According to the social cognitive theory, the relationships we have with other people such as members of our families and friends assists us reduce the rates of crime. The social cognitive theory is a tenet that was discovered by Albert Bandura. It developed from the social learning theory and offers an explanation concerning human thinking and resultant actions as a procedure of triadic reciprocal causation. What is more is that the theory makes an emphasis on four distinct traits that human beings possess.
The conjecture embraces an international type of causation where the environmental occurrences, personal issues, and conduct function as interrelating determinants of one another. This theory also posits that the process of human thinking and human actions interact in a pattern that is reciprocative to a certain cause. This means that thinking and conduct are influenced by three personal, but interacting elements; conduct, individual traits such as race, age as well as gender, and environmental elements.
This theory came up from the social learning theory. It was also known as social cognitivism in the communications and social sciences disciplines. It is typically a learning theory which is based on the notion that individuals learn things by observing what the others do. According to the tenet, human thought process is at the center of understanding people’s personalities.
According to experiments conducted to test this hypothesis, it was concluded that most teenagers and children like to imitate whatever they see in a process otherwise known as observational learning. The social cognitive premise is hence important in psychology as well as the study of media. This is because the children are vulnerable to watching violence in real scenarios at school. Media devices such as the television also enhance such knowledge in children as they grow up.
In the United States as well as Canada, instances of murder have been reported severally and covered in the worldwide media. According to precedence, most of these murders occur in the neighborhoods and within the vicinity of learning institutions. In the residential areas, most murders are propagated by neighbors, watchmen, or people assigned to guard certain areas. The basic question to ponder over is, what could be the main reason? The human race is susceptible to mood changes and when stressed, human control is heavily impaired. Stress levels could cause hormonal imbalances which make offenders turn to violent acts in a feat to relieve their tension. Oftentimes, this leads to deaths even in scenarios where such acts could have been controlled.
Since people socialize and interact in a mutual setting, the victims and offenders normally end up at the scene of crime by chance or accident when an unfortunate act occurs. The victims are always known to the offenders since they are always near the offender and unsuspectingly go on with their activities oblivious of an offender’s frustration. This reason explains why it is mostly people known to the offenders who end up being the victims and not strangers. The nature of the relationship between an offender and his victims can also explain certain homicide situations. For instance, where one felt mistreated and sidelined in a certain group, any emotional outburst could lead to an offender turning against them as the most vulnerable and immediate victims. This is not easy to control especially in jurisdictions that allow gun ownership such as America.
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