Deck 7: Social Process Theories: Socialization and Society

Question 1

According to ______ theory, everyone has the potential to become a criminal.

Answer 1

social control

Question 2

Travis Hirschi and Rodney Stark found that the association between religious attendance and belief and _______ patterns is insignificant ________.

Answer 2

delinquent behavior

Question 3

While a person's place in the social structure may contribute to crime, ______ alone is not enough to explain criminality.

Answer 3

environment

Question 4

According to Akers and Burgess, _________________ occurs when deviant and conventional behaviors are learned and reinforced by interactions with others.

Question 5

Social process theories hold that criminality is a function of human _________.

Question 6

Males are more likely to socialize with deviant peers than are females, and they are more likely to be deeply influenced by these deviant peers. This finding explains how __________________ may explain the gender difference in the crime rate.

Question 7

The association between crime and divorce may be due to __________________ factors.

Question 8

Sutherland's research on _______________, professional theft, and intelligence led him to dispute the notion that crime was a function of the inadequacy of people in the lower classes.

Question 9

According to social bond theory, a person's sensitivity to and interest in others is termed _________. Without this element of social bond, psychologists believe a person becomes a psychopath and loses the ability to relate coherently to the world.

Question 10

______________________ is the study of human interactions and relationships, emphasizing such issues as group dynamics and socialization.

Question 11

_________________ offers the principle that becoming a criminal is a learning process in which potential delinquents and criminals master techniques that enable them to counterbalance or neutralize conventional value and drift back and forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior.

Question 12

In his _________ theory, pioneering control theorist Walter Reckless argued that a strong self-image insulates a youth from the pressures and pulls of criminogenic influences in the environment.

Question 13

Supportive, effective, and noncoercive parenting is referred to as _____________________.

Question 14

The more antisocial the peer group, the more likely its members will engage in _____.

Question 15

Of the 1.2 million students who drop out of school each year, most dropouts say they left either because they did not like school or because ________________.

Question 16

__________________ occurs when an individual learns from the rewards and punishments associated with a behavior.

Question 17

__________________ are the morally tinged influences that have become entrenched in the culture but are publicly condemned.

Question 18

According to neutralization theory, juvenile delinquents _________ between delinquent behaviors and conforming behaviors.

Question 19

Today, more than ________________ percent of children live in single-parent homes.

Question 20

When parents or friends express their disapproval of crime, a(n) _________ attitude toward criminality occurs.

Question 21

__________________ occurs when a deviant event comes to the attention of significant others or social-control agents who apply a negative label.

Question 22

Hirschi and Stark found that the association between religious attendance and belief and delinquent behavior patterns is:

A) unstable.
B) dramatic.
C) insignificant.
D) varies depending on age.

Question 23

_____________________ are designed to remove both juvenile and adult offenders from the normal channels of the criminal justice process by placing them in programs designed for rehabilitation.

Question 24

_______ theory suggests that everyone has the potential to become a criminal.

A) Social learning
B) Social reaction
C) Social control
D) Socialization

Question 25

Approximately _____ percent of youths with criminal fathers become chronic offenders.

A) 21
B) 37
C) 47
D) 58

Question 26

One study found that kids involved in delinquency are _____ times more likely than nonoffenders to associate with delinquent peers.

A) two
B) four
C) five
D) seven

Question 27

Which of the following refers to the type of social structure that integrates children into families while giving parents the ability to assert their individuality and regulate their own behavior?

A) parental efficacy
B) social ability
C) parent control
D) organizational parenting

Question 28

In a test of social bond theory, Hirschi found that youths who were strongly attached to their parents were ____ likely to commit criminal acts.

Question 29

__________________ involves norm violations or crimes that have very little influence on the actor and that can be quickly forgotten.

Question 30

When parents, friends, teachers, and law enforcement officials amplify negative labels via stigmatization, a person may begin to reevaluate his or her identity. This process is referred to as the _________.

Question 31

Which of the following is the study of human interactions and relationships that emphasizes such issues as group dynamics and socialization?

A) social learning theory
B) psychological sociology
C) sociological social psychology
D) social psychological syntality

Question 32

Testing labeling theory, former U.S. representative ________________ served New York's ninth congressional district from January 1999 until June 2011, and was a rising political star, until his "sexting" forced his resignation.

