Aggression: Social Learning Theory

Aggression can be directly learned through operant conditioning, involving positive and negative reinforcement and punishment. Bandura proposed that aggression can also be learnt by the indirect mechanism of observational learning. Social learning theory maintains that children learn through a process of imitation. Aggressive acts carried out by a role model will be internalised by an individual and reproduced in the future. If the role model's behaviour is seen to be rewarded, then a child can learn that this is an effective way of getting what they want. Through this process of vicarious reinforcement, rewards that are witnessed as a result of aggression result in the behaviour being seen as acceptable and then reproduced.

Bandura proposes that there are five main cognitive factors that mediate control of the aggressive behaviour:

• Attention – A person/child must attend to the aggressor. So a child must pay attention to an act of aggression carried out by a role model; for instance, when a child engages in a computer game or watches a violent film they are attending to the aggression.
• Retention – To model the behaviour, it needs to be placed into LTM, which enables the behaviour to be retrieved. A child needs to remember the aggression that they have witnessed.
• Production – The individual needs to be able to reproduce the behaviour, i.e. have the physical capabilities. So for instance aggression displayed by superheroes is less likely to be imitated if the child does not possess the physical capabilities to actually carry out the behaviour.
• Motivation – An individual must be expecting to receive positive reinforcement for the modelled behaviour. A child must expect they will get some kind of reward from carrying out aggression This doesn’t have to be materialistic but could be linked to gaining higher status in the eyes of their peers.
• Self-efficacy – Individuals must believe that their behaviour will attain a goal; they must have confidence in their own ability to carry out the action and that they will be rewarded for that action. Self-efficacy relates to the factor of self-belief in one’s actions. If a child decides aggression will be an appropriate action, they must be confident that they can carry out the behaviour and that it will end up in a positive outcome.

Bandura believed aggressive reinforcement in the form of imitation of family members was the most prominent source of behaviour modelling. Parents are the primary role models for children; through a process of observation and identification their behaviour is modelled. The boy who watches his father attack his mother is more likely to become an abusive parent and husband.

In addition to the role models within the family, Bandura proposed that role models in the media can provide a source of vicarious reinforcement which can lead to aggressive behaviour being replicated. Bandura proposed that these role models can provide a child with a 'script' to guide their behaviour.

For More Study Notes

To keep up-to-date with the tutor2u Psychology team, follow us on Twitter @tutor2uPsych, Facebook AQA / OCR / Edexcel / Student or subscribe to the Psychology Daily Digest and get new content delivered to your inbox!