how can aggression be reduced?
How can aggression be reduced? Critically discuss in relation to theories of aggression
Introduction
In this social psychology essay I will be breaching the subject of 'can aggression be reduced? ' However instead of simply relating this to all forms of aggression, my main focus will be solely on childhood aggression.
This is a particularly important question, not only within the psychological community but also within everyday life. If it is possible to tackle the stem of the problem within children then it is likely not to get out hand as they grow up to be functional members of society. Initially we must first define what people think and categorise as 'Aggression '. Aggression is "a response that delivers a noxious stimuli to another organism" (Buss 1961, P28)
Paragraph 1: Modelling
The afore mentioned definition is simply one of many, however, it is the most applicable definition in relation to childhood aggression. Other definitions explain it is only aggressive if there was a malicious intent, a subject which is debatable in small children as how to you measure or identify if a small child had malicious intentions.
A possible explanation of childhood aggression could be through the process of modelling, a process that holds it 's focus in social psychology and explains that when we see our role models or simply people who we look up to slightly act in a certain way we will imitate that behaviour in order to be more like them.
This theory has experiments that could be linked with an example of this is the Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) experiment the Bobo doll experiment.
This experiment was conducted in order to establish if children witnessed aggression by an adult they would imitate this aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity. The experiment it 's self was conducted on 72 aged 3-6 children with 36 of each gender to allow for generalisability across both genders.
In this experiment there was 3 stages and 3 conditions in the 1 st condition
Introduction
In this social psychology essay I will be breaching the subject of 'can aggression be reduced? ' However instead of simply relating this to all forms of aggression, my main focus will be solely on childhood aggression.
This is a particularly important question, not only within the psychological community but also within everyday life. If it is possible to tackle the stem of the problem within children then it is likely not to get out hand as they grow up to be functional members of society. Initially we must first define what people think and categorise as 'Aggression '. Aggression is "a response that delivers a noxious stimuli to another organism" (Buss 1961, P28)
Paragraph 1: Modelling
The afore mentioned definition is simply one of many, however, it is the most applicable definition in relation to childhood aggression. Other definitions explain it is only aggressive if there was a malicious intent, a subject which is debatable in small children as how to you measure or identify if a small child had malicious intentions.
A possible explanation of childhood aggression could be through the process of modelling, a process that holds it 's focus in social psychology and explains that when we see our role models or simply people who we look up to slightly act in a certain way we will imitate that behaviour in order to be more like them.
This theory has experiments that could be linked with an example of this is the Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) experiment the Bobo doll experiment.
This experiment was conducted in order to establish if children witnessed aggression by an adult they would imitate this aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity. The experiment it 's self was conducted on 72 aged 3-6 children with 36 of each gender to allow for generalisability across both genders.
In this experiment there was 3 stages and 3 conditions in the 1 st condition
References: * Krahe, B (2001). The Social Psychology of Aggression . Hove: Psychology Press ltd. 28. * McLeod, S. (2011). Bobo Doll Experiment. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html. Last accessed 3rd November 2014. * McLeod, S. (2007). Skinner - Operant Conditioning. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html. Last accessed 4th November 2014.