Matthew Shepard's Behavior Theory

On October 12, 1998, in Colorado, USA, 21-year old Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered by Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming in 1976. He spent most of his elementary, middle and most of his high school years in Wyoming until he moved to Saudi Arabia with his parents in 1994*. While attending the American School in Switzerland, on February 1995, Shepard was beaten and raped during a high school trip to Morocco by 4 males*. People have contended that his body stature (5’2,100 pounds), might have been a considerable characteristic of what made him a vulnerable target to others*. After the assault, Shepard made efforts to pursue treatment for his trauma, but experienced severe depression, flashbacks, paranoia,

Based on Albert Bandara’s social learning theory, he states that “behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning” (Bandara, 1977). The learning of prejudice derives from children observing people around them and absorbing the actions which hold no consequences. Therefore if a child notices aggression, hate or discrimination against a subject repeatedly, it is likely that they would then demonstrate these actions. * According to Bandara, “children learn prejudice and practice discrimination through living and observing a society where prejudice exists”. Whether the influences are parents, extended family, peers, media or society, children encode all behaviours that surround them. Consequently, if they are not taught about the effects of their behaviours, children can grow up to perform these manners with the mentality that they are inferior to whom they discriminate, by the early assurance of their actions. McKinney and Henderson may have felt that their conducts were acceptable because they were not addressed about their homophobic ideas and the impact it may have unto others. Unfortunately, the absence of this lesson led to the death of Matthew