Introduction
Crime is an inevitable part of society’s life despite the efforts to prevent and manage it. Scholars have explored why crime occurs by employing various theories and approaches. Still, the scope of studies is yet to narrow as discoveries and ideas prompt further research.
Explaining crime from the social learning theory perspective is a fruitful area of study, as the theory attempts to show how socialization and its implications influence an individual’s development and the propensity to commit a crime. Thus, some individuals learn to commit crimes through exposure to the same occurrences through which others learn to conform, with social learning theory assuming that there is no motivation either to conform or not at birth. This paper will focus on exploring the role of social stimuli and experiences in contributing to criminal behaviors, drawing from the examples of two prolific serial killers, Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer.
The social learning theory will be instrumental in providing the background for understanding the societal context of socialization within which criminals are placed. Thus, it will be postulated that a criminal’s identity is not always the result of unconscious processes but instead is the modeling of oneself as a response to others’ expectations. Moreover, both childhood experiences and the attitudes of others toward a person impact their criminal tendencies and future behaviors.
Social Learning Theory
Social learning theory (SLT) is rooted in psychology and was predominantly shaped by psychologist Albert Bandura. The scholar agreed with behaviorists regarding the efficacy of classical and operant conditioning while adding two critical ideas: the occurrence of a mediating process between stimuli and responses because behavior is acquired from the environment through observations (McLeod, 2023). One of the facets of the theory is observational learning, which shows that when children grow up, they observe people, their role models, and encode and replicate their behaviors. The role models can vary, ranging from parents or teachers to TV characters. The behaviors that are more likely to be imitated are those that young learners perceive as similar to themselves, and thus, they tend to replicate behaviors modeled by people of the same gender.
Within Bandura’s theory, reinforcements, which can be direct and indirect, play an important role in mediating the behaviors that children replicate. Positive direct reinforcements occur when an individual exhibits a certain behavior and is rewarded for it. In contrast, direct negative reinforcement occurs when the consequences lead to avoiding something unpleasant (Song, Notice, & Robertson, 2018).
This way, children will learn which of their previous behaviors are considered acceptable by their role models and which are not. In contrast, indirect reinforcement occurs when an individual observes others perform specific behaviors and receives positive or negative reinforcement. In such a context, children can observe the implications of the actions performed by others and make conclusions regarding replication.
Criminal Behaviors and Social Learning Theory
Theorists who use social learning theory to explain deviant behaviors believe such occurrences are rooted in the family of origin through the interactions between children and parents. What unites Bundy and Dahmer’s childhood experiences is that they both had negative experiences growing up. For example, it was discovered that Jeffree Dahmer’s parents, Lionel and Joyce, had a toxic relationship. At the same time, his mother suffered from severe postpartum depression and psychosis, ultimately leaving (Breitowich, 2022).
In addition, in a conversation with his son’s probation agents, Dahmer’s father revealed that the boy was molested by a neighbor at the age of eight (Breitowich, 2022). Moreover, the father taught the son how to preserve animal bones at school because he showed interest in chemical reactions, as Lionel had a degree in chemistry. While the social learning theory does not directly link criminal propensity to family dynamics during childhood, the observation of negative or questionable behaviors has consequences for replication.
The example of Ted Bundy also illustrates the impact of the childhood environment and social relationships on the deviant behaviors of an individual. Born in a single mother’s home, Bundy was taken on as a real son by his grandparents to prevent the family from being judged by the public. Even though the family appeared normal at first glance, Bundy’s grandmother suffered from agoraphobia and depression. At the same time, his grandfather was reported to tend to rage and act violently (Kettler, 2020).
It has been hypothesized that both physical and psychological abuse could have taken place in the household, which had an overall negative effect on the child’s repetitive behaviors. When his mother remarried, Bundy developed a negative attitude toward his stepfather and would often get into arguments with him, which led to physical altercations (Kettler, 2020). While the trauma and unpleasant experiences growing up do not explain criminal behaviors thoroughly, they provide a context for a child’s development during their most critical years.
