Social Learning

Social learning

Theories of social learning explain criminal behavior by focusing on how people learn behaviors in interaction with others. According to these theories, the individual is shaped in the social contexts we are part of, such as family, friends, and other groups.

An important part is that we are influenced by the people around us. If people in a person's surroundings commit crime or have a positive attitude toward crime, the risk increases that the person will also commit crime or develop a positive attitude toward it.

Criminal behavior is learned through contact with other people, for example our attachment figures and friends. If a person often spends time with people who commit crime, they learn both how to do it and why it may be acceptable. In the same way, law-abiding behavior is learned if a person is surrounded by people who follow laws and norms.

All people also learn through rewards and punishments. If a crime leads to something positive, such as money, status, excitement, or attention, the likelihood increases that the person will do it again. If the behavior instead leads to negative consequences, that likelihood decreases. Criminal behavior can also be explained through peer pressure, where a person is influenced to do something they otherwise would not have done.

Neutralization – justifying crime

An important part of social learning is neutralization theory. It is about how people who commit crime often try to justify their actions, both to themselves and to others. This can happen, for example, by blaming circumstances or other people, claiming that the victim deserved it, or denying that anyone was harmed.

Through such ways of thinking, feelings of guilt can be reduced and it becomes easier to commit crime. These ways of thinking are often learned in social groups and can lower the threshold for continuing criminal behavior.

Social learning also takes place through media and the internet. Young people, for example, can be influenced by what they see on social media, in news coverage, or in groups where crime is presented as something normal or attractive. To prevent crime, it is therefore important to provide positive role models and reduce negative media influence and peer pressure.