Describe and Evaluate on Social Psychological Theory of Aggression

Describe and evaluate one social psychological theory of aggression

A01

Social learning theory (SLT) is on social psychological theory of aggression. SLT is defined as learning behaviour that is controlled by environmental influences rather than by innate or internal forces. Behaviours that are observed and modelled are learned through direct experience or observation. Behaviourists therefore believe observing aggressive behaviour that is reinforced or associated with a reward will be repeated and learned. Bandura believed that behaviour can be learnt indirectly through vicarious reinforcement. This observational learning occurs when four processes take place; Attention must be payed, Retention must occur as the individual must code and store behaviour in long-term memory, Production must occur as the individual must be capable of reproducing the behaviour and there must be motivation or reinforcements for the modelled behaviour. Imitative behaviour is more likely to be influenced if there is a reward, if the model is similar to the observer/learner, if the task is neither too easy nor too difficult and if the individual has low self-esteem.

A02

This theory is supported by empirical evidence produced by Bandura. Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment tested if aggression could be acquired through modelling. In the experiment 36 girls and 36 boys aged 3-6 were split into 3 groups where each saw either an aggressive model that wasn’t rewarded or punished, an aggressive model who was rewarded or an aggressive model who was punished. Children who saw an aggressive model being rewarded were more likely to imitate behaviour, being significantly more aggressive, showing all children had learned the aggressive behaviours but only children in the second group were motivated to repeat them.

The use of only adult models in the study was criticised however, as children were more likely to copy the behaviours as adults are usually the ones to deliver rewards or punishments, so...