skinner: operant learning theory

• key idea

  if a behaviour results in a reward it will be repeated
• link to crime

  jeffreys differential theory(DRT) suggests that crime must have more rewards for criminals than punishments
• 🐀 study

  skinner to test his theory placed a rat in an operant conditioning chamber (skinner box), inside was a leaver which released food when pressed- abc’s of behaviour

  
• strenghts

  • if a behaviour results in a reward it will be repeated, if it results in an undesirable outcome it will not
  • jeffrey DRT suggests that crime must therefore have more rewards for criminals than punishments
• limitations

  • the theory ignores mental processes such as thinking, attitudes and value
  • ignores free will of humans-deterministic