How Children Acquire Aggressive Reponses

The fundamentals of the social learning theory significantly describe offenders and their criminal behavior which is learned based on observation and imitation. A researcher by the name of Albert Bandura along with coworkers tested the social learning theory with several experiments on children and their imitation of aggression based on what they saw and were exposed to. Bandura’s focus was to prove that human behavior such as aggression is learned through social imitations and copying the actions of others. Walters (1966) gives details about the Bobo doll experiment and explains its purpose related to learning a violent behavior based on observation. In the experiment, the tested subjects were children of both sexes, ranging from the ages of three to six years. Some of the children were exposed to a non-aggressive adult, while the other children were placed in a room with an aggressive adult who would both physically and verbally attack the Bobo doll. The control group in the experiment was not exposed to any adult. During the second phase of the experiment, the children were left in a room by themselves with the toys, and watched to see if they would demonstrate the aggressive behavior like that of which they observed adults doing earlier. Walter (1966) describes the results as “children who had been exposed to an aggressive model showed more imitative physical and verbal

Why some children are more aggressive than others? Bandura & Walters (1959) defines aggression as any behaviour harbouring the goal or intention to cause hurt, harm to another human, or destruction to an object. Nativists like Noam Chomsky would answer this question according to the theory of nativism – that a person’s character traits and learning abilities are inborn and hard-coded in his genes, hence ascribing it to Nature. On the contrary, environmentalists like Albert Bandura and B.F. Skinner argue that it is the environment which influence a person’s learning and behaviour- the Nurture aspect. Others who refuse to adopt an either-or radical approach, attempt to amalgamate both schools of thought and look at how our genetic makeup and environment influence and interact with each other. In this paper, we shall explore the influences of Nature and Nurture on children aggression.

The article “Imitation of film-mediated aggressive model”’ is written by Albert Bandura, Dorothea Ross, and Sheila A. Ross in 1963. On the basis of the article carried out by Bandura et. al (1963, p. 4), it is examine that 3 to 5 years old children continuously observe the aggressive behaviour of adult. Then they conduct the same aggressive behaviour in front of doll or other toys. This shows that aggressive behaviour of parents put adverse and negative impact

Children need guidance and personal example from the adults around them to help them learn what is acceptable and what behaviour isn’t acceptable. Behaviour is greatly influenced by primary socialisation and children will react and take in how close family members act. Bandura developed the modelling idea where children would copy the adults around them. “There is much evidence that a child who witnesses or experiences violence at home may develop aggressive tendencies.” There are a number of different types of behaviour these include assertive, aggressive, submissive and manipulative behaviour.

Aggression is a natural part of human behavior, and can even be adaptive in certain situations. However, when aggression manifests itself in violent behaviors, it becomes problematic. Patterns of aggression change throughout childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, and these changes usually differ between males and females (Loeber, 1997). Physical aggression is typically greatest early in life and decreases during adolescence, whereas more serious violence tends to increase with age, particularly during adolescence (Loeber, 1997). Despite the changes that occur in aggressive tendencies throughout childhood and adolescence, aggression is seen as a very stable trait, almost as stable as

The social learning theory, proposed by Albert Bandura, states that behavior is learned through observation and imitation of others. This theory relates to aggression and gender differences because we may learn aggression from what we see and begin to imitate what we witness while in learning stages as a child. A study done on dating violence proved this. Researchers found that there were numerous contributors to dating violence such as personality, psychopathology, neuropathology, and emotionality; but one of the greatest contributors of all was the modeling of aggression in intimate relationships, especially the family. As children, one of the biggest ways we learn is by imitation and observation. Babies learn how to speak by repeating and imitating sounds that they have heard. Many children even imitate their parents during play by pretending to get ready for work. The study showed that observing interparental aggression affects boys and girls adversely, depending on which parent is the recipient and which parent is the aggressor. The reason this pertains to social learning theory and aggression is because for example, if a boy sees his father abuse his mother often while growing up, he will think it is the norm for a husband to abuse his wife and that there is nothing wrong with it. This also makes it a higher probability that that child will grow up to be an aggressor and abuse his wife as well. This

Modeling, according to Bandura, was a form of observational learning. Observational learning is learning through watching. According to Bandura, social behavior is passed down from each generation, in all societies. Behavioral patterns are usually observed by the younger age group and help a child develop. If the role model of the younger child is aggressive, it is more than likely the child will grow up with aggressive tendencies. The concept of modeling being a predisposing risk factor for aggression can be seen through Bandura’s BOBO doll study. Bandura and his research team escorted 4-year-olds into a play area with toys. While the experimental group of kids was playing with the toys, an adult entered the room and started acting violent with the BOBO doll, knocking it down, kicking and punching it, and shouting vulgarities at the doll. Later on, when the children were playing alone with the BOBO doll, they started to have aggressive tendencies, yelling at the BOBO doll and punching and kicking it violently, mocking the actions modeled by the adult previously. This experiment clearly showed Bandura’s hypothesis of modeling being a prompting risk factor for aggression. The children who are very impressionable at a young age and therefore imitated the adult, believing that the aggressive action was the correct action. This shows that a model

