Thirteen-year-old Nia lives with her cousin Tia, who is 15, and they spend a lot of time together. At family gatherings, Nia has often watched Tia search unattended coats and take cash from the pockets. Nia sees Tia spend the cash without being caught. During a PE lesson, Nia searches a classmate's coat in the same way. She keeps the £10 she finds and is not caught.
State one feature of Tia that could strengthen Nia's identification with her.
Explain how vicarious reinforcement could have made Nia more likely to search her classmate's coat.
Explain how direct reinforcement could make Nia more likely to steal again.
135 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 1.2 Theories/Explanations of why criminal/anti-social behaviour occurs, covering 1.2.1 SLT: identification with role models, 1.2.2 SLT: observation and imitation, 1.2.3 SLT: vicarious reinforcement, 1.2.4 SLT: direct reinforcement and internalisation; criticisms, 1.2.5 SLT research study: Cooper and Mackie (1986), 1.2.6 Eysenck's Criminal Personality Theory, 1.2.7 CNS, arousal and criminal personality, 1.2.8 Brain function, synapses and dopamine in psychoticism, 1.2.9 Dopamine reward, RAS and cortex in extroversion, 1.2.10 Autonomic nervous and limbic system in neuroticism, 1.2.11 Early socialisation and conditioning; criticisms, and 1.2.12 Criminal Personality research study: Heaven (1996). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.