Psychology

The study of aggression in psychology is important in the sense that the study of aggression and understanding why people become aggressive help counseling psychologists to develop new treatment methods for people suffering from aggressive behavior disorders, or anger management issues.

Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961, 1963) have studied imitative aggressive behavior in children. They hypothesized that children who witnessed models receiving a positive response to aggressive behavior were more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviors if they were (a) male, and (b) witnessed the model receiving some type of positive reinforcement for the aggressive behavior. They studied 72 preschool children in the first study and 80 preschool children in the second study.

The results of these two studies indicate that children who observe aggressive behavior being modeled are more likely to imitate these behaviors. The chances of imitating aggressive behavior increases if students observe the model being aggressive and being rewarded for their aggressive behavior Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961, 1963) also found that these behaviors changed depending on the reinforcement of the behavior. Finally, the researchers found that male children were more likely to demonstrate imitative aggressive behaviors than female children.

Introduction
Aggression is a serious problem for several reasons. First, aggression can lead to violence and criminal behavior. Second, aggression is an unacceptable method for dealing with and confronting problems. Children who respond with aggression may develop social and emotional problems that may affect their lives in variety of ways. Finally, studying aggression is important in that it demonstrates how behavior can be both modeled and imitated by others.

Imitative Aggression
According to Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961, 1963), imitative aggression occurs when a child sees someone model an aggressive behavior such as pushing, or yelling, and then the child proceeds to imitate that behavior. In a study of 72 preschool students (n36 males, 36 females) Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) hypothesized that, male students that were exposed to aggressive behaviors demonstrated by adult models would be more likely to imitate the modeled aggressive behaviors than students that had viewed a non-aggressive model, or students that had no exposure to either model specifically, if they witnessed the model receiving a positive response for the behavior.. According to Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961), the results of the study indicated that students that were exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to imitate aggressive behaviors. The researchers also found that boys were more likely to imitate aggressive behaviors than girls. This clearly indicated that

In a second study Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963) studied how vicarious reinforcement affects imitative learning. Bandura, Ross and Ross (1963) hypothesized that male children who observed a model that demonstrated aggressive behavior, being rewarded for aggressive behaviors would be more likely to imitate the aggressive behavior than students who witnessed the model demonstrating aggressive behavior without being rewarded. In a study of 80 preschool students (n40 males, 40 females), Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1963) found that students who saw aggressive models receive rewards for aggressive behavior were more likely to imitate the behavior in hopes of receiving a reward themselves. Bandura Ross and Ross (1963) also found that this behavior was more likely to occur in male participants than in female participants.

Discussion
Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961, 1963) hypothesized that children were more likely to imitate aggressive behaviors in which the model received a positive response from researchers either by the model being praised, or receiving some other type of reward. Students were also more likely to imitate aggressive behavior if they were male than they were if they were female. The dependent variable in these studies was imitative aggression. The independent variable for both studies was how the researchers responded to the models behavior.

 The main confounding variable in both studies was that real life aggressive behavior could not be predicted in a laboratory setting.  There were several reasons why this was the confounding variable. First, the setting was a strictly controlled laboratory environment. This meant that there were no parents or teachers to interfere by punishing children for imitating aggressive behavior that they saw on television.

Second, aggressive behavior that is viewed on television is rarely imitated because in most television shows the bad guys get punished by the end of the episode. According to Bandura, Ross, and Ross (1961, 1963) children are not as likely to imitate behaviors that they see being punished therefore this type of imitative aggression is not likely to occur.

Finally, much of the aggression on television involves highly technical weaponry, gun fights, and special effects, it can be predicted from Bandura, Ross, and Rosss (1961,1963) studies  that children are more likely to try and imitate realistic aggressive behaviors and they simply do not see this type of aggression on television very frequently.

In some cases it was demonstrated that imitative aggression did not respond as predicted when one factored in the influence of gender. The influence of gender not only had a powerful influence on how the children responded to the aggression themselves, but on the likelihood that they would imitate aggressive behaviors.

The results of these two studies indicate that children imitate the behavior that they see modeled. This can occur under different reinforcement conditions such as conditions of reward, versus conditions of non-reward. The results of these studies also indicate that students may take what they see demonstrated in an aggressive model and expand on the repertory of behaviors that they have observed in a more controlled fashion (e.g. creative aggression) which is learning how to deal with conflict or negative behaviors by utilizing non aggressive strategies to gain what they want.

Conclusion
In conclusion, the studies conducted by Bandura, Ross, and Ross indicate that imitative aggressive behavior is common amongst male children. This behavior is more likely to occur when a child views another person modeling aggressive behavior or modeling aggressive behavior and being rewarded for it. This indicates that children imitate the modeled behavior that they observe. Children may also use imitative aggression in a creative manner and expand their repertoire of aggressive behavior to include behaviors that they did not observe.