SLT: Aggression

Question 1

STRENGTH: supportive research evidence

Answer 1

• Poulin and Boivin found most aggressive boys formed friendships with other aggressive boys - ‘training ground’ for antisocial behaviour
• This means they were exposed frequently to models of physical aggression and robots reinforcing consequences
• Shows that aggression increases in precisely the conditions predicted by SLT

Question 2

LIMITATION: SLT can’t explain all forms of aggression

Answer 2

• Children who use proactive aggression have high self efficacy so use aggression to achieve goals.
• Children who show reactive aggression are hostile, and do not use aggression to achieve anything except in the heat of the moment.
• This behaviour is less explicable from a social learning perspective, may be better explained by Berkowitz negative affect theory.

Question 3

LIMITATION:SLT has difficulty in explaining cultural differences in aggression

Answer 3

• Different cultures have different norms about which behaviours should be reinforced
• In some cultures social norms do not encourage aggression so aggressive models are unavailable for children to observe and vicarious reinforcement is rare.
• This suggests there is more to aggressive behaviour than social learning. Perhaps the biological approach is a more valid explanation of this cultural finding.