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Origins of behaviorism paper
Bandura social learning theory thesis
The origins of behaviorism
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Albert Bandura was born on December 04, 1925 in Mundare, Alberta. He is the youngest and also the only son, of six. Bandura is Ukrainian and Polish decent. Albert’s parent was a huge influence on his education endeavors. The summer after finishing high school, he worked in the Yukon to protect the Alaska Highway against sinking. He was later credited his work in the tundra as the origin of his interest in human psychopathology. This experience in the Yukon, he was exposed to a subculture of gambling and drinking, which helped broaden his perspective and scope of views on life. Bandura came to the United States in 1949 and became a citizen in 1956. In 1952, he married his beloved wife, Virginia Varns. He has two daughters, Carol and Mary. …show more content…
The book was called “Adolescent Aggression” , in 1959 and it led to the publication of his second book “Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis”, in 1973. This time period was ruled by the study of behavior. He believed the sole behavioral modifiers of reward and punishment in classical and operant conditioning were inadequate as a framework. Bandura began to study the means of treating aggressive children by identifying the sources of their violent ways. In 1961 Albert Bandura operated a controversial experiment known as The Bobo Doll Experiment, designed to show that similar behavior were learned by individuals shaping their own behavior after the actions of models. The results from the experiment changed the ideal of modern psychology. Albert is accredited for helping the ideal of in academic psychology from pure behaviorism to cognitive psychology. It focused on how young people are influenced by the actions of adults. The experiment is known as one of the most celebrated of psychological experiments, but was criticized by many on ethical grounds for training children towards aggression. During the student, when adults were praised for their aggressive behavior, the children were more likely to keep on hitting the doll. However, when the adults were punished for their actions, the children stopped hitting the doll as
One example of the “Social Learning Theory” is the Bobo doll experiment conducted by Albert Bandura in 1961. In this experiment children were either exposed to an adult exhibiting aggressive behavior or non-aggressive behavior towards the doll. When it came time for the children to interact with the doll, the children who were exposed to aggressive behavior were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior (Nolen, n.d.).
Prior to Albert being born their family had gone through some struggles, like everyone, from the effects of The Great Depression. In his autobiography (2006) Bandura’s family suffered the loss of their daughter from the flu. Also because of a drought that hit the farm the family owned his father was forced to take part of the roof from the house in order to feed the livestock. Despite these hardships, after the birth of their son through the hard work of their family their father was able to add on to the farm, buy a car, and celebrate the time...
The book Obedience to authority by Stanley Milgram is about a series of experiments performed by Milgram himself, on unsuspecting participants. The experiments were performed to answer the question if people had a tendency to comply with authority figures. Milgram drew inspiration from Adolf Eichmann’s trial, to create a study to explain the actions of the Nazis. As quoted “The point of the experiment is to see how far a person will proceed in a concrete and measurable situation in which he is ordered to inflict increasing pain on a protesting victim.” (pg. 5) The experiment involved a learner, whom was strapped to a chair and connected with electrodes, an experimenter who lead and gave instructions about the experiment and a teacher whom asked
In 1961, Stanley Milgram, a Yale University Psychologist conducted a variety of social psychology experiments on obedience to authority figures. His experiments involved three individuals, one of them was a volunteer who played the role of the teacher, one was an actor who played the role of the student, and one was the experimenter who played the role of the authority. The teacher was instructed by the authority to administrate shocks to the student (who claimed to have a heart condition) whenever they answered a question incorrectly. The voltage of the shock would go up after every wrong answer. The experimenter would then instruct the teacher to administrate higher voltages even though pain was being imposed. The teacher would then have to make a choice between his morals and values or the choice of the authority figure. The point of the experiment was to try to comprehend just how far an individual would continue when being ordered by an individual in a trench coat to electrically shock another human being for getting questions incorrect. The experiment consisted of administrating pain to different people and proved that ordinary people will obey people with authority. Some of the various reasons are that the experimenter was wearing a trench coat, fear of the consequences for not cooperating, the experiments were conducted in Yale University a place of prestige, and the authority f...
