Four-year-old Tony is an active, curious preschooler. His mother, Geneva, says he "plays hard." Tony says he wants to be the best, to climb the highest, and run the fastest. He feels that his father, Eric, is the best father in the whole wide world because Daddy is big and strong. Tony wants to be just like Daddy when he grows up.Tony and Eric do all kinds of "boy things," as Geneva calls it. Tony says he thinks Daddy is smart and fun. Tony especially likes it when he and Eric wrestle on the floor each night when they watch sports on TV together. They like to watch contact sports, such as hockey, and they cheer together if the players start a fight. Tony also watches TV most afternoons while he waits for Eric to come home from work. Tony's favorite shows are crime-fighting cartoons, but
he also likes to watch wrestling.Geneva often scolds Tony for playing too roughly with other children. She used to put Tony in time out for 5 minutes when he misbehaved, but that did not decrease Tony's roughhousing and misbehaving. One time, when he hurt his cousin with his roughhousing, Geneva gave him a spanking to show him what it feels like and to stop his behavior. She had been so overcome with frustration over not being able to stop Tony's roughhousing that she didn't know what else to do. Geneva bought Tony a special doll for boys, named My Buddy, but this upset Eric, who said that dolls are for girls. Eric insisted that Geneva give away the My Buddy doll to charity.Tony's preschool teacher has called his parents a few times to report Tony's aggressive behavior with other children-mostly boys, as he tends to be more gentle and agreeable with girls, as long as they don't defy him. Geneva has apologized for his aggressiveness and has taken time off from her job to observe Tony's class at preschool and encourage Tony to learn better social skills. Eric, however, says that rough play simply is what boys do, and expresses satisfaction at Tony's dominant behavior. He tells Tony to "be a man" and defend himself if other children try to push him around.According to the various theoretical perspectives presented in this chapter, how would you explain Tony's tendency to behave aggressively?
What will be an ideal response?
Suggested Answer: Tony is primarily influenced by contextual factors, as he is simply modeling his father, as well as other models he sees on television and print media.
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