Question 33

One way in which schools perpetuate stigmatization is through ________, which identifies some students as college-bound and others as academic underachievers or potential dropouts.

A) the track system
B) athletics
C) the Head Start program
D) prep courses

Question 34

In every level of the social structure, youths who fall in with a "bad crowd" become more susceptible to:

A) drug use.
B) disdaining religion.
C) criminal behavior patterns.
D) being assaulted by members of this peer group.

Question 35

Theorists who believe that an individual's socialization determines the likelihood of criminality adopt the ______ approach to human behavior.

A) social process
B) social learning
C) social stigma
D) social reaction

Question 36

The four elements of Hirschi's social bond theory are attachment, commitment, ______, and belief.

Question 37

Social learning theory suggests that crime is a(n) ______ behavior

A) learned
B) chronic
C) group
D) isolated

Question 38

The process of human development and enculturation is known as:

A) stigmatization.
B) socialization.
C) drift.
D) amplification.

Question 39

Maintaining a damaged identity after official labeling may, along with other negative social reactions from society, produce a _____, which provokes some adolescents into repeating their antisocial behaviors.

Question 40

Criminologists have long studied the critical elements of socialization to determine how they contribute to a burgeoning criminal career. Prominent among these elements are the family, the peer group, and ______________.

A) educational experience
B) religion
C) employment
D) athletic ability

Question 41

When friends or parents demonstrate their disapproval of crime, what can occur?

A) Aging-out and desistance
B) Disassociations
C) Anomie
D) Definitions unfavorable toward criminality are created

Question 42

Behavior is reinforced by being either rewarded or punished while interacting with others; this is called differential reinforcement or:

A) direct conditioning.
B) direct modeling.
C) differential assumption.
D) indirect conditioning.

Question 43

Research on differential association theory finds that having delinquent friends:

A) has no effect on delinquency.
B) decreases the likelihood of delinquency
C) increases the likelihood of having nondelinquent friends
D) increases the likelihood of delinquency

Question 44

The view, according to Akers, that both deviant and conventional behaviors are learned is called:

A) differential association theory.
B) labeling theory.
C) social reaction theory.
D) differential reinforcement theory.

Question 45

A criticism of learning theories is that they fail to adequately explain:

A) drug use.
B) spontaneous acts of violence.
C) subterranean behaviors.
D) minor crimes such as vandalism and shoplifting.

Question 46

By denying the wrongfulness of an act, criminals are able to neutralize illegal behavior. This is known as:

A) denial of responsibility.
B) denial of victim.
C) condemnation of the condemners.
D) denial of injury.

Question 47

Novice criminals often argue that they are caught in the dilemma of being loyal to their own peer group while at the same time attempting to abide by the rules of the larger society. This is known as:

A) denial of responsibility.
B) appeal to higher loyalties.
C) condemnation of the condemners.
D) denial of victim.

Question 48

According to Matza, __________ refers to the process of moving from one extreme of behavior to another. This helps to explain why a youth's behavior may be law abiding sometimes and deviant at other times.

A) anomie
B) drift
C) strain
D) dramatization

Question 49

Which view states that becoming a criminal is a learning process in which potential delinquents master skills that enable them to counterbalance conventional values and drift back and forth between illegitimate and conventional behavior?

A) social reaction theory
B) differential association theory
C) differential reinforcement theory
D) neutralization theory

Question 50

According to differential reinforcement theory, what determines whether deviant or criminal behavior persists?

A) the degree to which living conditions influence behavior
B) the degree to which offenders are able to neutralize their behaviors
C) the degree to which it has been rewarded or punished
D) the degree to which conventional ties to society are broken or weakened

Question 51

Control theories argue that noncriminal individuals have developed a _______ that requires them to obey the laws of society.

A) commitment to conformity
B) tie to society
C) dedication to norms
D) fear of criminal punishment

Question 52

Numerous research efforts have supported the core principles of differential association. The research generally show a correlation between having deviant parents and friends, holding deviant attitudes, and:

A) committing deviant acts.
B) prison length.
C) broken homes.
D) negative marriages.

Question 53

Criminals sometimes neutralize wrongdoing by maintaining that the victim of crime "had it coming." This is known as:

A) denial of responsibility.
B) denial of injury.
C) denial of victim.
D) condemnation of the condemners.

