Applying Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory
Another factor to consider when justifying their classification as victims is that those subjected to this mentally incapable of exiting human trafficking. This devastatingly debasing reality is the only reality that exists for these individuals because it is all they know. Social learning theory and learned helplessness theory help explain why these people are victims, not criminals.
Albert Bandura’s (1971) social learning theory postulates that “new patterns of behaviors can be acquired through direct experience or by observing the behavior of others” (p. 3). How a culture or family is structured has the ability to significantly influence the actions and beliefs of those within. In a culture where prostitution is considered commonplace and …show more content…
The theory of learned helplessness was first discovered by Martin Seligman in 1975; it posits that individuals will behave in a powerless, or helpless, manner following repeated subjection to adverse condition.
[W]e also face many events about which we can do nothing at all. Such uncontrollable events can significantly debilitate organisms: they produce passivity in the face of trauma, inability to learn that responding is effective, and… possibly depression in man.” (Seligman, 1972, p. 408)
When continually found in circumstances of powerlessness, individuals are conditioned to believe they are incapable of fighting back. Even when presented with an opportunity to escape or take control, individuals will not—cannot—capitalize on it as they have been acclimatized to feebleness. If a man has learned that he is at the mercy of his environment and those of higher authority, he susceptible to adhere to the orders of traffickers despite his abhorrence of the committed …show more content…
Such confinement may be achieved by way of: control the victim’s money, visa, passport, or other identification documentation; debt bondage; the use of drugs or alcohol; abuse; or mental degradation (Logan et al., 2009, p. 14). Victims are often threatened, shamed, beaten, isolated, or made invisible. Months and years of such treatment will more than likely produce depression and numbness.
Like learned helplessness, depression is characterized by reduced response initiation as well as a "negative cognitive set"-difficulty in believing or learning that ones [sic] own responses will succeed even when they do... In a factor analytic study of the symptoms of depression, a factor including feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness has been characterized as the essence of depression. (Seligman, 1972, p. 411)
Maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes result from unremitting occurrences of dehumanization and fear inducement. Mental entrapment permits the trafficker “ultimate compliance; even if given a chance to escape the victim is unlikely to take the risk” (Logan et al., 2009, p.
Albert Bandura’s (1971) social learning theory postulates that “new patterns of behaviors can be acquired through direct experience or by observing the behavior of others” (p. 3). How a culture or family is structured has the ability to significantly influence the actions and beliefs of those within. In a culture where prostitution is considered commonplace and …show more content…
The theory of learned helplessness was first discovered by Martin Seligman in 1975; it posits that individuals will behave in a powerless, or helpless, manner following repeated subjection to adverse condition.
[W]e also face many events about which we can do nothing at all. Such uncontrollable events can significantly debilitate organisms: they produce passivity in the face of trauma, inability to learn that responding is effective, and… possibly depression in man.” (Seligman, 1972, p. 408)
When continually found in circumstances of powerlessness, individuals are conditioned to believe they are incapable of fighting back. Even when presented with an opportunity to escape or take control, individuals will not—cannot—capitalize on it as they have been acclimatized to feebleness. If a man has learned that he is at the mercy of his environment and those of higher authority, he susceptible to adhere to the orders of traffickers despite his abhorrence of the committed …show more content…
Such confinement may be achieved by way of: control the victim’s money, visa, passport, or other identification documentation; debt bondage; the use of drugs or alcohol; abuse; or mental degradation (Logan et al., 2009, p. 14). Victims are often threatened, shamed, beaten, isolated, or made invisible. Months and years of such treatment will more than likely produce depression and numbness.
Like learned helplessness, depression is characterized by reduced response initiation as well as a "negative cognitive set"-difficulty in believing or learning that ones [sic] own responses will succeed even when they do... In a factor analytic study of the symptoms of depression, a factor including feelings of hopelessness, helplessness, and worthlessness has been characterized as the essence of depression. (Seligman, 1972, p. 411)
Maladaptive behaviors and cognitive processes result from unremitting occurrences of dehumanization and fear inducement. Mental entrapment permits the trafficker “ultimate compliance; even if given a chance to escape the victim is unlikely to take the risk” (Logan et al., 2009, p.