The idea that people learn from one another through observations, modeling, and imitation has been identified as the theory of social learning. Psychologist, Albert Bandura, proclaims that human personality is an interaction between the environment and the mental processes of the individual. To test this theory, Bandura established that children can learn a social behavior such as aggression simply by observing the modeled behavior of another person. Physically aggressive children acquire aggressive tendencies by how their parents have disciplined them. If screaming, slapping, beating, etc., is evident, children are likely to mimic such behaviors and this has the potential for escalated abuse and essentially, violence begets violence. This theory also infers the influence media violence on
The Milgram experiment can show you how psychological affects the humans nature on aggression. This experiment showed how when person when they were not near the learner, shocked them more than if they could see them. On Curiosity, a documentary, there was an episode called “how evil are you?” which showed exactly what Yale university psychologist Stanley Milgram did during his experiment (Roth).
Baumrind speculated that Stanley Milgram provided no post-experiment psychological aid to those subjects who were emotionally traumatized by the effects of their own actions; in addition, there were serious clinical complications that ailed multiple subjects after the experiment, one of which included a minor heart attack(Baumrind 90-92). In essence, Baumrind believes that the same experiment should have been executed in a less threatening environment, lacking the emotionally damaging consequences resulting from the dire situation(Baumrind 92). Parker agrees that Milgram should have implemented cautionary measures to insure that the experiment was not emotionally taxing on its subject or biased and inaccurate(Parker 99). Parker believes Milgram should have placed a giant, red, and accessible button in the middle of the room for the subjects to push and automatically eject themselves from the situation, as a substitute to the vague door placed inside every test room(Parker 103). Parker supposes the addition of the red button most likely would have caused an increase in the amount of subjects that chose to remove themselves from the situation; as a result, less emotional damage would be inflicted upon the subject, and the overall result of the experiment may have changed(Parker 103). Additionally, Saul McLeod, the author of "The Milgram Experiment", agrees with Parker and Baumrind, believing the Milgram experiment to be extremely biased and unethical(McLeod). McLeod speculates Milgram 's use of deception and lack of emotional protection for the subjects was abominable. He also questioned the authenticity of the experiment after Milgram placed only men in the learner 's position(McLeod). Because of this seemingly biased choice, McLeod automatically deemed the entire experiment unviable(McLeod). Although many psychologists,
One of the most researched topics in the history of psychology is aggression. One goal of social scientists has been to define aggression. Some believe that aggression is biologically preprogrammed, others look toward situational factors and this study suggests that aggression is learned. This study was conducted by Albert Bandura and his associates in 1961 at Stanford University. The researchers proposed that the children be exposed to adult models with either aggressive or nonaggressive ways, they would then be tested without the models present to determine if they would imitate that aggression they observed in the adult.
Bandura believed that individual learn by observing others and their environment (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). He believed in the effect of modeling (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). Antwone did not have any positive influences on his childhood. He was born in a correctional facility. Not only was his father killed, but his mother was in prison. As a result, he was raised in a foster home. His foster mother was Ms. Tate. She was verbally and physically abusive. Her daughter also made a negative impact on his life. Her daughter molested Antwone. Bandura could have related his current behavior to what he had witnessed as a child. According to the some of the research that was done by Bandura, children that witnesses aggressive behavior also displayed aggressive behavior (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). This is apparent in the life of Antwone Fisher. He was always getting in physical altercations.
Albert Henry Desalvo was born on September 3, 1931 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to Frank Desalvo and Charlotte. Desalvo was the third of six children. Desalvo father was an aggressive, violent, alcoholic fisherman from Newfoundland, Canada. Desalvo father would brutally beat up his wife and children with fists, belts, and pipes. When Charlotte was out of the house, Desalvo father brought prostitutes home and had sexual intercourse with them in front of the children. He was arrested repeatedly for refusing to support his wife and children. At a young age, Desalvo father taught Albert how to shoplift and encouraged him to steal.
