Question

How might an individual's environment influence their behavior and learning? When answering the question, be sure to address how an individual in a high-crime vs a low-crime area would learn through operant conditioning.

Answer 1

The environment has a critical role to play while influencing an individual’s behaviour and learning. The environment, with its implicit norms and rules, tends to reinforce certain individual traits and acts while discouraging others. A individual growing up in a high crime area would observe acts of violence since childhood and is likely to engage in an act himself/herself through observational learning. Crimes are usually committed with an intent to obtain some gain, and thus when the individual commits the crime, he/she may find some economic or social rewards associated with it. These rewards would then motivate him/her to repeat this behaviour more frequently. On the other hand, it is likely that such acts would be abhorred in low crime areas, which would serve as a deterrence for the individual to commit a crime.