Social Learning Theory of Aggression (AQA A Level Psychology): Revision Note

SLT & aggression

• Social learning theory (SLT) is based on the idea that humans learn behaviours from others within social contexts

  • The key ideas behind SLT involve the observation of role models, which then leads to the imitation of role models’ behaviour, depending on whether that behaviour is seen to be rewarded or not

• Bandura acknowledged that aggression can be learned directly through operant conditioning involving positive and negative reinforcement and punishment, but realised that most aggressive behaviour cannot be explained by direct forms of learning

  • He argued that an indirect mechanism, observational learning, accounts for social learning of most aggressive behaviours

• As well as observing the behaviour of models, children also observe the consequences of that behaviour; if the model's aggressive behaviour is rewarded, or at least not punished, the child learns that aggression can be effective in getting what they want, which is vicarious reinforcement

  • Billy feels good when he and his dad are shouting at the TV to show how useless their team is (direct reinforcement)

  • Billy sees his brother being praised for tackling another player aggressively, which makes Billy want to imitate this behaviour the next time he plays football (indirect /vicarious reinforcement)

• There is also a parallel form of indirect learning called vicarious punishment

  • If a model's use of aggression to achieve a goal is punished, an observing child is less likely to imitate that behaviour

• Bandura’s (1961) famous – and controversial – Bobo Doll study highlights the ease with which young children appear to observe and imitate aggressive behaviour learned from adult role models

Cognition & learned aggression

• Bandura points out that four cognitive conditions are needed for observational learning to take place, which determine whether or not a specific behaviour is imitated

• These mediational processes are as follows:

  • Attention – has the child noticed the aggressive behaviour in the first place?

  • Retention – can the child remember the actions of the aggressive role model?

  • Reproduction – can the child transform the mental representation of the aggressive behaviour into actual physical action, which involves realistically appraising their own ability to do this?

  • Motivation – does the child believe that imitating the behaviour will lead to an outcome that they desire?

• Self-efficacy is the extent to which we believe our actions will achieve a desired goal, and a child's confidence in their ability to be aggressive grows as they learn that aggression can bring rewards

  • A child who regularly hits other children to get hold of a toy learns that they have the motor skills necessary to force another child to hand over the toy, and that this ability comes easily to them, so their sense of self-efficacy develops with each successful outcome

Research which investigates the social learning theory of aggression

• Perry et al. (1986) - aggressive primary-school children reported that aggression came to them easily and that it was difficult for them to inhibit their aggression; these aggressive children were also confident that aggression would lead to positive rewards, although aggressive girls reported higher levels of concern for victims of aggression and more awareness of possible punishments for aggressive behaviour

• Huesmann & Eron (2013) - media portrayals of aggressive behaviour can be powerful influences on a child's acquisition of aggression, especially if a character is rewarded for being aggressive and the child can identify with them in some way, for example because they have appealing traits such as a sense of humour

• Poulin & Boivin (2000) studied boys aged nine to twelve and found that aggressive boys formed friendships with other aggressive boys, with these cliques acting as 'training grounds' for antisocial behaviour

  • The friendships were lasting, stable and mutually reinforcing, as the boys used their alliances to gain resources through proactive aggression, usually successfully, so they gained reinforcement both from the direct consequences and from the rewarding approval of the rest of the gang

Evaluation of the social learning theory of aggression

Strengths

• Poulin & Boivin's findings show precisely the conditions under which social learning theory predicts that aggressive behaviour would occur, as the boys experienced both direct and vicarious reinforcement of their aggression within a stable peer group

• SLT has good application to interventions in both educational and offender settings, i.e., if aggressive/negative behaviour can be learned, then prosocial/positive behaviour can also be learned via, for example, social skills training 

Limitations

• Children who are experienced in using proactive aggression have high levels of self-efficacy and are confident that their aggressive behaviour will bring benefits, which is well explained by social learning theory

  • However, reactively aggressive children habitually use aggression to retaliate in the heat of the moment, tending to be hostile and suspicious of others and not seeking anything except retribution, which is less explicable from a social learning perspective and may be better explained by Berkowitz's negative affect theory

• There are practical applications of SLT, as the theory argues that people are not passive recipients of reinforcement but active influencers of their own environments, shaping them through their own aggressive behaviour by selecting and creating their surroundings, known as reciprocal determinism

  • One way to reduce aggression is to break this cycle by encouraging aggressive children to form friendships with children and adults who do not habitually behave aggressively, giving them more opportunities to model non-aggressive behaviour

Issues & Debates

• SLT supports environmental determinism, suggesting that aggression is learned from observing and imitating role models

  • This implies that aggressive behaviour is shaped by external reinforcement, leaving little room for free will or personal responsibility

  • However, the inclusion of cognitive mediators (like motivation and self-efficacy) suggests some degree of choice, making SLT less deterministic than traditional behaviourist theories

• SLT takes a nomothetic approach, aiming to establish general laws of behaviour (e.g., all children learn aggression through observation)

  • This is useful for creating testable hypotheses and broad applications like anti-bullying strategies

  • However, it may overlook individual differences – not all children exposed to aggression become aggressive