07. Bandura 1961

Question 1

What was Bandura’s 1961 aim?

Answer 1

To investigate whether exposure to aggression would influence behaviour and if there would be a gender difference in the amount of aggression shown which is acquired through observation and imitation.

Question 2

State the 3 hypotheses.

Answer 2

1. Children exposed to aggressive role models would imitate the aggression shown.
2. Children exposed to non-aggressive role models would not show such high levels of aggression.
3. There would be a gender difference and boys were expected to show more imitated aggressive behaviour than girls.

Question 3

Describe the sample.

Answer 3

-72 children (36 boys and 36 girls) aged from 3-6 years.
-Selected from Standford University nursery in California.
-Mean age of 52 months.
-Matched pairs for similar aggression levels.

Question 4

Explain the inter-rater reliability test conducted by the researchers.

Answer 4

-To test inter-rater reliability, 51 children were rated independently by 2 observers.
-The ratings showed a very high reliability correlation (r=0.89), indicating good agreement between the observers regarding the children’s behaviour.

Question 5

Describe experimental group 1.

Answer 5

-24 kids.
-Observed aggressive role model play with toys then act aggressively towards the Bobo doll.

Question 6

Describe experimental group 2.

Answer 6

-24 kids.
-Observed non-aggressive role model sit quietly in corner of room playing with toys.

Question 7

Describe the control group.

Answer 7

-24 kids.
-Did not experience the presence of a role model.
-Behaviour was observed when the children were allowed to play with toys in the final condition.

Question 8

How was each child allocated to a group (experimental or control group)?

Answer 8

-Matched pairs design by rating their aggression before the study began.
-Each group had children with similar levels of aggression so it was controlled.

Question 9

What was stage 1 known as?

Answer 9

Modelling phase.

Question 10

Describe the modelling phase of the experiment.

Answer 10

-In the modelling stage, children in experimental conditions were shown into a room with toys.
-Some watched an aggressive model with a Bobo doll, others watched a non-aggressive model, and the control group was not exposed to any model.

Question 11

What happened when the children entered the room?

Answer 11

Asked to sit at a table shown how to play with potato prints, tinker toys.

Question 12

Who was in the room with them?

Answer 12

Experimenter who then leaves and a model adult entered the room.

Question 13

In the aggressive condition what did the role model do?

Answer 13

Initially played with tinker toy then after a minute would turn to the Bobo doll and act aggressively towards it (punched, kicked, hit with mallet).

Question 14

In the non-aggressive condition what did the role model do?

Answer 14

Model sat in the corner of the room playing with the thinker toys, ignoring the Bobo doll.

Question 15

What was stage 2 known as?

Answer 15

Arousal phase.

Question 16

What was the arousal stage, and how was it implemented?

Answer 16

-All children, including the control group, were subjected to ‘mild aggression arousal’.
-Each child, when playing with attractive toys, were told by the experimenter that those toys were reserved for other children.

Question 17

What happened to all of the children after 10 minutes?

Answer 17

-Children were taken to another room and given a selection of toys to play with.
-After two minutes, child was told the toys were not for them but for other children, and that the child could play with any toys that would be found in an adjoining room.
-This situation was set up to provoke mild aggression arousal in the children.

Question 18

What was stage 3 known as?

Answer 18

Observation phase.

Question 19

Describe the room the children were brought into.

Answer 19

-There was a range of toys categorised as aggressive and non-aggressive for the purpose of the experiment.
-Ppts would spend 20 minutes in this room.

Question 20

Describe how the observers carried out their observation.

Answer 20

-Behaviour of ppts was observed through a one way mirror through interval sampling (observing the behaviour at regular time intervals).
-Behaviours of participants were scored according to 3 types of imitative behaviour that the children displayed.

Question 21

What 3 types of imitative behaviours did observers record?

Answer 21

1. Imitative verbal aggression- participant repeated word/phrases that the model said for example: ‘hit him down’, ‘throw him in the air’, ‘kick him’, ‘pow’.
2. Imitative non-aggressive verbal statements- participant repeated non-aggressive statements said by the model for example: ‘he sure is a tough fella’, ‘he keeps on coming back for more’.
3. Imitative physical aggression- participant re-showed acts of physical aggression shown by the model for example: sitting on the Bobo doll and punching the nose and kicking him.

Question 22

What other behaviours did the researchers record?

Answer 22

1. Mallet aggression, the ppt used the mallet to hit other objects, not just the doll.
2. Acts of non-imitative physical or verbal aggression (statements or actions of aggression that were not originally modelled to the children)- so aggression towards other objects other than the doll.
3. Aggressive gun play, the ppts aimed the gun at imaginary objects around the room and shoots.

Question 23

What result supports the hypothesis that children exposed to aggressive role models would imitate the aggression shown.

Answer 23

-Participants in aggressive model condition displayed a lot more aggressive acts (both physical and verbal)
-Male child with aggressive female model showed 12.4 aggressive acts compared to only 0.2 with non-aggressive female model.

Question 24

What result supports the hypothesis that children exposed to non-aggressive role models would not show such high levels of aggression.

Answer 24

-Bandura felt that when looking at results for non-aggressive and control conditions, the male model had a greater effect over the behaviour of ppts than the female model.
-Boys with non aggressive female model scored 0.2 compared to 12.4 with aggressive female model.

Question 25

What result supports the hypothesis that there would be a gender difference and boys were expected to show more imitated aggressive behaviours than girls.

Answer 25

Original assumption that boys would be more aggressive than girls was only partially confirmed:

-Boys showed more imitative physical aggression following exposure to a male model than girls (25.8 for boys VS 7.2 for girls).

-Females exposed to a female role model (5.5) showed more imitation of verbal aggression and non-imitative aggression than boys (12.4).

Question 26

What did Bandura conclude?

Answer 26

-Bandura concluded that if a child was exposed to an aggressive model, it is likely that they would imitate their behaviour.
-Boys were more likely to imitate the same sex role model (more so than girls).

Question 27

What did the Bobo doll experiment demonstrate about social behaviour and what theory did it support?

Answer 27

-The experiment demonstrated that children can learn social behaviour, like aggression, through observation learning.
-The findings supported Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory.