Aggression: social explanations

Aggression: social explanations

1. Bandura (1965): aggressive behaviour is learned either through DIRECT EXPERIENCE or by OBSERVING OTHERS.

   • Direct experience: child pushes another child, resulting in them getting something they want, action is reinforced= more likely to occur in similar situations in the future. (similar to operant conditioning)
   • Observing others (vicariously): child sees a role model behaving in a particular way + reproduces that behaviour. Said to be 'imitating' the behaviour of the model. e.g watching a father being abusive towards mother=grow up to be like that.

2. Main methods of SLT:

   • 1. Attention- attending to the models behaviour (in order to reproduce).
   • 2. Retention- behaviour must be retained and placed into LTM in order to be retrieved and recreated.
   • 3. Production- individual must possess physical capabilities needed to recreated the behaviour.
   • 4. Motivation- individual will expect to receive positive reinforcement for modelled behaviour/ motivated enough to want to carry it out.

3. Media violence & aggression: TV is a powerful source of learning. (Huesmann suggested children may use television models as a source of 'scripts' acting as a source for their own behaviour, e.g. seeing a movie hero beat up bad guys=stores in memory and STRENGTHENED and ELABORATED through REHEARSAL).

   • observation of violence in media and subsequent aggressive behaviour is influenced by:
     • If observed violence is thought to be real compared to fictional/fantasy violence.
     • If viewers identify with aggressive model, e.g. superhero= more likely to be recreated.
     • If aggressive behaviour is punished in some way in media= unlikely observer will recreate behaviour.
   • E.g. Jamie Bulger- Venables and Thompson claimed to have been influenced by actions in Child's Play 3.

4. RESEARCH: AO1 OR AO2- BANDURA ET AL: 66 nursery school children into 3 groups. All groups watched a film of an adult model kicking and punching a Bobo doll. CONDITION 1: adult model rewarded by second adult. CONDITION 2: second adult telling off first adult model. CONDITION 3: adult neither rewarded nor punished.

   • FINDINGS: Condition 1: Children= most aggressive, Condition 2: Children= least aggressive.

5. EVALUATION

   • Patterson et al- demonstrated that role models are important in development of anti-social behaviour, found aggressive children are raised in homes of high aggression+little affection=supports importance of role played by parents.
   • Bandura- Lab study= High reliability, high replicability (as high control over variables).
   • Bandura- Lab study- Low ecological validity, Bobo doll designed to be hit= could not be applied to real life situations.
   • Bandura- Ethics- children encouraged to be aggressive (did not leave experiment as they entered it= exploited?)