Understanding Aker's Social Learning Theory

To understand Aker’s social learning theory; one must understand that Aker’s theory is one of two theory’s that were created under the generic name. First of the theories were created and used in general application in psychology and developed by C. Ray Jeffery. The Jeffery theory was focused on operant based learning theories and relies heavily upon behavior psychology which integrates behavioral and cognitive learning experiences. According to our text, these behavioral theories in psychology reached their peak of popularity in the 1960s (Williams, et al, 2010, pp178).

The second social learning theory was created by Ronald Aker and his colleague Robert Burgess in 1966. Aker and Burgess were faculty members and sociologists at University

The adopted mantra from differential association theory is criminal behavior is learned. Therefore social learning theory asserts that criminogenic behavior is learned in both social and nonsocial situations and is role modeled by the people in our immediate environment. The caveat pulled from differential association theory is the people can be trained to follow any pattern of behavior impetus being what is learned and how it is learned. Akers and Burgess whittled Sutherland’s nine propositions down to seven because those are the cues to criminal

The pro-gang attitude is introduced by the youths’ social circles and this is explained by Sutherlands’ differential association theory, but by incorporating Aker’s social learning theory as well. Both theories fully explain deviant behavior by emphasizing reinforcement and discriminative stimuli.

By reinforcing any kind of behavior in social environments, the expectation is that the behavior will be maintained. Therefore by determining who, how, and why reinforcements originate and occur is the true question. Aker’s theory surmises that the reinforcement for juveniles with deviance was common in particular subcultures of their societies. The dynamics of gang membership among juveniles was most impactful with initiation.

Aker’s social learning theory is superior in its entirety over Sutherland’s differential association theory because with Aker’s theory the process by which criminal behavior takes place. Aker’s theory also contains a structural component which explains a juvenile’s class, subculture, and location in society; this is an important element that must be factored in when understanding the learning process of youths. Because of this is what makes Aker’s social learning theory superior above all other theories when trying to explain juvenile gang