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Monday, October 17, 2011

Aggression learned behavior by modeling

This next study by Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. in 1961 looked at if aggression was learned or could be transferred from one subject to the next. It was proposed that if a child saw an adult acting aggressively that child would "learn" that behavior and do likewise. The experiment was setup so that a child was taken into a play room where an adult would then enter and beat up on a Bobo doll. Other children the control group had an adult come in who did not beat up the Bobo doll. There were both female and male models. The children where then taken to another room where there were more toys and the Bobo doll. The children were observed through a one-way-mirror and it was noted each act of aggression that was displayed by the child. Before taking the children into this next room the experimenters first aroused anger in the children by not allowing them to play with some toys.

The results where very interesting. The children exposed to the violent acts imitated the acts. Boys' violent behavior was more influenced by the male model than the female model and 3rd boys were more violent than girls. The results were mixed on whether the non-aggressive model had an opposite effect on aggression.

This study showed that through observation, in this case violent ones, behaviors could be learned. The next thing they showed that is interesting is that male aggression was more acceptable than female aggression. Other studies have looked at this and they have found that the farther away from realistic models the models are the less likely the children will model this aggression.

How does this help us develop our characters further? By understanding how behavior is learned through observation it is important to teach our characters in the same manner. It is also important to look at the societies that we build within our stories to make them realistic as well. When we have models for our characters especially ones than could be seen as authority figures we need to show how the models behavior affects the character. Do we have an "evil" model for our character. If so does that character learn the behavior or parts of the behavior. Maybe the character becomes the hero of our story but has hints of the behavior that the "evil" model had. Maybe the MC has to stop himself from killing someone as he flashes back to the cruelty of his father. In our societies who is the dominant sex. Is it okay for a male character to beat another person to death or is that viewed as unacceptable. How about a female character is it improper for her to walk away from a fight or is it improper for her to defend herself?

When looking at our characters we need to be aware of the learned behaviors that they do not even know about and how the models around them affect their behavior.

14 comments:

  1. Yeah...people learn from others. "Setting an example" has long been used by drill sergeants, parents, and motivators for years in an attempt to affect behavior.

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  2. Very insightful. I have also heard that a person's personality is fixed by the time they are ten years old and that what they experience around this time has a profound impact on the rest of their lives. James Ellroy's mother was murdered when he was ten, and he has been obsessed with murdered women since.

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  3. true that...another one i see hold true in real life counseling as well...it also brings up interesting questions about the role video games play as well...sorry opening a can of worms with that one...

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  4. Thanks for the info. I agree how our characters reactions and behaviors will spin the story in different directions.

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  5. This reminds me of a book I read recently: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The main character was aggressive, often violent.

    Another interesting post!

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  6. This blog concept is so interesting and I think very useful to us writers! Thanks. And thanks for visiting my blog.

    In my current WIP, the MC suffers from abandonment issues--deceased mother, extremely detached father. Got any advice for me on that?

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  7. Ah yes, the oppressed tend to mimic the oppressor. Great post!

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  8. Thanks for stopping by my blog. It's funny that I just read Things Fall Apart as well and the main character that was so aggressive was the polar opposite of his father (a happy-go-lucky slacker). The aggressive man's son turns out to take after his grandfather instead of his overbearing father, but the grandfather dies before the grandson could have learned his behavior directly. So, can aggression skip a generation? Another thought to add to the grist pile.

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  9. I get easily bogged down in this if I think about it too much. The characters in my book are dogs and it is written in the voice of a dog. Of course they have very definite personalities, as all dogs do ......

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  10. Wow these are some great comments. Thanks for joining in. In answer to Tamara we have to remember that personalities influence our behavior and personality is generally something that we are born with according to many studies (nature vs nurture) This could result in it skipping a generation. Also just because a child is abused or sees violence doesn't always mean they will be violent it just increases the chance. It is good to explain why they do not develop that aggression i.e. another role model. Brian you bring up a good point about video games. In fact the military develop a lot of first person shooters for this reason to desensitize. Julie I think that in your scenario the MC is going to have a lot of relationship problems. It go one of two ways (well lots of ways but generally 2) the MC will have boundary issues in which they don't let others in or they could go the polar opposite where they are constantly wearing their heart on their sleeve. They may possibly become to attached to quickly and drive others away. This of course is a generalization and is not the case for all situations. How do they over come the abandonment issue? Lots of love and direction and someone who helps them establish and understand good boundaries. Yes Kathy dogs have many personalities that is a hard job to figure out :) Vanyelmoon that is so true about personality. Is it set by 10 and does it change is a great question? (I have a post on it actually) Thanks again for all of the comments!

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  11. Great post and great discussion. So glad I found this blog!

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  12. Thanks for this blog! I am fascinated by how the mind works and what motivates us to behavior. There are so many influences, health and illness, family behavior, social expectations, environment at school, work, it's endless. My degree is in Art, and I was always fascinated by what the critics said about painters by looking at their work. As a painter, I usually saw someone completely different from their work. This makes me want to dive in and create a character! I'm also a gamer by the way. : ) I'll be back. You make it seem so possible to write a novel.

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  13. Nice post. I tried to put this in my latest story by showing two sons. One does take after the violent tendencies of the father while the other one is more like their mother. The one who isn't violent is forever battling internally with what he thinks his father would want him to do.

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  14. Hi Josh,
    Thank you for stopping by my blog. I just became your latest follower. ;-) Cool blog you have here. See you in the blogosphere!
    Cheers!

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