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Cognitive Script Theory and the Dynamics of Cognitive Scripting
People’s social behavior is controlled to a good extent by cognitive scripts learned through experience and observation of others’ behavior. After being stored in memory, these cognitive scripts can be retrieved to guide behavior and solve problems.
A cognitive script indicates the sequence of behaviors that can be expected in a certain context, how the individual should behave in that context once the individual has assumed a role in the script, and what might be the expected consequences. By means of social learning, people acquire numerous scripts indicating how to act in such diverse situations as eating in a restaurant, attending a funeral, or going on a romantic date.
L. Rowell Huesmann (1988) applied the model of cognitive scripts to explain how children learn aggression-related knowledge structures from exposure to violence. In this context, the theory of cognitive scripts allows us to understand the development of habitual aggressive behavior. Its focus is the operation of the child’s information-processing system in the presence of environmental and personal factors that facilitate aggressive behavior.
According to this theory, through observation, children learn not only simple behaviors but also complex and generalized social scripts. Once learned, these cognitive scripts can be retrieved from memory to guide information processing and future behavior. In this context, the aggressive cognitive scripts learned by children from observation of violent behavior in family, mass media, and other settings are especially relevant. Once learned, children can use these scripts to deal with and resolve their social interactions. Reviewing these cognitive scripts and obtaining positive consequences will cause the scripts to become chronically accessible and aggressive behavior to form part of the child’s habitual behavioral repertory. This entry describes the dynamics of this process and some of the most important factors that determine how it will take place.
Learning Cognitive Scripts
Cognitive script theory proposes that cognitive scripts are stored in memory through a two-component process: initial encoding of observed behaviors and their repeated rehearsal.
Initial script encoding takes place mainly from observation. Human beings have an innate tendency to imitate. At early ages, children are capable of imitating emotional expressions, and, subsequently, they begin to imitate motor behaviors, including aggressive behaviors such as shoving or hitting. As children grow, they begin to acquire scripts instead of simple behaviors through social learning. These cognitive scripts become increasingly complex and elaborate, including other schemas such as normative beliefs about the appropriateness of aggression and inferences about others’ behavior.
For a sequence of behaviors to be encoded as a cognitive script, the child should attend the sequence of behaviors. Therefore, elements that favor attention will make encoding of a cognitive script more likely. Huesmann notes that if, at this phase, children perceive that the observed behavioral sequence is inappropriate and goes against the child’s moral rules, then encoding the cognitive script may be impeded.
Aspects like the child’s current mood in the observation phase can also influence initial encoding. If the child is angry at that time, he or she might judge the observed aggressive behaviors as acceptable, which favors encoding them. Likewise, new aggressive behaviors are more likely to be encoded if the child stores many instances of other aggressive behaviors in his or her memory than if he or she stores mainly examples of prosocial behaviors.
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- General Aggression
- Aggression and Affect
- Aggression and Anger
- Aggression and Attachment
- Aggression and Brain Functioning
- Aggression and Culture
- Aggression in Youth
- Aggression, Definition and Assessment of
- Aggression, Risk Factors for
- Aggressive Behavior
- Aggressive Personality
- Bullying, Definition and Laws of
- Cognition: Schemas and Scripts
- Cognitive Psychology of Violence
- Cognitive Script Theory and the Dynamics of Cognitive Scripting
- Cyberbullying, Definition and Effects of
- Gender and Aggression
- Genetics of Aggressive Behavior
- Group Aggression
- Memory and Violence
- Priming Theory
- Psychobiology of Violence
- Psychopathology and Susceptibility to Violence
- Reasons for Consuming Violent Entertainment
- Relational Aggression
- Trait Aggression
- Media Content
- Grand Theft Auto
- Advertising, Violent Content in
- Arousal and Aggressive Content, Theory and Psychology of
- Character Development Within Violent Content
- Competition, Sports, and Video Games
- Cultivating Content and Social Representation of Violence
- Cyberbullying, Violent Content in
- Drench Hypothesis
- Fantasy Genre, Violence and Aggression in
- Films, Representation of Violence and Its Effects in
- Media Violence, Definitions and Context of
- Music Videos and Lyrics, Violent Content in
- National Television Violence Study
- Pornography, Violent Content in
- Realism of Violence Content, Real-World Violence on Television, and Their Effects
- Sexualized Aggression
- Sports, Violence and Aggression in
- Stereotyping in Violent Media Content
- Television Violence
- Violence, Definition of
- Violent Artistic Expression
- Virtual Reality, Violent Content in
- Media Effects
- Attitude, Effects of Media Violence on
- Audience Interpretation of Media Violence, Effects of
- Bobo Doll Studies
- Comedic Violence, Effects of
- Demographic Effects
- Desensitization Effects on Society
- Developmental Effects
- Effect Size in Media Violence, Research and Effects of
- Effects From Violent Content, Short- and Long-Term
- Effects of Media Violence on Relational Aggression
- Emergent Public Health Issue: Effects of Violence
- Ethical Development, Effects on
- Ethical Issues in Researching Media Violence Effects
- Fear Reactions to Violent Content
- First-Person Perspective, Violent Content From
- Gender, Effects of Violent Content on
- General Aggression Model
- Identity, Media Violence and Its Effects on
- Interactive Media, Aggressive Outcomes of
- Internet Content, Effects of Violent
- Media Effects Perspectives of Violence
- Media Rating Systems
- Moral Development, Effects of Media Violence on
- Narrative, Effects of Violent
- News, the Presentation and Effects of Violent Content in
- Parasocial Relationships
- Pediatricians and Media Violence
- Peer Influence on Violent Content Effects
- Pornography, Violent Content in: Effects of
- Rap Lyrics, Effects of Violent Content in
- Rape Perceptions
- Screen Size and Violent Content, Effects of
- Sex in Media, Effects on Society
- Situational Influences on Aggressive Reactions to Media Violence
- Social Isolation
- Socialization of Violence in Media and Its Effects
- User Involvement in Violent Content, Effects of
- User Trends Toward Aggressive Games
- Uses and Gratifications Perspective of Media Effects
- Video Game Platforms, Effects of
- Video Games, User Motivation
- Violence in Media, Effects on Aggression and Violent Crime
- Virtual Reality, Effects of Violent Content in
- Weapons in Violent Media Content: Use, Policy, and Effects
- Media Policy
- Advertising Laws Regarding Violent and Aggressive Content
- Bullying, Definition and Laws of
- Censorship of Violent Content
- Cyberbullying Laws
- Federal Communications Commission
- First Amendment Protections and Freedom of Expression
- International Perspective on Media Violence
- Internet Blocking
- Internet Violence Laws
- Legislating Media Violence: Law and Policy
- Marketing of Violence
- Media Education and Media Literacy
- Rating Systems, Film
- Rating Systems, Television
- Rating Systems, Video Games
- Regulating Systems, Internet
- Video Game Industry, Regulation Within the
- Research Process
- Society and Media
- Grand Theft Auto, Social Representations in
- Advertising, Influence on Society
- African Americans in Media, Character Depictions and Social Representation of
- Asians in Media, Character Depictions and Social Representation of
- Cross-Cultural Perspectives
- Cultivating Content and Social Representation of Violence
- Cultural Voyeurism
- Culture of Violence
- Effect Size in Media Violence, Research and Effects of
- Exposure to Violent Content, Effects on Child Development
- Gender Stereotypes, Societal Influence on
- Internet Violence, Influence on Society
- Latinos in Media, Character Depictions and Social Representation of
- Media as a Reflection of Society
- Race-Based Attributes in Video Games, Influence on Hostility
- Social Learning From Media
- Theories of Media Influence
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