Psychology

Everyone has those times in their lives that they choose to either cherish or bury. No matter what kind of memories we have, it is undeniable that these circumstances or happenings in our life shape who we are. For years and years, much study on how and why we act has been done. Tracing back to what theorists have stated and connecting our memories to what we have developed today. We can see that much of the findings brought about years ago have been true and still are. What happened in our memories define what we become, affect how we react and act now, and still project significant contribution to how we will be in the following days, weeks, months and years.Aggression and

Banduras Theory
While Pavlov has done extensive research on conditioning which involves punishment or reinforcement, Albert Bandura proposed his own theory on which makes use of observational learning and focuses on learning through vicarious experience. Banduras research on imitation of aggressive behaviors by 4-year olds shed much light to the phrase monkey see, monkey do. With his experiments, the 4-year olds projected actions done by the adult model even down to the details of what the model would say (Mazur, 2006, p.282-284). Banduras theory applies to my memory of seeing my father abuse my mother at age four.

Because of my fathers repeated abuse towards my mother, aside from having trust issues with men, I learned as the children in Banduras experiments did. Because I saw that there was no punishment for being aggressive, I saw the lack of punishment as passive reinforcement. Hence, from that experience, aggression became a bigger part of me than it would for others. I felt that when one was aggressive, one would not fall victim to others. I felt that those who were aggressive were strong and would not be victimized, so, I became as they were  violent  towards others and towards myself.Principles of
Banduras Theory Applied on Positive Development

Aside from Banduras experiments on aggression by means of modeling, he also proposed four deciding factors for imitation to occur. These factors, in a nutshell, state that to learn one must pay due attention, be able to remember the information on the task, translate the retained information into action, and have incentive or motivation to do the task (Mazur, 2006, p.284). Though this theory does not apply to a single task, it applies to my development after my father left me and my mother.

With all the abuse, it was not so hard to accept that my father left my mother. Though it hurt, it was almost a relief  she was safe. However, seeing as my father was gone, she had to raise me all by herself. I saw her work hard, I saw her persevere, determined to raise me without the need of a husband. Seeing this, observing such from my mother, it made me believe in independence and turn to feminism. As she successfully led her life and raised me without a man by her side, I grew to be independent as she was and I believed that anything boys can do, girls can do better. A Synthesis
I have learned much through many ways that could be explained by a wide array of theories. Albert Banduras work on aggression and imitation only explains a small fraction of my being and shows how learning could either produce negative or positive traits or behaviors. With lifes experiences, the memories and the learning we are left with, it is astounding how actions from once upon a time impact us today, after years and years, and still would, years and years into the future.