Learning theory: Aggression

Question 1

hostile aggression

Answer 1

hot blooded aggression. behaviour which comes from anger or frustration. emotional, reactive and impulsive which means it is unplanned. it is not done for personal gain. eg. road rage

Question 2

instrumental aggression

Answer 2

cold blooded aggression. involves using aggression to get what you want. this could be an intrinsic reward. does not usually have a psychological response. eg. spreading rumours

Question 3

violent aggression

Answer 3

using physical force to cause injury to others. eg. punching and kicking

Question 4

verbal aggression

Answer 4

using words to psychologically damage another person. eg. shouting

Question 5

name 2 strengths of the learning approaches explanation of aggression

Answer 5

1. there is research to support the learning approach as an explanation of aggression.

Bandura found that the children copied that adults behaviour. for example, if they were aggressive then so were the children. this suggests behaviour is learnt.

2. has practical application so is useful.

the creation of mentoring programs for children and young adults who are at risk of becoming involved in crime and violence. participants are exposed to non-aggressive role models and learn to imitate their pro-social behaviour. successful practical application adds validity to the learning approach.

Question 6

name 1 limitation of the learning approaches explanation of aggression

Answer 6

1. Incomplete explanation of aggression

Kendler found that aggression levels in identical twins was more similar than in non-identical twins. this suggests that aggression may be caused by genes, a factor which the learning approach does not consider.

Question 7

operant conditioning: explanation of aggression

Answer 7

if aggressive behaviour is somehow rewarded, then you are much more likely to repeat it in the future. either the aggression leads to a reward (positive reinforcement), or it leads to the removal of something you do not like(negative reinforcement). therefore, you learn that to get what you want, or to avoid what you don’t want, you should show aggression. in this way, aggression becomes a conditioned behaviour.

Question 8

social learning theory: explanation of aggression

Answer 8

aggression results from seeing other people behave aggressively, especially those you see as a role model. models are usually those with whom you share some similarities and that you look up to in some way . if your models routinely show aggression, then it is likely that at some point in the future, in a similarity situation, you are also likely to show aggression. the likelihood increases if you have observed your model gets rewarded in some way for their aggressive behaviour (vicarious reinforcement)