away from our TV set or leave the theater in search of victims. Obviously, sim-
ple exposure to an aggressive model is not enough to turn us into violent peo-ple. Why, then, do individuals sometimes imitate aggression when most of the
time they do not?
Bandura (1973, 1986) has an answer to this question. He explains that
observational learning and performance consist of four interrelated pro-
cesses. People must go through each o f four steps before exposure to agg-
ression leads them to act aggressively. They must attend to the aggressive
action, remember the information, enact what they have seen, and expect
that rewards will be forthcoming. Fortunately, most of the time circum-
stances prevent people from moving through the entire process. Unfortuna-tely, sometimes they do. Let ’s look at each of the four steps in the process
more closely.
For observational learning to take place, people must first attend to the
significant features of the model ’s behavior. We can sit in front of violent TV
programs all day long, but the aggressive models will have little or no impact
unless we pay attention to them. Children who watch a lot of television haveprobably seen so many TV characters punched in the face or shot that only
the most graphic and spectacular action grabs their attention. Children in
one study imitated aggressive models only when the acts were carried out
quite vigorously (Parton & Geshuri, 1971); less intense action apparently
failed to hold the children ’s attention. A viewer ’s mental state can also make
him or her more attentive to the aggression. Children in one study were
more likely to pay attention to an aggressive model when they were frustrated
(Parker & Rogers, 1981). This finding ties back to the connection between
frustration and aggression described in Chapter 6.
But attending to an aggressive act is only the first step in the observational
learning process. People must also remember information about the model ’sb e -
havior. You are unlikely to recall any one aggressive behavior you saw on tele-
vision a few weeks ago unless the behavior was quite gripping. And if you
can’t recall the action, you are not likely to imitate the model. Unfortunately,
although most aggressive acts we witness soon fade from our memories, not
all do. Practice and mental rehearsal can keep the action fresh in our minds.
Children who play with toy guns and plastic combat equipment may embed
the actions of their aggressive heroes permanently into their memories.
The importance of this recall was demonstrated in a study with first- and
second-grade children (Slife & Rychlak, 1982). The researchers asked thechildren how much they liked each of the aggressive acts they saw on a video-tape. They also determined which toys used by the aggressive model each
child liked. Then, as in Bandura ’s classic study, the children were watched
for 5 minutes while they played in a room containing all the equipment neces-
sary to imitate the aggressive acts they had just seen. As shown in Figure 14.4,
the children were most likely to imitate the aggression when it was an act they
liked and when it was performed with a toy they liked. The researchers arguethat these are the acts the children remember. This interpretation helps to ex-
plain why the boys in the study were more aggressive than the girls: They liked
and recalled the aggressive behavior more.Observational Learning of Aggression 387