ABSTRACT

In 1973, Albert Bandura published Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis, which effectively reviewed the then current state of aggression research and placed a new emphasis, using empirical findings, on social learning theory. After the publication of Aggression, Bandura worked on developing his social learning theory. Bandura believed that all psychological treatments should work on the principle of increasing one's ability or one's belief in one's ability to cope in the world. Although Albert Bandura was already known for his earlier work on aggression before the publication of Aggression, the book solidified his reputation as a key thinker in the field of psychology. More-recent events such as the Columbine massacre have been linked to the influence of depictions of violence in the media, recalling Bandura's reporting on the impact of violent news imagery on mass killers in the 1960s.