Description
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, read Chapter 6 in your textbook. Although you read it in Week 1, you may also want to review Chapter 8: Homicide in your textbook.
Your initial post should be at least 300 words in length. Support your claims with examples from the required materials and/or other scholarly sources, and properly cite any references.
Please elaborate on the following as you complete your discussion:
In your textbook, there are four different types of homicide offenders discussed: domestic-violence homicide offenders, felony homicide offenders, accident homicide offenders, and altercation-precipitated homicide offenders.
Based on your client’s case explain which type, if any, describes your client’s homicide offender type.
Elaborate on the homicide-offender type characteristics and the fact of the case that make you believe your client falls under that type.
If you find that your client does not fall under any of the four types, elaborate on why you arrived at this conclusion.
Focus on the six psychosocial (demographic) factors related to homicide discussed in the chapter to answer the questions below. Be sure to elaborate and include details from your client’s life to support your assertions.
Explain which of the six psychosocial factors are relevant to your client.
Examine which of these six factors are not relevant to your client.
Assess what the research says about these psychosocial variables and homicide offenders.
Analyze common themes that arise in the research about the life experiences of homicide offenders.
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Aggression and Violence
6
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Learning Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
• Define the concept of aggression.
• Evaluate behavior to determine if it meets the criteria for aggression.
• Identify the various categories of aggression.
• Distinguish between biological and evolutionary psychological theories of aggression.
• Examine the role that social learning plays in developing and eliciting aggressive behavior.
• Analyze the developmental and situational factors that may lead to aggression.
• Understand the connection between gender and aggression.
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Introduction
Section 6.1
Introductory Case Study: Scott Beierle
Scott Beierle, a 40-year-old military veteran and former public school teacher living in Florida,
lost his job for asking a female student if she was ticklish and then inappropriately touching
her. Over the years, he was arrested multiple times for approaching women in public places and
groping them. The charges rarely resulted in any meaningful punishment, since victims often did
not pursue prosecution.
Beierle had posted multiple YouTube videos in which he expressed racist and sexist views, including bitter hatred of women. For example, in one video Beierle stated that “promiscuous women
should be crucified” and that minority women, along with those who date minority men, were
“disgusting.” In the videos, Beierle also compared himself to mass murderer Elliot Rodger, who
killed six people near the University of California at Santa Barbara campus in 2014. It was clear
to those who came in contact with Beierle and his videos that he harbored deep anger and resentment. However, it was unclear what precipitated these feelings. Then the unthinkable happened.
On November 2, 2018, Beierle walked into the Hot Yoga Tallahassee yoga studio with a gym bag
and a yoga mat, posing as a patron. Just as class was about to begin, Beierle took a handgun out
of his bag and opened fire on the other patrons in the studio, killing 21-year-old Maura Binkley
and 61-year-old Nancy Van Vessem and wounding five others before turning the gun on himself.
Other than Beierle’s arrest history and YouTube videos, there was no other evidence police had
that could explain what led to his aggression that resulted in a shocking act of physical violence.
As you read this chapter, consider the following questions regarding this case:
1. What about Beierle’s behavior meets the criteria to be labeled aggressive?
2. Which of the categories of aggression does Beierle’s behavior fall under?
3. Which of the theories of aggression help explain Beierle’s behavior?
4. What, if anything, could have been done to prevent Beierle’s behavior?
6.1 Introduction
Researchers are more interested than ever before in examining the factors related to violent
and aggressive behavior, due in no small part to the increasing frequency of mass shootings.
Identifying the root cause(s) of violence and aggression may help psychologists devise interventions designed to prevent deadly aggression such as mass violence. However, it is important to understand that examining the problems of aggression and violence has been of great
interest to philosophers, psychologists, and criminologists throughout history.
Philosophers Thomas Hobbes (in the 1500s) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (in the 1700s) had
strong views on aggression and violence. For example, Hobbes believed that aggression was
biological. His view was that violence resulted because humans are evil by nature and thus
must be controlled by the community to prevent aggressive behavior. Rousseau disagreed.
