Learning Theory
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?
Becker’s 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
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
Necessary Condition, 2
• Learn to perceive the drug’s 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
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
Conclusion:
Motivation 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
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?
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
Edwin Sutherland’s (1934)
Differential Association Theory
1. Deviant behavior is learned…
2. In interaction with other people…
3. Particularly intimate groups (family and
peers)
Differential Association Theory
4. Learning includes
a. Techniques
b. Motives/drives
c. Attitudes: neutralizations, rationalizations
5. Deviants learn to define the conventional
norms as unfavorable
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)
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
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
Refining Differential
Association Theory
• Problem with Diff. Assoc. Theory
• Learned attitudes -> behavior
• Too vague, difficult to measure
• Differential Reinforcement Theory
(Burgess, Akers)
• Behavior is influenced by its consequences
• Rewards and punishments determine behavior
Distinguishing Features of
Diff. Reinforcement Theory
• Differential Reinforcement
• Lifetime balance of anticipated or actual
rewards and punishments -> probability of
behavior
• Imitation
• Explains onset of behavior, but not persistence
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