ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses three distinct variations of learning theory – learning through association, learning through consequences and social learning theory – that may be applied to formulate an explanation of criminal behaviour. The Nobel Prize-winning Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov famously demonstrated, in a process now called classical conditioning, how the behaviour of dogs can be prompted by a learned association between a specific stimulus, such as a light or a sound, and the arrival of food. It was the American psychologist B. F. Skinner, however, who framed the principles of operant learning to clarify how behaviour is acquired and maintained through its effects on the environment. The American psychologist Albert Bandura formulated social learning theory, which includes reinforcement in an operant sense but gives added emphasis to the role of cognition in learning. Social learning theory has heralded interest in the role of emotion in criminal acts.