Social learning theory, therefore, can explain why certain individuals exhibit criminal behaviors or further develop serial killer tendencies. As suggested by Fox, Levin, and Fridel (2023), the theory suggests that individuals could develop a tendency to commit crimes as a result of their interactions and learning experiences with others. For instance, many people serving in the armed forces have been placed in environments that desensitize them to violence, which makes them more effective in battle.
Violent tendencies can be learned outside the military, and the effect of the environment and social interactions within it plays a defining role. In Dahmer’s case, as well as in cases of other serial killers, killing, torturing, or mutilating animals during adolescence was among the prerequisites of their future violent behaviors. Besides, the learning can occur face-to-face and through reading books or exposure to various visual materials.
Observing Behaviors and Mimicking
The implications of starting to replicate negative behaviors among potential criminals inevitably impact their future relationships with peers or significant others. It is quite common for criminals to report that they felt that they did not fit in with their peers and could experience dismissive treatment or even be subjected to bullying. Due to their careful observations of others, individuals with criminal tendencies could replicate the desirable behaviors to fit in, even though their personal desires were different or completely opposite.
This aligns with Bandura’s suggestion that learning is closely linked to observation and imitation, with the insincere mirroring of behaviors potentially indicating psychopathy (Book et al., 2015). Such a “mask of sanity,” a term coined by Cleckley, points to the ability of individuals with psychopathy or their tendency to mimic the behaviors of others to avoid being detected (Poeppl et al., 2019). The mimicry could go to extreme degrees, including facial expressions and tone of voice, which appeared genuine to outsiders (Book et al., 2015). The “mask of sanity” at play is evident from the example of Ted Bundy.
In Bundy’s case, the ability of the serial killer to stay unnoticed for many years stemmed from his ability to fit in with others by observing their behaviors and mimicking them. As noted by Whyman (2019), who explored the interviews of people who knew the killer, his former friends had an overall positive perception of him as a person. For example, Marlin Lee Vortman, who knew him closely, said, “he was a very nice person. He was the kind of guy you’d want your sister to marry” (Whyman, 2019, para. 5).
Thus, Bundy was quite successful at not seeming like a killer to the people with whom he interacted by appearing like them. Even his lawyer mentioned that “he seemed like one of us, if you will,” which is something quite uncanny to be said about a serial killer (Whyman, 2019, para. 7). It is evident that through social learning and delving deeper into human values and attitudes Bundy could successfully integrate himself into the general population without raising any suspicions.
In the case of Dahmer, he observed social tendencies, behaviors, and trends from the perspective of the social climate of his time. He quickly understood that society put communities of color in a less advantageous position compared to their white counterparts. He preyed on predominantly Black men, the disappearance of whom would be less noticeable or as urgent.
While it remains unclear whether Dahmer was racist himself, he clearly learned to exploit American society’s lack of care for underserved groups, which significantly benefited him in his criminal endeavors. For instance, Barnard (2000) reported that Dahmer’s probation officer consistently failed to visit him because he lived in a “bad area,” which was a racialized code that White people used to indicate neighborhoods populated mainly by lower-income Black people (p. 75).
It is quite ironic that it was the White man who should have been considered “bad” living in that area. The fact that Dahmer could get away with murdering multiple Black men suggests that he learned from the sociopolitical attitudes within society. It appeared unlikely that a shy White man would pose any significant danger to society if multiple Black people were living in the same neighborhood.
Conclusion
To conclude, the social learning theory is among the explanations of criminal behaviors that show that crime is a learned behavior that can progress throughout a lifetime due to exposure to different experiences and influences. The cases of Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer show that a criminal’s childhood plays a role in predicting potential negative behaviors. At the same time, the presence of sociopathic tendencies increases social observation and mimicking of acceptable behaviors. The more criminals learn from observations of others, the more they are equipped with deception tools. Even though social learning theory cannot provide a comprehensive explanation of why people commit crimes, especially violent ones, it represents the framework that should always be considered in the studies of delinquency and criminal activity.
References
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