4. Social Learning Theory

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this lecture, we think about social learning theory as a way of understanding aggression as a learned behaviour, focusing in particular on: (i) the origins of social learning theory in the work of Albert Bandura, specifically his ‘Bobo doll’ experiment from 1961; (ii) the four stages of social learning being attention, retention, reproduction and motivation; (iii) how these can be applied to aggression as a learned behaviour; (iv) testing this application by looking at a study of the link between observed parental violence in childhood and aggression in later life, conducted by Eriksson and Mazerolle in 2015; (v) script theory as a model of aggression that has emerged out of the social learning approach in recent decades.

Course

In this course, Dr Claire Lawrence (University of Nottingham) explores the psychology of aggression and aggressive behaviour. In the first lecture, we think about the genetic basis for aggression, associated with the so-called ‘warrior gene’ MAOA. In the second lecture, we think about the neural and hormonal mechanisms involved in aggressive behaviour, including serotonin. In the third lecture, we think about the role of testosterone in aggressive behaviour. Next, we think about how social learning theory can help us to understand aggression as a learned behaviour. In the fifth and final module, we think about the Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis as a social psychological model which argues that frustration, the feeling of having our goals thwarted, is a key factor in causing aggressive behaviour.

Lecturer

Claire Lawrence is an Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of Nottingham.

She works predominantly in the area of individual differences and her research centres around the question: Why do some people act aggressively in some situations, and other people don't? She also examines whether some antisocial traits have benefits in a sexual selection context.

Her second main area of research is the unintended and negative impacts of behavioural interventions.