Although the experiment did show strong evidence that children are likely to copy behaviour, the experiment does have some negative points. The experiment was completed under artificial conditions, therefore it lacks ecological validity. The results therefore cannot be generalized to real life situations. The experiment was also completely unethical as Bandura conditioned these young children to new ways of aggression that they had not known before, and he did not get consent from the children’s parents.
The type of model also affects whether the child will actually imitate the behaviour. A model is most likely to be imitated if:
- The model is liked, powerful and respected
- The model is the same-sex
- The model is reinforced for the behaviour
- The individual thinks they are capable of performing the actions
Therefore, if a child sees a stranger committing a violent crime for example, they would not imitate the man. However if they see there father or a respected famous person they look up to committing a similar crime they are more likely to imitate the person.
Although organizations such as the and the have suggested that thousands (3500 according to the AAP) of studies have been conducted confirming this link, others have argued that this information is incorrect. Rather, only about two hundred studies have been conducted in peer-reviewed on television, movie, music and video game violence effects. Critics argue that about half find some link between media and aggression (but not violent crime), whereas the other half do not find a link between consuming violent media and subsequent aggression of any kind (Freedman, 2002).
Media violence studies take two basic forms. Correlational studies measure exposure to media violence and associate these exposure levels with aggressive behavior or sometimes violent behavior. expose to violent media and then measure their aggression in a laboratory setting. Famous studies include Bandura's (above), Heusmann & Eron's cross national study, and Anderson & Dill's study of violent video game effects.
Another theory that involves the frustration-aggression hypothesis is the relative deprivation theory. This theory says aggression is caused when people feel that they deserve more than they have got, this can lead to frustration, which can then lead to aggression. This does not always happen is poor areas as you may expect, as it is about what people feel they personally deserve. It occurs when people compare what they have to others around them.
The Cue-arousal theory says that although frustration leads to anger, it doesn't necessarily lead to aggression. There needs to be some associated stimulus to spark the aggression. For example, if you were carrying a pile of heavy books and couldn't get the door open, this would cause you to feel frustration, but not aggression. However, if someone then laughed at you, this may be the cue to aggression.
The two other theories of aggression explained above are all different to the social learning theory on aggression, as the social learning theory says that aggression is caused by observation of a model, and imitating another person who is already aggressive. The other theories all believe that something sparks off aggression, such as frustration or tension towards other people or life itself.
