Sex-Related Comparisons: Theory 149that women are more likely than men to be
nurses and men are more likely than women
to be construction workers. This explains
why a girl is more likely to imitate a mother
who is a nurse rather than a mother who is a
construction worker. A girl whose mother is
a construction worker may still perceive that
only men are construction workers because
the majority of people in this field are male.
One sex-related behavior that has been
examined extensively in terms of social learn-
ing theory is aggression. Models of aggression
for males abound. Think of the moviesThe
Dark Knight,Iron Man,Wa t c h m e n,The De-
parted,Scream, 300 , andNatural Born Killers.
There have been numerous reports of copycat
killings based on these movies. There was a
Showtime television series about a serial killer,
Dexter, that involved a killer pretending to be a
woman on a dating Web site, attracting a male
and then beheading him. Oddly enough, a film-
maker was accused of copycat killings based
on the movie.Screamis a slasher film about a
woman harassed with phone calls and attacked
by a man in a Halloween mask. There are a
slew of copycat killings based on this movie,
with the Halloween mask left as the insignia.
Aggression is also modeled in television
and video games. A content analysis of popu-
lar video games revealed that 83% of male
characters and 62% of female characters are
portrayed as aggressive (Dill & Thill, 2007).
Even toy commercials provide models of ag-
gression, and this modeling is aimed at boys.
In one study, 69% of the toy commercials de-
picting only boys showed physical aggression,
verbal aggression, or both (Sobieraj, 1998). Not
one of the toy commercials featuring only girls
involved either physical or verbal aggression.
Why do examples of aggressive behav-
ior lead people to imitate them? Witness-
ing another’s behavior not only teaches us
how to perform the behavior but suggests
the behavior is appropriate. It also makesto their imitative behavior. If others reward
the behavior, it is likely to be repeated. Thus
modeling and reinforcement interact with
each other to influence behavior. If a little
boy sees someone on television punching
another person, he may try out this behavior
by punching his sibling or a toy. Although
the parent may show disapproval when the
boy punches his sibling, the parent may re-
spond to punching the toy with mixed reac-
tions. If everyone in the room laughs because
they think the boy’s imitation of the televi-
sion figure is cute, the boy will respond to
this reinforcement by repeating the behav-
ior. Observational learning is more likely
to occur if the consequences of the model’s
behavior are positive rather than negative.
Children should be more likely to imitate
an aggressor on television who is glorified
rather than punished. And many television
aggressors are glorified, in cartoons such as
The SimpsonsandFamily Guy, for example.
Some of the conditions that influence obser-
vational learning are shown in Table 5.1.
Initially, social learning theory suggested
that one way children become sex-typed is
by imitating the same sex. But children do
not always imitate the same sex (Maccoby &
Jacklin, 1974). They are more likely to imitate
same-sex behavior that is perceived as typi-
cal for the person’s sex (Jacklin, 1989; Perry &
Bussey, 1979). Children can easily figure outTABLE 5.1 CONDITIONS THAT INFLUENCE
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
Observational learning increases
If there is a positive relationship between the
observer and the model.
If the consequences of model’s behavior are
positive rather than negative.
If the model is in a position of power.
If the model is of the same sex and behaves
in a gender-role congruent way.M05_HELG0185_04_SE_C05.indd 149 6/21/11 8:03 AM