Sullivan. This proposed that individuals learn values, techniques, attitudes and motives for criminal behaviour through their interactions with others . Believing that group-think can possess a large influence on the behaviour of those around people engaging in criminal behaviour . This theory can easily be associated with Albert Banduras observational learning theory that is based on the importance of social factors in learning . It was believed that the reason people start engaging in criminal behaviour is from the group they are associated with. Both theories highlight the importance of observational learning in the younger age bracket. In the case of the crime previously mentioned the youngest member of the gang of thieves was 11 years old. It can rationally be assumed that an 11 year old child does not possess the knowledge to steal a motor vehicle without the explicit teachings of someone older that does possess this “skill”. This exposure to criminal behaviour normalises wrong doings. The more someone is exposed to anti-social stimuli the more acceptable it becomes in their own social world. While Sullivan’s theory has its strong points it also has its criticisms. This critique stems from the idea of rational thought and individualism. Claiming people are independent thinkers with rational actions and individual motives . However, in Banduras Bobo doll experiment the impressionability of children is highlighted and showed that children exposed to certain behaviour are highly likely to repeat the behaviour themselves. Which would ensure a child being directly taught the adverse behaviour would, in turn, be highly likely to repeatedly engage with the same behaviour
Behaviorism and conditioning has its share of success stories especially when used to curb undesirable habits such as smoking and drinking, however they have also had their moments of darkness as well as seen in 1920 with John Watson and his little experiments that starred a young boy dubbed Little Albert. During Watson’s experiments to help explain conditioning, During his experiments Watson exposed Albert to a number of animals and recorded Albert’s initial reactions which were next to none at all. Watson then began exposing the same animals to Albert, and providing loud bangs that startled Albert at the same time. Eventually Albert began to cry at the sight of the animals even when they were not seen simultaneously with the loud bang.
The Little Albert experiment has become a widely known case study that is continuously discussed by a large number of psychology professionals. In 1920, behaviorist John Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner began to conduct one of the first experiments done with a child. Stability played a major factor in choosing Albert for this case study, as Watson wanted to ensure that they would do as little harm as possible during the experiment. Watson’s method of choice for this experiment was to use principles of classic conditioning to create a stimulus in children that would result in fear. Since Watson wanted to condition Albert, a variety of objects were used that would otherwise not scare him. These objects included a white rat, blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, wool, and a Santa Claus mask. Albert’s conditioning began with a series of emotional tests that became part of a routine in which Watson and Rayner were determining whether other stimuli’s could cause fear.
Albert Bandura has come out with social learning theory which support aggression is a learned behavior. Bandura stated that aggression can be learned through 2 ways which is by direct and vicarious experience. (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011) Learning by direct experience means an individual learn aggressive behavior because he or she were receive reinforcement from it. For example, Adam grabs a candy from the other kid, but no one stop him or he did not receive any punishment for doing this, he will most properly do it next time. This is because he receives the reinforcement (candy) from bullying other kid and nobody stop him and tell him not to do that. In the other hand, learning by vicarious experience means an individual will learn aggressive behavior when he or she saw others receiving reward by behave in that way. For example, when James saw his brother hit a dog and his parent didn’t stop James’s brother from doing that action but give his brother some reward, James will be encouraged by this and will do the same thing next time because he think that he will receive reward by doing that action. In addition, aggression also can be learned through observation. For example, when parent always argue and fight in front of their children, their child will learn all this behavior and imitating those action. Some research also found out that children who exposed to violent in family are likely to grow up become aggressive themselves. This theory illustrated in the famous Bobo Doll Experiment by Bandura. Based on the experiment, Bandura found out when compare to those children who did not exposed to the aggressive model, the children who exposed to the aggression model are more likely to act in psychically aggression. (McLeod,
There is one person who is so utterly different in almost every school that learning about the way they think is both an interesting and scary task. BoBo was that person. BoBo was a care-free student who never really showed interest in school. He has a huge physical stature. His behavior is pretty consistent. He has a lot of interesting features about both physical and personality attributes.