aim is to inflict injury on others.
In social learning theory, aggression is defined as behavior that results in personal injury and destruction of property (Bandura & Walters, 1959). The injury may be psychological, as in the form of devaluation or degradation, as well as physical. In addition, social learning theory defines aggression on the basis of a variety of factors, some of which reside in the evaluation of the aggressive behavior rather than in the performer (Bandura, 1973).
Concern over the adverse consequences of aggressive behavior can obscure the fact that such behavior often has beneficial effects for the user. Aggression has idiosyncratic properties which often create conditions fostering the occurrence of aggressive behavior. Through such behavior, people can obtain valued resources, change rules to fit their own wishes, gain control over others, eliminate conditions which negatively affect their well-being, and remove barriers that block or delay attainment of desired goals (Bandura, 1973). Thus, behavior which is punishing for the victim can, at least on a short-term basis, be rewarding for the aggressor.
Evaluating Bandura's social learning theory of aggression requires examining other theories of aggression. Sigmund Freud proposed the psychoanalytic instinctual theory of aggression. According to Bandura (1973), Freud initially believed that aggression was a primary response to the thwarting of pleasure-seeking behavior. Freud originally assumed that human behavior was regulated by two opposing sets of instincts, the sexual instincts and the self-preserving ego instincts. However, he later changed his theory and stated that people have a death instinct which continuously tries to destroy life within the organism (Bandura, 1973). Therefore, Freud considered aggression an inborn drive rather than a by-product of the thwarting of libidinal striving. Freud essentially stated that aggression sati...