Social Learning Theory

• Attention


  A person/child must attend to the aggressor. So a child must pay attention to an act of aggression carried out by a role model; for instance, when a child engages in a computer game or watches a violent film they are attending to the aggression.
• Retention


  To model the behaviour, it needs to be placed into LTM, which enables the behaviour ti be retrieved. A child needs to remember the aggression that they have witnessed
• Motor production


  The individual needs to be able to reproduce the behaviour, i.e have the physical capabilities. So for instance aggression displayed by superheroes is less likely to be imitated the child does not possess the physical capabilities to actually carry out the behaviour
• Motivation


  An individual must be expecting to receive positive reinforcement for the modelled behaviour. A child must expect they will get some kind of reward from carrying out aggression. This doesn't have to be materialistic but could be linked to gaining higher status in the eyes of their peers
• Self efficacy


  Individuals must believe that their behaviour will attain a goal; they must have confidence in their own ability to carry out the action and that they will be rewarded for that action. Self efficacy relates to the factor of self belief in ones actions. If a child decides aggression will be an appropriate action , they must be confident that they can carry out the behaviour and that it will end up in a positive outcome.
• Bandura believed aggressive reinforcement in the form of imitation of family members was the most prominent source of behaviour modelling. Parents are the primary role models for children; through a process of observation and identification their behaviour is modelled