Behaviourist Approach Assumptions and Theories

Behaviourist Approach

1. Assumptions

   • 1 - Behaviour can be explained in terms of classical conditioning
     • Learning through association
   • 2 - Behaviour can be explained in terms of operant conditioning
     • Learning through reinforcement
     • Skinner's Rats (1938)
       • 1 - Rat pressing leaver resulted in rat receiving food (reward) - Increased frequency of pressing leaver
         • 2 - Rat pressing leaver resulted in rat receiving an electric shock (punishment) - Decreased frequency of leaver

2. Social Learning Theory of Aggression

   • Albert Bandura
     • He believed that we learn indirectly or vicariously - Observational learning
       • Unlike Skinner who believed learning was the result of reinforcement
         • Bandura also stated that children primarily learn aggressive behaviour through observation
           • Bandura's Bobo Doll Study (1961)

3. Motivation for Aggression

   • Although the Bobo Doll study demonstrated observational learning, it doesn't tell us why the child may be motivated.
     • A classic experiment by Bandura and Walters in 1963 fills this gap
       • Their experiment demonstrates that children also learn about the consequences of aggressive behaviour by watching others be reinforced or punished
         • This is called indirect or vicarious reinforcement