His perspective was that humans learn aggressive behavior by interacting with others. Many
early philosophical and psychological perspectives on aggression posit that this type of behavior is always violent and thus always criminal. However, research shows this is not the case.
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What Is Aggression?
Section 6.2
Throughout the chapter, you will read about various theories of aggression and the supporting research. You will learn that not all aggression is physical, and it is not always violent.
In order to formally study aggressive behavior and violent behavior, psychology researchers
have identified categories of aggression that help us make sense of the nature of aggression
and violence and of whether the behavior rises to the level of criminality. Keep in mind as
you read the chapter that not all aggressive behavior is violent but that all violent behavior is
aggressive. Perhaps to aid your understanding of this, the best place to start is with precisely
defining the concept of aggression.
6.2 What Is Aggression?
Defining aggression is not as simple and straightforward an undertaking as it may seem.
Think about how often the term aggressive is used to describe someone else’s behavior, such
as yelling at someone, cutting off other drivers on the roadway, spreading cruel rumors about
someone, or punching a wall when angry. These are commonly thought of as clear examples
of aggression.
However, social psychologists Baron and Richardson (1994) define aggression as any form of
behavior directed toward the goal of harming another living being who is motivated to avoid
being harmed. According to social psychologists, the key elements required to categorize a
behavior as aggressive are
1. there must be an observed behavior,
2. there must be a goal to harm,
3. that harm must be directed at another living being, and
4. that living being must be motivated to avoid the harm.
These four elements render the act aggressive in nature. When considering this definition, the
example of punching a wall when angry would not be considered aggressive because there
is a missing element: There is no other living being who is motivated to avoid being harmed.
According to the definition above, which of these can we classify as aggression?
• A hitman murders an unfaithful husband for $1,000.
• A woman, angry with her supervisor, tells a coworker that the supervisor is cheating
on her husband with another coworker.
• A teenager helps an elderly woman cross the street but accidentally trips the
woman, who falls and suffers a fractured wrist.
First, we want to examine if any of these examples has the four elements of behavior, goal to
harm, directed at another living being, and another person motivated to avoid the harm. Therefore, if you guessed that the first two are examples of aggression, you are correct. The hitman
example clearly contains all four elements, including the key element of intent to cause harm.
In the context of the criminal justice system, intent to cause harm is a key element in whether
the behavior constitutes a crime or is merely an unfortunate accident. This is discussed in
more depth in Chapter 8.
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Section 6.3
Categories of Aggression
The second example, in which a woman spreads a malicious rumor about her boss, also constitutes aggressive behavior. The woman intended to harm her supervisor, and presumably
her supervisor is motivated to avoid such harm. Although the elderly woman in the third
example suffered an injury at the hands of the teenager, this is not aggression. The missing element in our definition of aggression in this context is that the teenager’s goal was to
help rather than to harm the woman. An accident is not intentional and thus does not constitute aggressive behavior. Unintentional harm is not without consequences, but carrying
out behavior that is intended to hurt someone is considered much worse than unintentional
harm (Ames & Fiske, 2013).
As you can see, there are a number of behaviors that can be categorized as aggressive when
accompanied by the four elements previously described.
6.3 Categories of Aggression
Social psychologists have created categories to describe the various dimensions of aggression. The main categories of aggression are hostile (emotional) aggression, instrumental
(cognitive) aggression, physical aggression, and nonphysical aggression (see Figure 6.1).
Figure 6.1: Categories of aggression
The main categories of aggression are hostile, instrumental, physical, and nonphysical. Verbal and
relational aggression are subtypes of nonphysical aggression.
