The concept of aggressive behaviour is has a very complex nature but research suggests that early exposure to violence may predispose people to behaving aggressively (Abbassi & Dean, 2010). It is arguable that Birnie’s aggression could be learned through his passion for pornography although a study by Seto, Maric & Barbaree (2001) suggest that this is not the case. They state “We argue that individuals who are already predisposed to sexually offend are the most likely to show an effect of pornography exposure and are the most likely to show the strongest effects”. Albert Bandura’s social learning theory evolved from Skinner’s operant conditioning suggesting that behaviour is shaped by observing the behaviour of others. …show more content…
As an example, Birnie’s mother was an alcoholic who was continuously in an elevated state of arousal due to her intoxicated state she behaved more aggressively and was more readily to provocation. Lui (2004) research into aggression manifesting from disorders such as schizophrenia and alcoholism gives empirical evidence into her behaviour. Birnie leant that by behaving violently as he observed this and indirectly learnt that is how you get what you want. There are four basic processes of social learning that explain this concept. Attention is placed on the model or person showing the behaviour and it is retained (retention) by the observer. A motivation is shown as good reason to copy and reproduce (reproduction) the behaviour. Self-efficacy is an important component of social learning theory. If a person believes they are capable of performing the behaviour and that they are likely to achieve the desired outcome then that behaviour is more likely to be imitated. This explains why some individuals are led to certain aggressive behaviours and will do if they feel they will be