Outline and evaluate one social psychological explanation of aggression
The social learning theory is based on operant conditioning which suggests that children learn to be aggressive by observing the behaviour of those around them, particularly the behaviour of significant others, such as parents or elder siblings. By seeing others being rewarded or punished for their behaviour, the child experiences vicarious reinforcement. From these models, children therefore learn about the nature of aggressive behaviour, the situations it is appropriate and its likely consequences. In addition to learning about the likely outcomes of aggressive behaviour, children also develop confidence in their ability to use aggressive behaviour to get what they want. Children who are confident that they will be able to use aggressive behaviour effectively to achieve their ends are high in self-efficacy; those with less confidence in their ability to use aggression are low in self-efficiency and may decide to use other methods.
The social learning theory is supported by Bandura et al., who found that children who observed a model behaviour behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll were more likely to reproduce the same behaviours when they were later allowed to interact with the doll; the children even improvised their own aggressive actions towards the doll. This was particularly the case when they saw the adult rewarded for their aggressive behaviour, therefore supporting the claim that the expectation of the reward influences the likelihood of a behaviour being performed. Due to these findings Bandura et al., created another experiment, where they divided children into three groups. All three watched a film of an adult model behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll. Group 1 saw an aggressive model who was neither rewarded nor punished for their aggressive behaviour. Group 2 saw an aggressive model who was rewarded for their aggressive behaviour. Finally, group 3 saw an aggressive model who was punished by another model for their aggressive behaviour. The
The social learning theory is supported by Bandura et al., who found that children who observed a model behaviour behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll were more likely to reproduce the same behaviours when they were later allowed to interact with the doll; the children even improvised their own aggressive actions towards the doll. This was particularly the case when they saw the adult rewarded for their aggressive behaviour, therefore supporting the claim that the expectation of the reward influences the likelihood of a behaviour being performed. Due to these findings Bandura et al., created another experiment, where they divided children into three groups. All three watched a film of an adult model behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll. Group 1 saw an aggressive model who was neither rewarded nor punished for their aggressive behaviour. Group 2 saw an aggressive model who was rewarded for their aggressive behaviour. Finally, group 3 saw an aggressive model who was punished by another model for their aggressive behaviour. The