Categories of aggression
Hostile
Instrumental
Physical
Nonphysical
Verbal
Relational
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Section 6.3
Categories of Aggression
Hostile (Emotional) Aggression
Hostile aggression can best be thought of as reactive, impulsive, or “hot” aggression that
occurs as the result of a real or perceived threat or insult. Hostile aggression is driven by emotions, as in the case of Philip Wood.
In the summer of 2019, Wood, a 50-year-old man, was at a pub in Valley, Alabama, relaxing
and enjoying the evening with friends when another bar patron, Sidney Harmon, began to
argue with him. Witnesses were not sure what the disagreement was about, but as tempers
flared, the incident escalated. Wood then produced a knife and stabbed Harmon to death.
Wood immediately ran from the scene; however, there were several eyewitnesses who helped
police identify him, and he was later arrested.
Wood’s aggressive behavior occurred as the result of his anger, and in an impulsive and hostile act, he stabbed Harmon. In hostile aggression, the intent to harm arises in response to the
current situation. Because the two men were strangers to one another, there was no plan on
Wood’s behalf to harm Harmon until they began to argue at the bar.
Instrumental (Cognitive) Aggression
Instrumental aggression is the opposite of hostile aggression such that there is some level
of planning that goes into instrumental aggression. It can be thought of as “cool” aggression. Whereas the underlying motivation behind hostile aggression is emotion, instrumental
aggression lacks the emotional component and is often used as a means to some end. That
is, the goal in instrumental aggression is to harm someone for personal gain. See Case Study:
Comparing the Cases of Serina Wolfe and Daniel Rosado to explore different cases in which two
people employed instrumental aggression.
Case One
Case Study: Comparing the Cases of Serina Wolfe
and Daniel Rosado
In 2019 Serina Wolfe and her boyfriend were
living in Clearwater, Florida. Wolfe asked him to
buy her a plane ticket to New York so that she
could visit with friends and family. Her boyfriend refused to purchase the $300 plane ticket
for her. Wolfe was angry with her boyfriend
and wanted to get back at him. She hatched a
plan to take his credit card without him noticing and spend thousands of dollars. Wolfe stole
the card, went to a local restaurant, and used
her boyfriend’s credit card to leave a $5,000 tip
on a $50 restaurant bill. Wolfe was arrested for
grand theft after police discovered that she was
the one who took the card and made the charge.
Alife/iStock/Getty Images Plus
Instrumental or “cool” aggression
involves planning and is focused on
personal gain, such as Serina Wolfe
stealing her boyfriend’s credit card.
(continued on next page)
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Categories of Aggression
Section 6.3
Case Study: Comparing the Cases of Serina Wolfe
and Daniel Rosado (continued)
In Wolfe’s case, she planned how she was going to harm her boyfriend and carried out her plan
as a means of punishing him for not buying her the plane ticket. Wolfe’s instrumental aggression led to a being charged with a crime.
Case Two
On May 1, 2019, Daniel Rosado went into Middlesex Savings Bank in Massachusetts armed
with a gun and a plan to rob the bank. Rosado entered the bank, pulled out his gun, shot into
the ceiling, and demanded that the bank teller fill his bag with cash. The robbery was foiled
when a bank customer was able to sneak out and flag down a police officer, who exchanged
gunfire with Rosado as he fled the scene. Another patron tackled Rosado on the street as he
fled, but Rosado was able to slip away. However, Rosado was apprehended in Rhode Island 3
weeks after the attempted bank robbery.
In Rosado’s case, his intent was to harm any bank staff, customers, or police who got in the
way of his attempt to steal the cash that day. Rosado’s aggressive behavior was the means to
an end to rob the bank. He planned the attack such that he armed himself, shot the gun into
the bank ceiling and at police who tried to stop him, and tussled with a bystander who tackled
him to the ground to stop him. Rosado’s acts that day provide a clear example of instrumental
aggression.
