Aggressive Acts and the Social Learning Theory Application

Aggressive Acts
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Aggressive Acts
Introduction
On May 24th, 2022, nineteen children and two adults were killed in a shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde County, Texas. As usual, many responded to the incident with calls to restrict access to guns, lethal bullets, and combat armor. In contrast, others responded by deflecting the discussions on guns and focusing on mental health issues, perceived disruption of the family structure, and violent or aggressive video games and films. This endless debate has shifted the focus from the victims and the aggressor to political gesturing, limiting the pursuit of solutions to gun violence in the country. The current paper's purpose is to discuss and contextualize this act of aggression within the lens of social learning theory to reveal the underlying factors and establish preventive alternatives based on these factors.
Uvalde Shooter Background Information
Eighteen-year-old Salvador Ramos lived with his grandparents in Uvalde, away from his parents, because he had problems with his mother. Ramos attended Uvalde High School, where he dropped out and took on a job at a fast-food restaurant. In this high school, 91% of students are Hispanic, and nearly 80% are economically disadvantaged. Ramos did not have a criminal record or a mental health problems history (Foster-Frau et al., 2022). At 18 years old, Ramos could 'legally' buy two semi-automatic rifles on separate dates and up to 375 rounds of 5.56 ammunition. Before this act of terror, the lone attacker left chilling messages on his social media platforms, even counting down the days to the attack. Those who interacted with him online reported a misogynist streak with an aggressive tendency, especially towards women. His social media posts also suggest his love for rifles and pride in his ability to obtain them.
Social Learning Theory Application
The Social Learning Theory (SLT) posits that environmental and cognitive factors influence human learning and behavior. The theory emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating the attitudes, behaviors, and emotional reactions of others (Huesmann, 2019). In terms of aggression, the theory highlights the development of aggressive patterns, factors that provoke people to be aggressive, and what sustains these aggressive actions. In essence, SLT can help explain how Ramos became aggressive, the factors that tipped his aggression, and those that sustained his violent acts almost an hour before he was finally killed.
Under SLT, people are endowed with the capacity to behave aggressively as part of the human neurophysiological mechanism. However, the activation of this mechanism is subject to cognitive control and relies on appropriate simulation. Here, the origins of aggression include observational learning, structural determinants, and reinforced performance (Huesmann, 2019). In the case of Ramos, for instance, he took his observational learning from similar acts of aggression in the past. The structural determinants in his case were that he had access to lethal weapons, while reinforced performance...