Social psychological explanation: Social learning theory

AO1

Direct and indirect learning: Bandura - aggression can be directly learned through operant conditioning. Direct reinforcement makes it more likely that a child will repeat behaviour. However, aggressive behaviour doesn't tend to be directly rewarded; therefore, indirect forms of learning e.g. observational learning can explain this.

Observational learning and vicarious reinforcement: Through observing an aggressive model, a child learns how to perform the behaviour and the likely consequences of it. If the behaviour is rewarded then the child learns that it is an effective way to get what they want. This is vicarious reinforcement - reward of model makes it more likely child will imitate it.

Cognitive control: Attention, retention (form symbolic representation of how to perform behaviour), reproduction (transform mental representation into physical action), motivation (they need a reason to imitate). 

Self-efficacy: The extent to which we believe our own actions will achieve a goal. As children learn aggression can bring rewards, this increases their confidence in their ability to be aggressive. Sense of self-efficacy increases with each succesful outcome. As their aggression has been effective in the most…