Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models.

In a previous study (see 37: 856) children imitated the behavior of a model in the presence of the model. The present study investigated the degree of imitation when the model was not present. Degree to which like-sexed model behavior would be followed was also studied. Nursery school children exposed to aggressively behaving models tended to imitate not only their aggressiveness but other behavior as well. There was some confirmation of like-sex imitation. The results were related to the psychoanalytic theory of identification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)