The nature vs. nurture topic has been a continuing debate for many aspects of human behavior, including aggression. There have been many studies indicating that chemical relationships between serotonin, testosterone, and frontal lobe brain chemistry may play a key role in determining aggressive behavior, while other studies have explored environmental and societal factors that have been said to control patterns in human aggression.

They hypothesized when children are presented with either aggressive or nonaggressive behaviors from their models, the children will readily imitate the behaviors. The test subjects in this case were pre-school aged children from the Stanford University Nursery; 36 males and 36 females aged from 37 months to 69 months, the mean age being 52 months. In this study, the independent variable was either an aggressive or a nonaggressive model. The aggressive models would spend their first minute quietly playing with the toys in the room and would spend the rest of the time using a sequence of aggression they repeated three times: laid Bobo on its side, sat on it and punched it in the nose, raised it, struck it on the head with a mallet, tossed it aggressively and kicked it around the room. The children in the control group were given no adult model. The dependent variable was the imitative physical aggression displayed by the children; three judges recorded the children’s behavior every five seconds for 20 minutes, whether the child had struck the Bobo doll with the mallet, sat on it and punched it in the nose, kicked it, or tossed it in the air. The children who observed the aggressive model had higher levels of imitative physical aggression (M = 12.725, p < .001) than the children who observed the nonaggressive model (M = 1.05) and the control (M = 1.6) groups. It is important to note this is experimental research. This is when the scientist uses a systematic and scientific approach to the scientific method where variables are manipulated. In this study a behavioral perspective was taken as how the behaviors of the children were affected by certain role models. Bandura, Ross, and Ross concluded at the end of this study the observation of cues produced by the behavior of others is effective in eliciting a certain response.

The presence of siblings who serve as a target for aggression is an indirect effect and increases the risk of becoming physically aggressive in the high aggression trajectory group. Well noted direct risk factors in the high aggression trajectory group include: maternal age, alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy; maternal antisocial history during school years; antisocial fathers and inter-parental conflict. Preschoolers coping with high levels or intensity of family conflict struggle emotionally and may express their hostility physiologically through heart rate activity or skin conductance response monitored preschoolers for heart rate and skin conductance whilst they were watching an angry interaction between two adults. Girls from high

Once the physiological needs of a child are met, it can move on to the second stage which concerns “safety.” The idea of safety is often a second thought to adults, however children often worry about their safety and what is going on around them. Reflecting back on Bandura’s (1977) theory of social learning, children who observe violent behaviour or abusive languages are more likely to replicate the behaviour elsewhere. As a result, children may act out and become more troublesome in school not only disrupting their own learning but the learning of others as well. In these cases, teachers can help to move the child forward in a positive way.

Bandura et al. (1963) studies are perhaps the most significant studies not only of their time, but also of the present. Bandura studies lead to the theory of social learning. The theory of social learning helps to explain how certain human behaviors, especially aggression, are acquired. Children and teenagers usually learn to resolve conflicts in the way they see models do so. These models can be from the TV, cartoons, sports figures, and especially their parents or guardians. Past studies indicate that children learn aggression seen and consequently exhibit aggression on real life events, (Bandura et al., 1963; Lovaas, 1962; Mowrer, 1961). Nevertheless, more recent studies indicate that children and adolescents still display the same tendencies, (Aroson et al., 2007; Piotrowski, 2005).

Dodge, K. A., & Crick, N. R. (1990). Social information-processing bases of aggressive behavior in children. Personality and Social Psychology bulletin, 16(1),

Physical assault and aggression is the second leading cause of death among 14 to 17 year olds, next to vehicular accidents (Loeber). But why are humans so aggressive in the first place? There are two sides of the debate: Nature, and Nurture. Some say that it’s human nature, genetics that cause most behaviors, while others say that we act as we learned during childhood. This argument applies to aggression as well. Aggression is mainly caused by things during childhood and adolescence where people learn from various sources about aggression, although, human psychology plays a slight factor.

Aggression is a complex issue to contextualise as it can mean both hostile, attacking behaviour and verbal behaviour with intent to cause harm. However, aggression may also be reactionary in response to environmental factors. Teenage aggression arises from negative environmental influences during upbringing. The roles of peers, family and media shape these environmental influences which include: bullying, abuse in the home, and violent video games.