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Learning Theory

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Learning Theory Ever Smoked Pot? Becker s View Because pot is not physically addicting, the motivation to get high must be learned Getting high takes practice Users ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Learning Theory


1
Learning Theory
2
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?
3
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

4
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

5
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

6
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

7
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

8
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?

9
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

10
Edwin Sutherlands (1934)Differential
Association Theory
  1. Deviant behavior is learned
  2. In interaction with other people
  3. Particularly intimate groups (family and peers)

11
Differential Association Theory
  • 4. Learning includes
  • Techniques
  • Motives/drives
  • Attitudes neutralizations, rationalizations
  • 5. Deviants learn to define the conventional
    norms as unfavorable

12
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)

13
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

14
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

15
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

16
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

17
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
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