Social/pro-feminist Model• Sattel contends that violence and aggression

are a means to power

• Violence must be viewed as a consequence of social & cultural context.

• Our society gives men permission to be aggressive, in fact encourages.

• Institutions encourage men to be aggressive and women to be dependent

Power and aggression

• “We have created a society in which power is defined as the ability to control others, with violence as the ultimate form of control. Children learn early in the home when violence is approved and normalized. Children learn who gets their way and who does not. Effects of pornography as acceptable for men to view women’s role as to sexual pleasure for a man’s need. The primary message men receive is having someone sexually vulnerable to you is the quintessential signs of “maleness and Power”

Pro-feminist

• Socialization of children: – Boy: competitive, aggressive, controlling– Girls: dependent, vulnerable, malleable

• Aggression is dominant response to gain and maintain power

• Being a “man” means calling all the “shots”• Violence as a mode of coercive control ---

thus POWER

Social Learning Theory

• Three components– Social learning/Modeling– Frustration– Various instigating stimuli

Modeling• Huemann (1984) found in longitudinal study over

two generations significant correltations between agessiveness of children and parents.

• He believes that children learn cognitive scripts from models, which become strengthened by rehearsal, repeated observation of live models, viewing of violent films, and mental rehearsal in children’s fantasy.

• Thus, the question became how do mothers and fathers serve as models.

General social learning• Modeling is like vicarious conditioning: an

individual imitates a model only if the model is successful in reaching his/her goals with the behavior in question. (positive reinforcement)

• Bandura’s work

Learning theory

• Destructive aggression-– Bandura & Walters

– Imitation• Physically aggressive punitive parents tend to have physically

aggressive children

– Direct rewarding: TV violence, acting out as a means of getting what is wanted.

– Punishment: extremely severe punishment reduces direct violence toward the punishing person & is associated with high levels of destructive aggression towards other targets.

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Socialisation/ learning approaches to Socialisation/ learning approaches to aggressionaggression

Bandura’s research suggests that aggressive behaviour might be learned both directly and indirectly.

Once learned, aggressive behaviour is more likely to generalize to different situations and across time

This research also had a broader social impact because it tapped into people’s fears about the effects of violent role models on children’s behaviour.

Social Learning Theory

•Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment•Modeling of aggressive behavior

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Characteristics of models

• 1. The degree of similarity between the model situation and the actual situation

• 2. Identification with the model in question• 3. Whether the model is successful or not

(vicarious reinforcement)• 4. The amount of exposure to the model situation

in question.

Learning theory, continued

• Peer Groups– Norms of reference group (imitation or being

same)– Expectations for gain (may be acceptance)

direct reward– Violence is the expected mode of problem

solving in sub-cultures. – Symbols of violence on media (seen as referent

group behavior)

Cross-Cultural studies

• Adults who pressure children:– To be highly self-reliant– Extreme high achievers– Children exhibit high levels of anxiety

whenever they fail to be self-reliant/high achievers

– Exclusive mother/son sleeping arrangements (absence of father from room for prolonged periods of over one year…

Frustration

• Interference with ongoing goal directed activity or violation of an individuals expectations

• Early theories: (Spense-Hull)– Aggression is the naturally dominant response

to frustration– Frustration is an antecedent of aggression

FrustrationFrustration increases motivation or energy

level of the individual.As frustration increases the individual uses

more vigorous behaviors to end frustration. These behaviors become fixed in habit repertoire and are elicited by similar stimulus situations.

Thus, responses to motivation state engendered by frustration depends upon stimulus and past learning.

Outcome of frustration

– High risk of violence when two groups are pursuing one goal that only one can possess. (war, gang fighting)

Instigating Stimuli

• Stimuli Conductive to Violence– Precipitation event

– A low expectancy of punishment

– Ready availability of means (weapons)

– Alcohol intoxification (drugs also)

– Strong Obedience to Authority (Stanley Milgrom)

– Boredom/temperature

– Group contagion

Mob violence

• Social conditions (overcrowding)

• Conflict among group norms or violence

• scapegoating

• evil motives (implications)

• lack of leadership

• Poor communication

• Low expectation of punishment

• absence of social control

Modeling of parents

• Kaj Bjorkqvist

• Parental influcence on aggressiveness can be explained by two mechanisms– an emotionally frustrating home atmosphere– modeling

family study of aggression• Four age groups of adolescents (11, 13, 15 & 17) • Groups took the Anger Scale (this scale was

designed to investigate modeling process in aggressive behavior).

• Three versions of the scale– father, mother and self

• “what does you mother (or father or self) do when she/he/you get angry?”

– Study looked at modeling effects of mother with that of father on adolescents of both sexes, in two types of environment: at home and with peers.

Conclusion of family study• 1. Regardless of sex, adolescents tend to imitate

mothers more when angry with peers, while the impact of fathers is greater when they are angry at home.

• 2. Modeling effect of the same-sex parent is relatively stronger than the effect of the parent of the other sex.

• 3. Mothers have a greater impact than fathers. (this may be confounded with amount of exposure)

Conclusions, cont. • Adolescent boys imitate the aggressive behavior

of their fathers more than that of mothers at home while they imitate their mothers anger with peers.

• Adolescent girls on the other hand, imitate their fathers and mothers equally when angry at home, while with peers they imitate mother more.