It could be said that we all are born aggressive but as we mature to adulthood w

Question

It could be said that we all are born aggressive but as we mature to adulthood we become less aggressive, transferring our aggressive tendencies to more acceptable behaviors such as sports and competition. One of the ways in which theorist have describe this process learning is social learning theory. Alfred Bandura's classic Bobo doll experiment provided research evidence that aggression, like other behaviors can be learned as well. One of the challenges is how to define aggression. Anger is an abstract concept that is hard to define unless you attribute it to some overt observable behavior.

If you have ever worked in a preschool or child day care, you may have observed volatile behaviors in some of the children such as hitting others, biting, slapping, yelling, and throwing objects at others. Would this observation support the premise that we are born aggressive and we learn not to be?

Describe the theoretical basis of the Bandura's Bobo doll experiment. Based on the results of the experiment, explain your conclusions regarding aggressive behavior.

Describe what is meant by the term “aggression”? What factors in an individual need to be considered when defining aggression? How can aggression be categorized?

Explanation / Answer

Young children have an innate tendency to be aggressive that they have to learn to control in their pre-school years if they are to avoid being violent and antisocial later in life.Toddlers are born with aggressive instincts rather than learning to be violent from their surroundings. It is not only an indictor of aggression in adulthood, but is also leads to other behavioural problems such as alcohol and drug abuse, violent crime and continues the cycle of abusive parenting. There is much debate about whether children learn to be violent or are born with aggressive instincts but the most recent studies suggest that aggression is the "default" position and that it is a child's ability to learn to control it that results in stark differences in behaviour between older children and adolescents. If toddlers are surrounded by adults and other children who are physically aggressive, they will probably learn that physical aggression is part of everyday social interactions. On the other hand, if a child lives in an environment that does not tolerate physical aggression, and rewards pro-social behaviour, it is likely that the child will acquire the habit of using means other than physical aggression to obtain what he or she wants. Various factors have been linked to childhood aggression, such as whether the parents are separated at the time of birth, low parental income, whether the mother has a history of antisocial behaviour and physical abuse within the family. Bobo doll experiment, groundbreaking study on aggression led by psychologist Albert Bandura that demonstrated that children are able to learn through the observation of adult behaviour. The experiment was executed via a team of researchers who physically and verbally abused an inflatable doll in front of preschool-age children, which led the children to later mimic the behaviour of the adults by attacking the doll in the same fashion. The experiment involved exposing children to two different adult models; an aggressive model and a non-aggressive one. After witnessing the adult's behavior, the children would then be placed in a room without the model and were observed to see if they would imitate the behaviors they had witnessed earlier. Bandura made several predictions about what would occur: He predicted that children who observed an adult acting aggressively would be likely to act aggressively even when the adult model was not present. The children who observed the non-aggressive adult model would be less aggressive than the children who observed the aggressive model; the non-aggressive exposure group would also be less aggressive than the control group. Children would be more likely to imitate models of the same-gender rather than models of the opposite-gender. Boys would behave more aggressively than girls. Agressive behaviour according to me is a combination of our innate abilities as well as our surroundings. Observing other people,getting exposed to media which is violent and even a person's own personality traits led to aggression. Aggression is a word that we use every day to characterize the behavior of others and perhaps even of ourselves. Social psychologists define aggression as behavior that is intended to harm another individual who does not wish to be harmed.Because it involves the perception of intent, what looks like aggression from one point of view may not look that way from another, and the same harmful behavior may or may not be aggressive depending on its intent. Emotional or impulsive aggression refers to aggression that occurs with only a small amount of forethought or intent and that is determined primarily by impulsive emotions. Emotional aggression is the result of the extreme negative emotions we’re experiencing at the time that we aggress and is not really intended to create any positive outcomes. Instrumental or cognitive aggression, on other hand, is aggression that is intentional and planned. Instrumental aggression is more cognitive than affective and may be completely cold and calculating. Instrumental aggression is aimed at hurting someone to gain something—attention, monetary reward, or political power, for instance. If the aggressor believes that there is an easier way to obtain the goal, the aggression would probably not occur. A bully who hits a child and steals her toys, a terrorist who kills civilians to gain political exposure, and a hired assassin are all good examples of instrumental aggression. Physical aggression is aggression that involves harming others physically—for instance hitting, kicking, stabbing, or shooting them. Nonphysical aggression is aggression that does not involve physical harm. Nonphysical aggression includes verbal aggression (yelling, screaming, swearing, and name calling. The social factors play an important role in defining agressions. The family environment,school,college etc all play a major role in shaping one's behvaiour.

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