Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis

by Albert Bandura

This book is concerned with why people engage in aggressive behavior. Theories of human behavior have changed over the years, as interest in approaches that depict behavior as instinctively determined or impelled by drive forces have declined as deficiencies became apparent. Perspectives based on social learning have emerged that increase our understanding of human behavior.

In this book, the author has attempted to formulate a social learning theory of aggression, whether individual or collective, personal or institutional sanctioned. The goal is to improve the basis on which we explain, predict, and modify aggression.

A sizable portion of this book is devoted to demonstrating how social learning principles can be applied individually and at the social systems level to reduce deleterious forms of aggression. The use of social power as an instrument of change is also addressed. There is a discussion of social labeling and ethics of aggressive action.

Genres: Psychology

390 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1973

About the author

Albert Bandura OC is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. For almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to the field of education and to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy, and personality psychology, and was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory (renamed the social cognitive theory) and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment.

Social cognitive theory is how people learn through observing others. An example of social cognitive theory would be the students imitating the teacher. Self-efficacy is "the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations." To paraphrase, self-efficacy is believing in yourself to take action. The Bobo Doll Experiment was how Albert Bandura studied aggression and non-aggression in children.

A 2002 survey ranked Bandura as the fourth most-frequently cited psychologist of all time, behind B. F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget, and as the most cited living one. Bandura is widely described as the greatest living psychologist, and as one of the most influential psychologists of all time.

In 1974 Bandura was elected to be the Eighty-Second President of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was one of the youngest president-elects in the history of the APA at the age of 48. Bandura served as a member of the APA Board of Scientific Affairs from 1968 to 1970 and is well known as a member of the editorial board of nine psychology journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1963 to 1972. At the age of 82, Bandura was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for psychology.

Reviews

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remains an interesting read due to its residual impact on the field, though it's pretty dry in its prose.