By Nicole Leedham

Key terms
Model- Any person whose actions are imitated by the learner; this may be peers, family members, or even celebrities.
Laboratory experiment- An experiment carried out in very tightly controlled surroundings (but not necessarily a laboratory), often with special equipment available. Physical aggression- Any physical act designed to harm a living creature such as hitting, shoving or throwing things, kicking, fighting or biting. Verbal aggression- Any act that is intended to hurt someone by non-physical communication, such as shouting, swearing, name calling, or saying nasty things about someone Generalise- Research findings that can be extended to everyday situation (natural settings) and to all people are said to generalise. Psychodynamic- Referring to the relationship between the mind and personality and mental or emotional consequences, especially at the unconscious level. Id- The most primitive part of our personality that likes to have its own way and be satisfied immediately. Ego-

Study Bandura- Study in to the effect of social learning on aggression.

Aim To investigate whether young children will imitate an aggressive model. Method/Procedure The children were put in a room with an adult individually; the room had two different tables one with lots of toys on it and the other had a tinker toy set, a mallet and a Bobo doll. Half of the children were shown the adult attacking the Bobo doll doing a specific routine, which involved the mallet, and shouting at the doll. The other half of the children were shown the adult simply playing with the toys and completely ignoring the Bobo doll. The children were then left alone in the room and were observed from another room. Findings The children observed and copied what the adult did. Conclusion The children who watched the adult being aggressive copied that behaviour and even attacked the doll in the same way. The children also made the same noises and said the same thing that the adults did. The children who watched the non-aggressive model also copied them and completely ignored the Bobo doll and just played with the toys. Evaluation- The findings are relevant to real life as it applies to children watching television. The experiment was carried out under artificial conditions so it does not tell us about the real life behaviour of the children. This study is also unethical as the children could have been upset by the situation and they shouldnt learn about being aggressive.

Environmental stressors The things that stress us out around us can cause aggression. These environmental stressors are: Pollution causes stress because we feel we cannot do anything about it so feeling helpless can increase stress. If less we feel in control the higher our stress levels will be, if there is a bad smell and it is something we can get rid of then we will be less stressed than if we cant. It is not the actual pollution that causes the stress it is the helpless feeling it gives the person. Crowding is a psychological condition and is caused by there being a high density of people and the person feeling uncomfortable. The individual in the situation affects whether or not the high density of people causes stress it also depends on the environment they are in. In some cultures crowding can have a negative effect on mental and physical health whereas in others it has no effect. Architecture can have an effect on peoples levels of stress and has some links to crowding. Some room designs can mean that they seem to have less space than a room the same size depending on how the space is used and how the room is shaped. Like with crowding the affect architecture has varies from person to person and culture-to-culture, it may not necessarily cause stress for everyone.

Aggression
Aggression is defined as an intention to inflict some form of harm on others, an act can only be aggressive if the person wanted to cause harm even if they dont whereas if someone cause harm but didnt mean to it is not aggressive. There is a lot of disagreement about what is meant by aggression, as the motives behind the action are significant to whether or not it is considered aggressive. Psychologists also disagree about what causes stress and there are many theories about it.

Stress caused by noise is very similar to stress caused by pollution; it is the feeling of helplessness and not being able to do anything about the noise rather than the noise its self. Evans did a study in to the affect of traffic noise on children it showed that the children from noisier areas were more stressed than the children from the quieter areas.

Deindividuation Deindividuation is when normal constraints on behaviour are weakened and a person loses their sense of individuality. This can happen in situations such as gangs and football crowds. People in these crowds or groups believe that they are not personally responsible for there actions whilst in the situation. People are also more susceptible to pear pressure when deinviduated they will go along with what other people are doing easier rather than thinking for themselves.

Gender and aggression

Even though boys are traditionally thought of as being the more aggressive sex there is no conclusive evidence that they are. Boys and girls show anger in different ways boys are more likely to be physically aggressive whereas girls are more likely to show indirect aggression and verbal aggression. It is generally more accepted for boys to be aggressive than it is for girls to be. Boys tend to be brought up to be aggressive whereas girls are more brought up to be caring. Girls are more likely to be told off for being aggressive than boys are so they are less likely to do it again. Hormones can also play a part in gender in aggression as men contain higher amounts of testosterone than women. Testosterone can cause increased levels of aggression as well as being responsible for sex drive. Men have larger amounts of this hormone so it can mean that men have higher levels of aggression.

Media violence and aggression

It is believed that the amount of violence has a link to the levels of aggression in children due to social learning theory, however there is some evidence, which goes against this.
Many people believe that because of children observing violence in the media it can lead to children copying this behaviour and becoming more aggressive. However a study was done on an island, which only recently got television, and their levels of aggression did not change with TV. There are some study which do support the idea that violence in the media increases levels of aggression however these are correlation studies so may not show what is the cause. It could in fact mean that people who are more aggressive to begin with watch more violent television.

Culture and aggression

Levels of aggression can vary in different culture because in some cultures aggressive behaviour is encouraged and some it isnt. In cultures such as the Amish and the Arapesh they do not believe that bravery is a sign of masculinity and do not have violent gods both of these cultures have low levels of aggression. Whereas the Yanomamo encourage aggression and it is acceptable for men to beat their wives. They are proud of their battle scars and believe the more violence a man displays the greater his status in society, they have high levels of aggression.

Social learning theory

Observation (Attention)-We notice certain behaviours. Aggressive actions are more noticeable than some other thing.
Modelling (Retention)-We only copy behaviours we remember. Aggressive acts are more memorable so we are more likely to retain them. Imitation (Reproduction)-We only copy behaviours we think that we are able to do. Aggressive behaviours do not tend to be hard to be hard to reproduce. Reinforcement (Motivation)-The child must be motivated to reproduce the behaviour. We are more likely to do it if we believe the action is going to be positively reinforced or if the person we observe is a family member or a role model. The child will want to be like them so will imitate their behaviour.

The psychodynamic explanation

This is Froids explanation of aggression he believed that aggression comes from nature rather than nurture he said that we are all instinctively aggressive. He believed that we cannot escape these aggressive urges and they can become dangerous if we do not satisfy them, this means that if we keep the aggression bottled up it will keep building and have a dangerous result. Froid believed that we have three parts to our personality these parts are the ID, the ego and the super ego. The ID is the most primitive part of our personality and it likes to be constantly be satisfied it is the most selfish part of our personality. The ego is keeps balance of all our urges and deals with them in acceptable ways; this is the most rational part of our personality. The third and final part is the super ego this is our conscience and is the moral part of our personality, it also tries to control the urges of our ID. Our ego has several ways in which it controls our aggressive urges; two of these are Displacement and Sublimation. Displacement is when we take our aggressive urges out on other people or other things not connected to the initial aggressive feeling. Sublimation is when we get rid of our aggressive urges in a non-destructive way this can be in something such as by playing sport or imagination.

This theory does not take in to account the unconscious motive behind the action and some psychologists believe that aggression is a conscious decision made by individuals. Some psychologists also believe that because of the varied nature of aggression it cannot be the same instinct that all humans have.