Physical (Violent) Aggression
Physical aggression is perhaps the type of behavior most frequently thought of as aggressive in nature. Physical aggression can include hitting, biting, scratching, kicking, stabbing,
shooting, punching, or any other physical act that is intended to cause bodily harm to another
living being. It is important to note that physical aggression constitutes violent behavior. That
is, violence is aggressive behavior that uses physical force intended to cause bodily injury
or death. It is also important to point out that physical aggression may seem to be hostile or
“hot” aggression. However, as you have learned so far, the intent to harm someone does not
always include causing physical harm, and the intent to cause bodily harm can fall under hostile aggression or instrumental aggression.
For example, Philip Wood caused fatal bodily harm to Sidney Harmon when he stabbed Harmon. That is, Wood used physical (violent) aggression (stabbing) in the heat of a spontaneous
argument. This resulted in Harmon’s grave bodily injuries and untimely death. Therefore,
Wood engaged in hostile physical aggression.
Contrarily, Daniel Rosado engaged in instrumental physical aggression when he shot at police
and wrestled with a bystander as he attempted to flee the bank. In Rosado’s case, the aggression was part of his plan to elude capture. Both Wood and Rosado used violence to achieve
their goals of harming another living being. However, Wood’s violence was motivated by emotion in the heat of the moment, whereas Rosado’s was motivated by his plan to obtain the
desired cash from the bank even if it meant causing bodily harm to anyone who attempted to
thwart him.
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Section 6.3
Categories of Aggression
Nonphysical Aggression
Nonphysical aggression isn’t what we usually think about when we consider aggression, but
it can be just as harmful as physical aggression. The two types of nonphysical aggression are
verbal and relational.
Verbal Aggression
Verbal aggression is a form of nonphysical
aggression that includes shouting, swearing, name-calling, or any other nonphysical
verbal behavior that is intended to harm
another living being when that individual
is motivated to avoid being harmed. Verbal aggression often accompanies physical
aggression; however, there are instances
in which the aggressive behavior is limited
to words expressed from one individual to
another.
fizkes/iStock/Getty Images Plus
An example of verbal aggression occurred
Verbal aggression includes shouting, swearing,
on January 2, 2019, when a woman boardname-calling, and any other nonphysical
ing a United Airlines flight from Las Vegas,
verbal behaviors that are intended to harm
Nevada, to Newark, New Jersey, began
someone; it can be accompanied by physical
hurling insults at the two women she was
aggression.
seated between. The woman began telling
the other two passengers that she was feeling “squished” between them but “at least they’ll
keep me warm” (as cited in CBS News, 2019). She complained that the two passengers were
overweight and that she did not know how she would survive the flight for the next 4 hours.
One of the passengers complained to a flight attendant, and other passengers sitting nearby
admonished the woman for her behavior. Flight attendants then tried to move the verbally
aggressive woman to another seat, but the woman continued to yell insults at the other passengers and again toward the women she was seated between. The woman was ejected from
the flight as a result of her behavior.
It is clear that the verbally aggressive woman intended to hurt the other two passengers
with her words, but it is less clear whether this behavior constitutes hostile or instrumental
aggression. In order to make this determination, we would need more information about her
ultimate motive. If she sat down and became angry upon seeing and feeling limited space at
her seat and had no other motive than to shame and embarrass the women, then we can categorize this as hostile aggression. However, if her ultimate goal was to cause such discomfort
to the women that one or both asked to be moved to another seat, then the verbally aggressive
woman engaged in instrumental aggression. This is because the verbally aggressive words
would serve as a means to some other goal besides simply causing harm to the women.
See Spotlight: Exploring Criminality of Verbal Aggression to explore whether verbal aggression
can be considered criminal.
