Effects of the Interaction

Abstract

In Chapter 5, we tested competing hypotheses from legal development theory (Levine & Tapp, 1977; Tapp & Kohlberg, 1977) and social learning theory (Akers, 1985; Akers et al., 1979; Aronfreed, 1968, 1969; Bandura, 1969a, 1969b, 1976) in order to determine the relative influence of internal and external factors in legal socialization. We found that one’s level of legal reasoning was a better predictor of attitudes toward rules and rule-violating behaviors than was the rule-enforcing environment. In this chapter, we examine the possibility of an interaction between legal development and the socializing conditions. The theoretical basis for this possibility can be found in both legal development theory and social learning theory. We now test the hypothesis that an interaction between legal development level and rule-enforcing conditions explains a significant amount of the variance in legal socialization effects (normative status of rule-violating behaviors, enforcement status of the rules, and frequency of rule-violating behaviors).