Aggression is acquired through social learning, not internal pathology

Evidence

There is a difference between impulsive aggression, in which emotional arousal figures prominently, and instrumental aggression, which is governed by its functional value and positive evaluation. One can get people, whatever their makeup, to adopt aggressive forms of behavior more readily by modeling, legitimizing, socially sanctioning, and rewarding such behavior than by instilling an “emotional disorder” in them. It should be noted in passing that media representatives never describe what they mean by “emotional disorder.” All too often the pathology is inferred from the very behavior it supposedly causes, which is a circular explanation. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 923

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes impulsive vs. instrumental aggression as distinct mechanisms of aggressive behavior.