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Categories of Aggression
Section 6.3
Spotlight: Exploring Criminality of Verbal Aggression
Is verbal aggression considered criminal behavior? While some may believe that verbal aggression cannot ever be labeled criminal due to First Amendment free-speech protections, there
are in fact some jurisdictions in which an individual’s specific use of words spoken to another
person can be adjudicated criminal behavior. Generally speaking, this falls under malicious
harassment criminal codes that include physical aggression as well as verbal aggression. For
example, in the state of Washington, individuals convicted of malicious harassment can face up
to 5 years in prison and be fined up to $10,000. (Visit the following link for more information
regarding the state’s legal code for this specific crime: https://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default
.aspx?cite=9a.36.080.)
Visit the following link to read about some situations in which verbal aggression can legally be
considered criminal: https://answers.uslegal.com/criminal/assault/23815/.
Relational (Social) Aggression
Another form of nonphysical aggression is relational (social) aggression, which occurs
when the desired intent is to harm another’s relationships or social standing. In relational
aggression, the behavior does not involve a direct confrontation with the intended target of
the harm. It is more covert. Archer and Coyne (2005) identified certain behaviors exhibited
in relational aggression, including but not limited to spreading malicious gossip, ostracizing
someone from a social group, giving someone the silent treatment, turning people against
one another, stealing another’s spouse or partner, and flirting with someone else to incite a
jealous response from one’s partner. Relational aggression is more common among females.
Relational aggression has been studied extensively in schoolchildren, and findings show that
the old adage “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me” appears
to be incorrect. That is, relational aggression is often considered bullying, especially in social
environments in which groups of people gather regularly, such as at school or the workplace.
Social psychologists have found that young victims of relational aggression are far more likely
to experience negative mental health outcomes. These include depression, anxiety, and even
engaging in harmful behaviors, including attempting suicide (see Craig, 1998; Hinduja &
Patchin, 2000; Olafson & Viemero, 2000; Paquette & Underwood, 1999; Sharp, 1995). See
Case Study: Michelle Carter to read about a recent famous case involving relational aggression.
In theory, relational aggression could be a form of hostile aggression if, for example, the
behavior was impulsive and the only goal of the behavior was to harm the target. However, if
the ultimate goal of the behavior is to cause the target harm for some other purpose, such as
to raise the aggressor’s social standing, and this behavior was planned, then it can be considered instrumental aggression.
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Psychological Theories of Aggression
Section 6.4
Case Study: Michelle Carter
Teenagers Michelle Carter and Conrad Roy III were in a long-distance relationship for 2 years.
Roy lived in a verbally and physically abusive home and had attempted suicide previously. In
July 2014 Carter sent Roy a series of text messages over a 2-week period encouraging him to
“just do it already.”
Roy got into his pickup truck, drove to a local empty parking lot, and turned on the generator
he brought with him to produce carbon monoxide poisoning. As the truck filled with the poisonous gas, Roy got scared and jumped out of the truck. He called Carter, who told him to get
back into the truck and do it. Carter never called for help, nor did she admit to anyone that she
had spoken to him twice while he was in the midst of carrying out his suicide.
Carter instead publicly mourned Roy’s death and seemed to revel in the attention she received
as the grieving girlfriend. She even comforted Roy’s mother and seemed to enjoy the attention
the Roy family gave her for being such a “caring friend” to Conrad. When the text messages
were discovered on Roy’s phone, however, police arrested Carter, and she was charged with
manslaughter for effectively bullying Roy into suicide.
There has never been any evidence produced to suggest that Carter was angry with Roy, and
because they appeared to get along well with one another, Carter’s behavior does not fall under
the category of hostile aggression. This type of relational aggression can be categorized as
instrumental aggression. That is, it seems that the text message evidence supports the state’s
position that Carter’s goal was to gain attention and sympathy as the grieving girlfriend. The
harm Carter caused Roy was a means to an end, with the end being basking in expressions of
sympathy from friends, family, and the community.
6.4 Psychological Theories of Aggression
Discovering where aggression originates is a topic of great debate among psychologists and
other social scientists. Is aggressive behavior learned or inherited? The topic of aggression is
another dimension of the nature-versus-nurture debate, and psychologists have developed
various theoretical perspectives based on their own area of interest.