Question 54

The importance and prestige attributed to individuals or groups from whom definitions are learned is the _____ element of an association.

A) priority
B) duration
C) intensity
D) frequency

Question 55

The age of children when they first encounter definitions of criminality impacts the _____ of an association.

A) frequency
B) duration
C) priority
D) intensity

Question 56

When behavior is punished, this is referred to as:

A) direct conditioning.
B) reconditioning.
C) labeling reinforcement.
D) negative reinforcement.

Question 57

According to differential association theory, everyone has both favorable and unfavorable ______ regarding crime.

A) meanings
B) actions
C) social reactions
D) definitions

Question 58

Whose name do we associate with the prominent social learning theory of differential association?

A) Matza
B) Sykes
C) Bell
D) Sutherland

Question 59

Which technique of neutralization refers to youths denying that they are to blame for their delinquent acts?

A) deny injury
B) condemn condemners
C) deny responsibility
D) withhold responsibility

Question 60

Sykes and Matza base their neutralization theory on a variety of observations about criminals, among them the observation that:

A) criminals hope to plea bargain based upon dispelling their responsibility for their offenses.
B) criminals view all victims as equal prey for their offenses.
C) criminals sometimes voice a sense of guilt about their illegal acts.
D) criminals show respect for their "street smart" peers.

Question 61

Which social bond refers to how much a person has invested in conventional society, or how much he or she has to lose?

A) achievement
B) attachment
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 62

When parents are alienated from their children, their negative labeling reduces their children's self-image and increases delinquency. This is referred to as:

A) reflected appraisals.
B) reflective role-taking.
C) stigma.
D) primary deviance.

Question 63

Bullies have children who bully others, and these "second-generation bullies" grow up to become fathers of children who also become bullies.

Question 64

Almost half of all female dropouts left school because they were pregnant or had already given birth.

Question 65

The theory of _______ presupposes a condition that allows people to explain away unconventional norms and values by using such statements as "I didn't mean to do it" and "I didn't really hurt anybody."

A) neutralization
B) reaction formation
C) social strain
D) displacement

Question 66

Thirty million American kids live below the poverty line.

Question 67

Research conducted in both the United States and abroad shows that children raised in homes with one or both parents absent may be prone to antisocial behavior.

Question 68

According to social reaction theory, labels are believed to produce:

A) stigma.
B) primary deviance.
C) differential associations.
D) anomie.

Question 69

Kids whose parents go to prison are much more likely to be at risk for delinquency than children of nonincarcerated parents

Question 70

Which of the following occurs when a deviant event comes to the attention of significant others or social-control agents who then apply a negative label?

A) Anomie
B) Primary deviance
C) Secondary deviance
D) Stigma

Question 71

Which type of deviance is the result of the criminal label?

A) primary
B) civil
C) delinquency
D) secondary

Question 72

Labeling theorists use a(n) ______ definition of crime.

A) legal
B) perceived
C) interactionist
D) consensus

Question 73

Which social bond refers to how much time an individual engages in noncriminal activities?

A) achievement
B) attachment
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 74

Which is not an element of the social bond?

A) achievement
B) containment
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 75

Which social bond refers to how much an individual cares about what others think of them?

A) achievement
B) attachment
C) commitment
D) involvement

Question 76

Which of the following occurs when norm violations or crimes have very little influence on the actor and can be quickly forgotten?

A) Anomie
B) Primary deviance
C) Secondary deviance
D) Stigma

Question 77

Youths who grow up in households characterized by conflict and tension, and in which there is a lack of familial love and support, are susceptible to the crime-promoting forces in the environment.

Question 78

In his ______, Reckless argued that a strong self-image insulates a youth from the pressures and pulls of criminogenic influences in the environment.

A) containment theory
B) normative group theory
C) social bond theory
D) social reaction theory

Question 79

The theory that links the onset of criminality to the weakening of the ties that bind people to society is ______ theory.

A) social learning
B) differential association
C) differential reinforcement
D) social bond

Question 80

One consequence of labeling is the concept of _____, which brings about a reassessment of one's self-image that reflects actual or perceived judgments made by others, such as parents.

A) reflected assessments
B) reflected appraisals
C) reflected reactions
D) reflected associations