Psychology B1 - behaviourist approach to explaining aggression Flashcards
operant conditioning
-aggression can be learned directly through operant conditioning
operant conditioning: positive reinforcement
-Skinner (1932), behaviour is shaped by its consequences
-a behaviour that is reinforced is more likely to reoccur; a behaviour that is punished is less likely to reoccur
-aggressive behaviours are mostly acquired and maintained through positive reinforcement, aggression is an effective way of gaining rewards
-instrumental aggression
operant conditioning: positive reinforcement — timing of rewards
-Skinner argued that behaviours become especially strengthened when they are positively reinforced only occasionally (and at irregular intervals)
-this is how social media notifications work
-example, you wait for them and they are unpredictable, it feels more rewarding when they do eventually arrive
-someone who behaves aggressively may be reinforced only some of the time, usually because there is no one else around to approve
-if there is no pattern to when the aggression is reinforced then that is even more powerful
operant conditioning: types of rewards — tangible rewards
-includes money, food and many other physically real’ rewards
-positively reinforce up to 80% of children’s aggressive behaviours -example, forcibly taking a toy off another child (Patterson et al. 1967).
operant conditioning: types of rewards — intangible rewards
-includes pleasurable feelings and social status
-bullying = reinforced by increased status in the school playground through fear
-examples include gang members gaining status through fighting, and whole societies that provide social status rewards for aggressive behaviour in wartime.
social learning
-Bandura (1973) realised that aggressive behaviour in humans cannot be fully explained by direct forms of learning such as operant conditioning
-argued that most learning of aggression is indirect and occurs through observation, modelling, imitation and vicarious reinforcement
-is social learning.
social learning: observational learning and modelling
-children and adults learn specific aggressive behaviours through observing aggressive models (e.g. parents, siblings, peers, media figures)
-people observe how an aggressive behaviour is performed, learning how to physically carry it out
-observation alone does not guarantee that the observer will imitate the aggression
-another social learning mechanism is required.
social learning: vicarious reinforcement
-people also observe the consequences of that behaviour
-if behaviour is rewarded (or at least not punished), then the observer learns it can be a successful means of getting a desired reward
-is vicarious reinforcement or vicarious learning - the observer experiences the models reward second-hand
-isn’t enough to increase the likelihood that the observer will imitate the model’s behaviour
-oppositely, if the aggression is punished, the observer learns that it isn’t effective in gaining a reward and the likelihood of imitation is reduced
evaluation: practical applications (+)
-are important applications to social policy
-aggressive behaviours that underlie some serious crimes are learned through direct reinforcement and exposure to models in the family and in peer networks
-Policymakers could help reduce aggression by developing programmes based on reinforcement of prosocial behaviours and on social learning
-example is mentoring, providing ‘at risk’ children and young adults with non-aggressive role models to imitate
-could reduce the costs to individuals and societies of human aggression in its various forms
evaluation: research support (+)
-there is strong evidence that children do actually learn to be aggressive
-Poulin and Boivin (2000) found that the most aggressive boys between nine and 12 years old became friends with each other
-these relationships were ‘training grounds’ for antisocial behaviour
-boys gained direct reinforcement through rewards (money, praise, etc.)
-experienced vicarious reinforcement through observing the rewarding consequences of each other’s aggression
-showed that aggressive behaviour readily develops in conditions predicted by the approach
evaluation: limited explanation (-)
-operant conditioning and social learning cannot explain hostile aggression
-violent outburst can easily escalate an encounter so that the individual being aggressive receives punishment in return
-operant conditioning and social learning predict that punishment makes future aggressive behaviour less likely
-in reality, the opposite is usually true - the punished individual continues to be violently aggressive
-means that alternative approaches may be better explanations of hostile aggression
operant conditioning: types of rewards — intangible rewards
-includes pleasurable feelings and social status
-bullying = reinforced by increased status in the school playground through fear
-examples include gang members gaining status through fighting, and whole societies that provide social status rewards for aggressive behaviour in wartime
