Outline and evaluate two social psychological explanations for aggression

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Outline and evaluate two social psychological explanations for aggression

        While there are many different approaches in psychology, perhaps the most believable, and ultimately provable approaches to aggression come from the social psychological approach: social learning theory and deindividuation. While the two theories differ in their context, they both assert that the explanations of behaviour, in this case aggression, originate from the situational context emphasising little importance on other factors such as biology, evolution or cognitive processes.

        The social learning theory (SLT) approach to aggression largely originates from the somewhat infamous work of Bandura. While SLT comes under the large umbrella term of behaviourism, it goes far beyond the simple stimulus response model, explaining in depth more complex and perhaps realistic explanations for behaviour. Aggression is learned either indirectly: through observational learning and only replicated if vicarious reinforcement occurs, or directly. This is where aggressive behaviour is directly reinforced. While both are a form of operant conditioning, the direct approach parallels the ideas much closer. Bandura outlined the following four steps in the modelling process of SLT: Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. Attention is increased if the model is more prestigious, attractive or similar. This causes the person (Bandura’s work was largely focused on children) to remember the aggressive behaviour through cognitive processes, thus retention. Furthermore, vicarious reinforcement is not enough; imitation can only occur if the person possesses appropriate skills to reproduce the behaviour. And finally, the child requires motivation to act out the aggressive behaviour as imitation is related to direct and indirect reinforcements and punishments.

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        Bandura hypothesised these claims through a lot of his own research. He proved that if children watch someone else behave aggressively towards a Bobo Doll, they were more likely to be aggressive themselves later on, specifically imitating individual actions they had previously seen. When the model was rewarded the child was more likely to reproduce through vicarious reinforcement compared to those models punished, thus showing that observational learning only results in imitation when it is vicariously reinforced. This study has complex implications for the old age debate of nature / nurture. While it seems that Bandura’s research proves that behaviour ...

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The Quality of Written Communication is flawless, except for two instances were the word "crowd" is spelt as "crows". This is by no means a reason to detriment the essay's clarity and the excellence in written expression evident here. There is a very adept use of complex psychological terminology and a good understanding of how to effectively use it to aid precise analysis. There are no other major issues in grammar or punctuation here.

The Level of Analysis here is fantastic. The candidate addresses both theories holistically, commenting specifically on how each theory can be supported, refuted and how well each explains behaviour. There is also an infallible understanding of both behavioural phenomena(SLT and deindividuation) which can elicit higher chances of aggressive acts due to a less stringent moral obligation to follow rules when a part of a group and simply learning aggressive acts from each other. The candidate makes a clear dissociation with biological theories for aggression and this helps their answer because more pointed and precise, and overall the analysis of each theories is sufficiently and balanced, lending to an excellent discussion of aggressive behaviour.

This is an absolutely outstanding essay. The candidate clearly has an exceptional knowledge of social behaviour and behavioural phenomena, as well as Psychology as a whole. The essay starts off with a confident, precise introduction describing in detail the nature of aggressive behaviour and two pioneering theories about the instance by which it is learnt and/or encouraged (SLT and deindividuation). The candidate then cites theorists and research evidence to help fortify their answers with empirical evidence for and against the two theories, taking plenty of time to precisely target the support and refutations each theories has. An excellent essay with a pleasantly rounded structure and a masterful use of psychological terminology.