Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Behavioral Theory

Good Essays
396 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Behavioral Theory
Behavioral Theory Knowledge and habits can be formed through experiences and relationships with others. The behavior we learn early in life may manifest itself as criminal activity. Although this is not an exact science, people can come from a negative environment and still overcome the odds. It is questioned whether we learn to commit crimes, born as a criminal or is it natural to know right from wrong? Some believe aggressive behavior is learned through weekend and broken homes. When a child is faced with abuse from their parents, rage toward that parent maybe displaced on other individuals. An example of this would be Charles Manson, who was introduced to physical and mental abuse by his mother and father. Later on in adulthood he formed a cult that murdered innocent people. Manson didn't physically kill anyone he persuaded the members of his group to commit the crimes. The social learning theory believes we learn through interactions with others and we model our behavior on what we see. Many of these individuals believe that aggression will gain rewards, praise and help build self-esteem.
One theorist by the name of Cesare Lombroso believed that a human could be destined for criminal behavior due to their outward appearance. He studied many criminals, who shared many of the same physical characteristics. Lombroso was convinced that a criminal was an immoral person due to their appearance. The born criminal theory was no longer considered when weakness of his research was found. An example of a person that overcame the odds of bad environment is David Peltzer. His experience is one of the worst child abuse cases recorded. Peltzer's mother was an alcoholic and took much of her anger out on Dave when he was a child. She would physically and mentally abuse him to the point he is lucky to be alive today. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, he has taken experience to educate others by writing books and giving speeches. Dave now has a family and has moved on with his life in a positive way instead of using his abuse as an excuse to commit crimes. While there are many factors that can be used to determine why people commit crimes, there is no right answer. It will always be questioned what people are thinking or feeling when they are committing crimes against others.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    James Q. Wilson and Richard J. Herrnstein 1985 put forward a biosocial theory of criminal behaviour. In their view, crime is caused by combination of biological and social factors. Biological differences between individuals make some people innately more strongly predisposed to commit crime than others. For…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His theory came from his study of prosecuted criminals both deceased and live. Lombroso differentiated the criminal bodily fitness to those of non-criminals, as well as people who were identified psychotic. In his study he found, to some degree those offenders he made research on were prone to have unusual bodily features, i.e. large jaws or unusual teeth. In his opinion these characteristics caused offenders to engage in criminal activities. This…

    • 2412 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the social learning theory (SLT) of aggression, Bandura (1962) suggested that the expression of aggression is learnt through social learning not ignoring the fact that the potential for the human aggression was biological. Bandura claimed that we learn specific aggressive behaviours for example, the form in which the aggression takes and how it is addressed to the target. Skinner, 1953 suggested that a child learns the aggressive behaviour through direct reinforcement while Bandura argues that a child learns by observing role models indirectly. Moreover, the SLT can be used to explain other behaviours such as eating disorders, personality etc. Research carried out by Phillip (1986) suggested the daily homicide rate…

    • 902 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The social learning theory is based on operant conditioning which suggests that children learn to be aggressive by observing the behaviour of those around them, particularly the behaviour of significant others, such as parents or elder siblings. By seeing others being rewarded or punished for their behaviour, the child experiences vicarious reinforcement. From these models, children therefore learn about the nature of aggressive behaviour, the situations it is appropriate and its likely consequences. In addition to learning about the likely outcomes of aggressive behaviour, children also develop confidence in their ability to use aggressive behaviour to get what they want. Children who are confident that they will be able to use aggressive behaviour effectively to achieve their ends are high in self-efficacy; those with less confidence in their ability to use aggression are low in self-efficiency and may decide to use other methods.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    Theories are useful tools, which suggest the way things are and not the way things ought to be, we can use them to help us to understand the world around us. In terms of criminal and deviant behaviour the theories proposed in this subject area set out to try and give reason as to why an individual commits criminal or delinquent acts. In this essay I will be using biological, psychological and sociological explanations of criminality to suggest why individuals take part in criminal behaviours.…

    • 1629 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Classical Era Punishment

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Lombroso believed heredity was a cause of criminal behavior. He came up with the idea of Atavism and Atavistic anomalies. The term atavism means that criminals are not fully evolved. He believed atavism could explain criminal recidivism. An atavist was more animal than human. They did not act by choice, but by instinct and had no moral responsibility. He compared the skulls of criminals to skulls of prehistoric Neanderthals, and some atavistic anomalies include big jaws, Sloping foreheads with prominent ridges over the eyes, and large, strong canine teeth. Lombroso believed criminal behavior could be passed down through the blood of criminal relatives and environmental factors such as drug/alcoholism and lack of education. There are different types of criminals: the born criminal, the occasional criminal, the insane criminal, and the epileptic…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the "enlightenment," the prevailing thought was that criminals were not actually flawed people, but instead were simply a product of a bad environment. Are people just born that way? Does an "evil gene" exist? Are we all products of our own environment? With those types of questions does the nature vs nurture saying apply to criminals and the corrections system?…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cezare Lombrozo

