
Association Theory

1. Deviant behavior is learned
2. In interaction with other people
3. Particularly intimate groups (family and peers)

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Differential Association Theory

• 4. Learning includes
• Techniques
• Motives/drives
• Attitudes neutralizations, rationalizations
• 5. Deviants learn to define the conventional
  norms as unfavorable

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The Heart of Differential Association Theory

• 6. Deviance results from an excess of definitions
  favorable to norm violations over definitions
  unfavorable to norm violations (a ratio)

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Differential Association Theory

• 7. Differential associations vary in
• a. Frequency of interaction
• b. Duration of relationship
• c. Temporal priority first come
• d. Intensity emotional importance

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Differential Association Theory

• 8. Learning deviance is the same as learning
  anything else
• 9. Deviant and non-deviant behavior are the
  result of learned motivations and values

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Refining Differential Association Theory

• Problem with Diff. Assoc. Theory
• Learned attitudes -gt behavior
• Too vague, difficult to measure
• Differential Reinforcement Theory (Burgess,
  Akers)
• Behavior is influenced by its consequences
• Rewards and punishments determine behavior

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Distinguishing Features ofDiff. Reinforcement
Theory

• Differential Reinforcement
• Lifetime balance of anticipated or actual rewards
  and punishments -gt probability of behavior
• Imitation
• Explains onset of behavior, but not persistence

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Summary of Learning Theories

• Differential Association Theory (Sutherland)
• Deviance results from an excess of definitions
  favorable to norm violations over definitions
  unfavorable to norm violations (a ratio), focus
  on attitudes
• Differential Reinforcement Theory (Burgess and
  Akers)
• Deviance results from a lifetime balance of
  anticipated or actual rewards and punishments
  that promote deviance (a ratio)
• Imitation explains onset, but not persistence