Azmain Ahmed
On this podcast episode from Ear Hustle, we learn about a man named Tommy Shakur who was incarcerated at San Quinten for the murder of Stanford Bursey at the age of 19. He was part of the Eight Tray Gangster which is a set that falls under the Crips. He joined the gang at a young age and did crimes to impress fellow associates in the gang who were just as bad or worse to try and one-up them. Shakur’s reasoning for joining the gang life led me to believe this was an example of Social learning theory. This theory was developed by Albert Bandura which explains that individuals acquire new behaviors by observing and imitating others in their social environment. The importance of modeling plays a part, where people are more likely to imitate behaviors exhibited by credible and attractive models. For example, in the podcast, Shakur states, “I started hanging around one particular person, and he was a good friend of mine, and he just happened to be from Eight Tray. I figure like, ‘OK. I’m gonna be from Eight Tray.’ I like what I saw in terms of the togetherness. I was just really amazed with all the different dances and the gang signs, you know, the overall culture, the style of dress, the music, like Parliament-Funkadelic.” This shows how he had a “model” to follow and was inspired to be a part of that lifestyle. Observational learning involves paying attention to, and reproducing observed behaviors, with reinforcements playing a key role in determining whether a behavior is likely to be repeated. In the podcast, Shakur states “I see this brother come in and he has on blue 501 Levis. He got blue and black Pumas. He has a blue sweatshirt on and he has like this chain earring in his ear. He has waves in his hair. He also has a lot of tattoos. So, I knew he was a gang member. I knew he was a Crip.” He was observant of how the other individual held himself, spoke, the colors he wore, and how he spoke before he took any action. Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of behavior recurrence, while punishment or lack of reinforcement decreases it. In the podcast Shakur states, “In the gang culture, the way my peers looked at the murder was another form of validation. They were like patting me on the back like good job. You know, that was like accolades, and I was enjoying it.” This shows how he had positive approval from his peers which would keep engaging him. Vicarious reinforcement, where individuals learn from observing the consequences of others’ actions, also plays a crucial role. In the podcast, Shakur states, “They came to visit me, I think mostly out of sympathy. Right? For what had occurred in my life. But, as the years rolled on, all that started to dissipate in terms of the outside support from gang members.” This is when Shakur realizes maybe they don’t actually care as much as the gang life glorified it as it would be. All that support that was there when he was free, where had it gone now? This podcast was a clear example of an individual learning from his consequences.