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Through years of postmortem examinations and anthropometric studies of criminals, the insane, and normal individuals, Lombroso became convinced that the "born criminal" could be anatomically identified by such items as a sloping forehead, ears of unusual size, asymmetry of the face, prognasithm, excessive length of arms, asymmetry of the cranium, and other "physical stigmata". Specific criminals, such as thieves, rapists, and murderers, could be distinguished by specific characteristics, he believed. Lombroso also maintained that criminals had less sensibility to pain and touch; more acute sight; a lack of moral sense, including an absence of remorse; more vanity, impulsiveness, vindictiveness, and cruelty; and other manifestations, such as a special criminal argot and the excessive use of tattooing.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lombroso And Durkheim

    • 2264 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Lombroso: I have read your book On Crimes and Punishment, where you have presented your own point of view on this issue. I know that you think that there are two characteristics to explain a human behavior: rationality and intelligence. However, I cannot understand how this is related to criminology.…

    • 2264 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Social learning theorists argue that people are not born with the ability to act violently; rather, they learn to be aggressive through their life experiences” (Siegel, 2007, p. 121). In my opinion, the Department of Job and Family Services interpreted the theory properly. It is very possible that children are a product of their environment. Under the social learning theory, “people learn to act aggressively when, as children, they model their behavior after the violent acts of adults. Later in life, these violent behavior patterns persist in social relationships” (Siegel, 2007, p. 121). The social learning theory does apply to situations in which there is trouble at home. A child who sees his father abuse his mother out of anger could grow up to do the same because he learned from watching his father that violence temporarily relieves stress and makes a man powerful. Which we know is not true, but a child is like a sponge and learns from what is witnessed. Another example would be of a situation in which a child that grows up in a household where alcohol and drugs are abused on a regular basis in the child’s presence, could grow up to abuse drugs and alcohol as well; potentially leading he/she down a path towards crime. All of that said, however, I do feel that the Department of Job and Family Services misapplied the theory when implementing their new…

    • 2336 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cesare Lombroso

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Cesare Lombroso was the founder of the Italian School of Positivist Criminology. He rejected the established Classical School, which held that crime was a characteristic trait of human nature and that rational choices were the foundation of behavior. Lombroso, using a scientific approach and concepts drawn from physiognomy, early eugenics, psychiatry, and Social Darwinism, argued that criminality was inherited, and that the "born criminal" could be identified by physical defects, which confirmed a criminal as "savage," or "atavistic." While his particular identifying characteristics are no longer considered valid, the idea of factors that predispose certain individuals to commit crime continues to be foundational to work in criminology. Together with his emphasis on the scientific method, this revolutionary approach has earned Lombroso the title "father" of scientific criminology He was later forced to considerably alter his views after extensive study of the phenomenon of Eusapia Palladino, a famous spiritualist. He later wrote, "I am ashamed and grieved at having opposed with so much tenacity the possibility of the so-called spiritistic facts.…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Theories of deviance

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Edwin Sutherland, the author derive this theory to explain the processes of how people learn to violate. The key features of this theory is environment in which the person is and agents of socialization: family, friends, co-workers and media. People learn criminal behavior from the interactions with others, especially in small groups. The problem is that the vague terminology of the theory don’t let it to validate empirically.…

    • 400 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Behavioral Science

    • 3018 Words
    • 13 Pages

    For our behavioural Science continues assessment project we chose the following question."Write in detail on four of the following Behavioural Science terms."The four terms we chose were the following 1.Observational studies 2.Qualitative data & analysis of qualitative data 3.Psychometrics 4.Generalisability in behavioural/social science…

    • 3018 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Birth of criminology associated with the classical school of 18th C Classical criminology = people choose a criminal life Positivism = ‘features’ of individual may/may not make them criminal Biological – are people are ‘born’ criminal? Psychological – is there a criminal personality?…

    • 1135 Words
    • 33 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many different reason why a person may act aggressively towards other human being. The person may act this way because of his background or the way he/she was brought up in life. A person does not; act this way based on natural feeling alone. Is more like a melded, learned behavior. A human being must have both environmental and instinctual factors in order to show aggression. Some of a person's natural instincts are to desire food, reject some things, escape from danger, fight in a dangerous situations or when challenged. As well also sex desire, care for the young, control, and to accept substandard status. This combination of both instincts and environment determines a person's behavior and actions throughout life. This is based on the theory that everything human beings do would have to be learned from other human beings. Aggression must be learned as we grow. It is not just simply there from the moment of birth. A person behavior is something that is taught to him rather than being an unmanageable instinct. For example, a newborn baby is breathing because it is an uncontrolled reaction. But on the other hand, a father may tell his young son to beat up the school buly who is picking on him. As a result, the boy is dealing with the situation by using violence.…

    • 839 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics