A01

• What is the social learning theory for aggression?

  Children acquire aggressive behaviours through observing aggressive models and the consequences of their behaviour - aggressive acts carried out by a role model will be internalised by an individual and reproduced in the future
• What role do the mediational processes play in aggression?

  Children form mental represenations of events in social situations and they will develop expectations of future outcomes and these influence whether aggressive behaviour is imitated or not
• Explain how vicarious reinforcement relates to aggressive behaviour

  If a model's aggressive behaviour is rewarded (or not punished) then the child learns that aggression can be effective in getting what they want, which makes it more likely that the observing child will imitate the model's aggressive behaviour
• Explain how vicarious punishment relates to aggressive behaviour

  If a model's aggressive behaviour is punished then the child learns that aggression is not beneficial behaviour to achieve their goals, which makes it less likely that the observing child will imitate the model's aggressive behaviour
• What is self-efficacy in relation to aggression?

  The extent to which we believe our actions will achieve a desired goal - a child's confidence in their ability to be aggressive grows as they learn that aggression can bring rewards
• Explain the findings of Bandura's (1961) study

  - Bandura found that the children who observed the aggressive adult model imitated the exact same aggressive behaviour toward the bobo doll

  - Verbal aggression was sex-typed, whilst boys were more likely to engage in physical aggression

  - All children were more likely to imitate same-sex models
• Describe Bandura's (1965) study

  - Children were shown an adult model either being rewarded, punished or receive no consequence for acting aggressively towards a bobo doll - Bandura found that children who saw model receive praise and reward were more likely to imitate aggression toward the bobo doll

  - Girls were more restrained by the threat of punishment, but this effect lessens when they are offered positive incentive for imitating aggressive behaviour