4.1.9 - Bandura (1965) Bobo doll experiment with vicarious reinforcement Flashcards
what were the aims of the study?
to see if consequences to a model of aggressive behaviour would affect whether children imitated it
to see if boys would be more aggressive than girls (as found in previous studies), and also if they would show more imitative aggression
to see if introducing a direct reward would remove any differences in imitation from rewarding, punishing, or giving no consequence to the model
what was the sample for the study?
33 boys and 33 girls at the Stanford University Nursery School aged 3-5
how was the sample divided into groups?
they were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (11 boys and 11 girls in each) - model rewarded, model punished, no consequence for model
what was the procedure for the initial part of the study?
the children were shown an approximately 5 minute long television programme
in it, the model walked up to a Bobo doll, ordered him to ‘clear the way’, stared at it and then showed 4 distinct, new aggressive responses:
1. punching doll’s nose and saying pow right in the nose, boom, boom
2. hitting the doll on the head with a mallet and saying sockeroo…stay down
3. kicking the doll around the room and saying ‘fly away’
4. throwing rubber balls and when one hit the doll shouting bang
order of behaviour repeated twice in programme
reward or punishment occurred in final scene of programme
what happened in the model rewarded condition?
an adult walked up to the model with soft drinks and sweets and told the model he was a ‘strong champion’ with a ‘superb aggressive performance’ - the model clearly enjoyed the treats
what happened in the model punished condition?
an adult shook a finger at the model and called them a ‘big bully’, before the model tripped and the other adult sat on him and hit him with a rolled-up newspaper
what happened in the no consequence condition?
there was no reinforcement in the closing scene of the film
what happened after the children watched the TV programme in each condition?
they were taken into another room and observed playing with toys like a Bobo doll, mallet and dolls’ house
behaviour was recorded every 5 seconds for 10 minutes by two observers
what happened in the positive incentive condition of the study?
after the 10 minutes of observation, the children were brought fruit juice and booklets of sticker pictures - they were told they would get a sticker picture and more juice for every physically or verbally aggressive act they reproduced , and if they showed an imitative response they were rewarded straight away
what were the results of the study?
with the positive incentive, the number of imitated responses was higher for boys and girls in all previous conditions
imitative acts were at their lowest for boy and girls when the model was punished
boys showed the most imitative acts in all three ‘no incentive conditions’
even when being rewarded for imitative actions, the children didn’t repeat them all - they may not have noticed or remembered all the acts, or the sequences may have been too complex
what were the conclusions from the study?
vicarious reinforcement does increase imitation of observed behaviour
girls may be more reluctant than boys to imitate an observed aggressive behaviour, unless they are directly incentivised
aggressive behaviour doesn’t have to be rewarded or punished to be imitated (no consequences condition imitated in same way as reward condition)
there are many variables involved in whether observed aggressive behaviour is imitated - whether the model is rewarded, whether the overseer is motivated, whether the observer has seen the modelled acts before or has a cultural history which includes them
strengths - reliability/replicability?
standardised procedure and many controls eg. way children were observed used so can be replicated to show reliability
inter-observer reliability because two observers were used and they agreed with their ratings
strengths - applications?
characters are often rewarded for using violence in films, and in video games violence allows you to level up - could apply findings and suggest that censoring this sort of media and portraying the real consequences of violence could reduce aggression
strengths - validity?
use of careful controls allows cause and effect relationship to be established
strengths - ethics?
presumptive consent obtained from children’s nursery teachers and assuming their parents too
weaknesses - generalisability?
children all came from same nursery at top university (may have had particularly educated parents) and cultural background - not representative of all children
findings can’t be generalised to older children or adults to explain how they learn behaviours
weaknesses - validity?
study lacks ecological validity because children were put in unusual lab environment, exposed to abnormal adult behaviour and given toys which encouraged them to behave unnaturally
given that Bobo doll was designed to be hit, children may have believed experimenter wanted them to act in this way towards it (demand characteristics)
weaknesses - ethics?
pps weren’t able to withdraw and there didn’t seem to be an attempt to debrief them
pps weren’t protected from harm because witnessing aggressive behaviour may have caused them distress, and they may have continued to display aggressive behaviour that they learned