Aggressive behavior is also studied in disciplines outside of psychology, including from a
sociological and criminological perspective. However, psychological theories of aggression
inform sociological and criminological research on aggression and provide the foundation
for understanding related factors. The question at the heart of examining aggression, including violence, is whether the underlying catalyst is dispositional (biological) or situational
(learned). The research on the biological underpinnings of aggression shows that there is
some validity to the idea that aggressive behavior is innate. In this section, we explore the
major theories of aggression from biological and evolutionary perspectives.
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Psychological Theories of Aggression
Section 6.4
Psychoanalytic/Freudian Theory of Aggression
Sigmund Freud created psychoanalysis, and thus this perspective is often referred to as Freudian theory (used interchangeably with the phrase psychoanalytic theory). The psychoanalytic
view of aggression is that it is biological in nature. That is, Freud’s position was that humans
are born with two distinct drives: “life instinct” and “death instinct.” Freud hypothesized
that these two drives often compete against one another in our subconscious minds and that
aggression occurs as a result of the conflict between the two opposing innate desires to either
live or die. Therefore, Freud believed that aggression represents the deflection of the death
instinct onto others. It is an interesting idea, but it has not been validated because psychologists have yet to determine a way to verify the existence of an unconscious mind.
From a criminal behavior perspective, Freud’s colleague Josef Breuer believed that catharsis was required to relieve the unconscious internal conflict between the desire to live and
the desire to die. Catharsis is the process
of releasing or purging repressed emotions.
For example, a psychologist may advise a client to find a constructive outlet to release
pent-up aggression. This release can occur
in a direct manner, or it can be accomplished
indirectly by engaging in psychotherapy and/
or enjoyable activities that provide a release
of the stress and anxiety that are thought to
be triggers to aggression. (Zillmann, Katcher,
and Milavsky [1972] found that engaging in
dislentev/iStock/Getty Images Plus
physical exercise as a constructive outlet may
Pent-up aggression requires some form of
actually increase aggression in some siturelease or outlet. A healthy way to release
ations, thereby contradicting the idea that
aggression is by practicing a relaxing,
catharsis via physical exercise may be effecenjoyable activity such as yoga at sunset.
tive at reducing aggression.)
Frustration–Aggression Hypothesis
Dollard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears (1939) carried on the psychoanalytic tradition after
Freud’s death and asserted that aggression will always occur as a result of experiencing frustration. Dollard et al. called this perspective the frustration–aggression hypothesis. Psychologists were challenged to provide this hypothesis using the scientific method because
there seemed to be a significant level of disagreement among the relevant scientific community regarding the concepts of frustration and aggression.
Despite a lack of scientific validity in the frustration–aggression hypothesis, psychologists
continued to try to perfect the theory. Berkowitz (1969) later revised the frustration–
aggression hypothesis by asserting that although frustration may precede aggression, there
are other factors that may also precede aggressive behavior, such as pain, a heightened
state of arousal, and more.
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Psychological Theories of Aggression
Section 6.4
Excitation Transfer Theory
Social psychology researchers have found that arousal can lead to increased aggression as
well. For example, Zillmann et al. (1972) examined whether instigating physiological arousal
would lead to aggression. The researchers hypothesized that when one individual believes
he or she is receiving an electric shock by another and then assigned to engage in either
high- or low-intensity exercise, the target would experience a heightened state of physiological arousal that would later lead to aggression.
These findings were confirmed in a later study by Zillmann (1988) when he examined
whether physiological arousal had the potential to elicit aggression in any context. Zillmann
found that even without being instigated, simply exercising would induce a heightened state
of physiological arousal that could lead to later aggressive behavior. For example, if a participant engaged in high-intensity exercise and then a short period later was exposed to some
minor annoyance that might otherwise be ignored, the heightened physiological arousal from
exercising may lead the person (no matter what gender) to behave aggressively toward the
source of the annoyance. Zillmann referred to this phenomenon as excitation transfer theory, which is the theory that regardless of how physiological arousal is produced, the heightened state of arousal dissipates slowly, is not situation specific, and thus can generalize to
other situations, resulting in aggression.
