Deck 6: Differential Association and Social Learning Theories

Question 1

Which of the following is one of Sutherland's nine propositions of differential association theory?

A) Differential association may vary in frequency, duration, priority, and intensity.
B) Mechanisms involved in learning crime are fundamentally different from those involved in other learning.
C) Some individuals are psychologically predisposed to engage in deviant behavior.
D) Criminal behavior is a rational choice that offenders make when provided with a specific set of circumstances.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Demonstrating the efficacy of differential association and social learning theories will probably involve empirical studies that examine learning criminal behavior through communication with ______ others.

A) informal
B) political
C) formal
D) intimate

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The idea that robbery is more likely to occur when it is frequently reinforced, infrequently punished, and results in large amounts of money is consistent with ______ Theory.

A) Social Learning
B) Differential Social Location
C) Techniques of Neutralization
D) Differential Association

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Social Learning Theory suggests that deviant behavior is learned in part through the principles of ______ conditioning.

A) classic
B) operant
C) differential
D) imitative

Question 5

Akers et al. (1998) conducted a Midwest self-report study on drug use, finding that social learning variables were predictive of which substance use?

A) heroin and methamphetamine
B) methamphetamine and alcohol
C) alcohol and marijuana
D) cocaine and heroin

Question 6

In Social Learning Theory, definitions can be favorable to a behavior, neutralizing, or ______.

A) reproachful
B) contradictory
C) imitative
D) deviant

Question 7

Social learning theories are criticized for a tendency to focus on ______.

A) drug addicts
B) juvenile delinquents
C) institutionalized offenders
D) newborns and toddlers

Question 8

Which of the following examples demonstrates the limited scope of differential association and social learning for explaining deviance?

A) alcoholism
B) marijuana use
C) domestic violence
D) mental illness

Question 9

What does Akers' suggest culture deviance theories and Differential Association Theory have in common?

A) explanatory value for mental illness
B) the emphasis on community
C) socialization and how it is reinforced
D) inability to explain sexual aggression

Question 10

Anderson's (1999) Code of the Street provided support for ______ explanations of crime and deviance.

A) social learning
B) subcultural
C) differential association
D) feminist

Question 11

The goal of Hunt's jamband study was to examine ______.

A) how well differential association explains marijuana use
B) the Subculture of Violence Theory
C) whether concert-goers came from "decent" or "street" families
D) within-group differences in prosocial and antisocial behavior

Question 12

Studies on using differential association and social learning theories to explain gender disparities in deviance suggest that ______.

A) these theories account for most gender disparities in deviant behavior
B) these theories are unable to explain gender disparities in deviant behavior
C) more research is required before we can draw a conclusion
D) meta-analysis alone cannot determine if these theories explain gender disparities in deviance

Question 13

The earliest programs based implicitly or explicitly on differential association focused on the treatment of ______.

A) juvenile delinquents
B) felons
C) alcoholics
D) the mentally ill

Question 14

Betty watches her father smoking his cigarettes, and she pretends her drinking straw is a cigarette. What part of social learning theory does this illustrate?

A) rationalization
B) differential reinforcement
C) differential association
D) imitation

Question 15

Sykes and Matza suggest that we use ______ so that we can engage in deviant behavior, even when we know it is wrong.

A) internalized norms
B) differential reinforcement
C) differential association
D) techniques of neutralization

Question 16

Which word below is commonly used to describe techniques of neutralization?

A) restructuring
B) socialization
C) rationalization
D) reasoning

Question 17

During the Nuremberg trials, many high-ranking Nazis insisted that they were just following orders. Which technique of neutralization does this illustrate?

A) denial of responsibility
B) denial of injury
C) denial of victims
D) condemnation of the condemners

Question 18

The phrase "everybody's picking on me" sums up which technique of neutralization?

A) denial of responsibility
B) denial of injury
C) denial of victims
D) condemnation of the condemners

Question 19

A video online that provides "tips and tricks" on bulimia and anorexia demonstrates that way that deviance is learned, not inherent.

Question 20

Akers developed the differential association theory.

Question 21

"Differential location in the social structure" refers to the social and demographic characteristics of individuals defining roles in the larger social structure.

Question 22

Social learning theories argue that social behavior is observed and imitated.

Question 23

Differential Association Theory incorporated elements of Social Learning Theory.

Question 24

Today, even those interested in biological predictors of crime and deviance do not argue that behavior is inherited, but rather they say that there may be predispositions that make some folks more likely to engage in behavior.

Question 25

Cultural deviance theorists might examine how people learn to tolerate, justify, and approve of deviant activities in youth gangs based on subcultural norms that accept theft and violence as necessary for survival.

Question 26

Differential association theories are frequently used to understand the actions of serial killers.

Question 27

Describe the four central concepts of Akers' Social Learning Theory.

Question 28

Outline Akers' Social Structure and Social Learning (SSSL) Theory.

Question 29

What are some critiques of differential association and social learning theories?