For example, imagine a salesperson who goes out for a run prior to work and thus becomes
physiologically aroused from the exercise. When she arrives at work, she is called into her
manager’s office, where she is asked to work a little harder to increase sales productivity for
that month. The salesperson becomes verbally aggressive and lashes out at her manager. This
occurs despite the fact that the sales manager typically asks staff to increase productivity to
meet certain sales goals. In this case the salesperson’s physiological arousal was still high by
the time she arrived at work; this arousal generalized to the sales manager when a simple
request was made.
Evolutionary Theory of Aggression
Evolutionary psychologists hypothesize that aggression developed as a means of helping
our species survive and thrive; thus, it is biological in nature. Buss and Shackelford (1997)
attempted to account for aggression from an evolutionary perspective and identified various adaptive issues that may explain the historical development of aggressive behavior in
humans.
One issue the researchers proposed was taking others’ resources when resources were
scarce. For example, there was a time when humans had to hunt for food in order to survive.
Resources may have been limited, leading to competition among other humans; aggression
resulted as a means of scaring off or even eliminating competition in order to keep oneself
and one’s family nourished. In addition to securing necessary survival resources, aggression
was useful to bolster one’s social status by demonstrating strength that was perceived as
power.
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Learning Theories of Aggression
Section 6.5
Buss and Shackelford (1997) further suggested that aggression may also have evolved as the
result of attempting to prevent infidelity, thereby reducing the likelihood that resources may
be depleted by unrelated offspring. This particular adaptive problem of raising another’s offspring has found some support in statistics that suggest that in homes where there is a stepparent, stepchildren are anywhere from 40 to 100 times more likely to be killed or maimed
by that stepparent (Daly & Wilson, 2001). This is referred to as the Cinderella effect, based
on the fairy tale in which the ugly stepmother treats Cinderella, her stepdaughter, horribly
compared to her own daughters. The Cinderella effect is the evolutionary psychology phenomenon that posits that the prevalence of child abuse perpetrated by stepparents on their
stepchildren is significantly higher than that perpetrated by biological parents on their own
children (Daly & Wilson, 2001). This type of aggression may represent criminal behavior,
especially if violence (physical aggression) is involved. In fact, Daly and Wilson’s data come
from criminal child abuse statistics records in which the injury or death of the child was perpetrated by a stepparent.
6.5 Learning Theories of Aggression
Social psychologists are likely to subscribe to the perspective that aggressive behavior develops through observational learning. That is, people are influenced to behave aggressively
because they see others doing so. This section will explore aggression from a social psychology perspective (e.g., mimicry of behaviors) and also from a behavioral/learning psychology
perspective (e.g., behavior reinforcement).
Social Learning Theory of Aggression
According to Albert Bandura (1978), “People are not born with preformed repertoires of
aggressive behavior; they must learn them” (p. 14). Recall the discussion in Chapter 4 regarding Bandura’s social learning theory. Bandura (1977) coined the term social learning theory
to describe his finding that social behavior, including aggression, is learned by observation
of others as well as through rewards and punishments. In his model, observational learning,
reinforced performance, and structural determinants—such as socioeconomic status, family
background, cultural features, and other sociological factors—are the origins of aggression.
In the early 1960s Bandura conducted a study with the goal of determining the importance
of imitation and learned behavior. Specifically, he sought to understand how children would
behave after they watched an adult act aggressively toward a Bobo doll. In the famous Bobo
doll experiment, Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961) had a total sample of 72 children (36 boys
and 36 girls) ages 3 to 6 years. There were three experimental groups in which 24 children
observed an adult model aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll, 24 observed the adult
model nonaggressive behavior, and
