bandura

Question 1

What is social learning theory?

Answer 1

Developed by Bandura- throughout the societal changes in 1960s to see how changes in society would impact behaviour and had people learnt new behaviour

Question 2

Bandura’s 1961 AIM

Answer 2

To see whether aggressive behaviour can be learnt through observation of the modelled aggression

Question 3

4 Hypotheses in 1961 study

Answer 3

• Children exposed to aggressive models will imitate modelled aggression
• Observation of the non-aggressive models would inhibit aggressive behaviour
• Children would imitate the behaviour of a same-sex model more than a model of the opposite sex
• Boys would display more aggression than girls

Question 4

Method and design of the 1961 study

Answer 4

Lab exp, also a matched pairs as they were matched on aggression rating on a 5 point scale from female experimenter and nursery school teacher

Question 5

Sample of 1961 study

Answer 5

72 kids, 36 boys and girls with mean age of 52 months divided into 3 conditions 12m&f saw aggressive model, same n.o for non-aggressive model, and same for control who saw none. Then halved to ppts who saw same sex model and not

Question 6

Procedure of 1961 study stage one

Answer 6

Modelling stage 10 min
Experimenter led ppt into 1st room where child could play with potato prints and stickers then escorted to opposite corner where tinker toy set and mallet and bobo doll was and told to play with
aggressive condition - play with tinker toy set normally then turned to bobo doll and started to act aggressively and physical aggressive acts were repeated 3 times in 10 minute period
non-aggressive condition - adult ignored bobo and mallet etc and told kid to play with toys for 10 minutes before leaving

Question 7

Procedure of 1961 study stage 2

Answer 7

Mild aggression arousal 2 min
All taken into room 2 filled with attractive toys eg doll set with complete wardrobe and allowed to play with for 2 min then told by experimenter ‘these are my very best toys! I don’t let just anyone play with them…you can play with the toys in the next room’ = to make sure their emotional levels were similar

Question 8

Procedure of 1961 study stage 3

Answer 8

Test for delayed imitation 20 min
Taken to room 3 with aggressive toys eg bobo doll, mallet, dart gun etc and non-aggressive toys eg tea set ,crayons and experimenter stayed with them and was also observed for 20 min through a one-way mirror and scored behaviour at 5 sec intervals for 20 minutes

Question 9

Results of 1961 study

Answer 9

• Ppts in aggressive condition showed more aggression than ppts in non-aggressive eg physical aggression w boys with m aggression model was 25.8 and in non-aggressive it was 1.5
  -Ppts in non aggressive no difference compared to control group eg verbal aggression girls in non-aggressive condition was 0.3 and in control it was 0.7
  -Ppts more likely to copy same sex model eg non-imitative aggression 36.7 boys coped male aggressive model and 16.2 copied female model
  -Boys more aggressive acts than girls esp with same-sex model eg non imitative aggression 36.7 boys coped model and 21.3 copied female

Question 10

Conclusions from 1961 study

Answer 10

Child exposed to aggressive model more liekly they would imitate their behaviour, boys were more likely to imitate the same-sex model than girls. Therefore, results of study suggest not all behaviour is learnt through process of punishment and reward instead it’s learnt when a role model is observed and imitated

Question 11

Generalisability of 1961 study

Answer 11

One weakness of the study is that it is low in generalisability as it isn’t representative of the target population. This is because the children were all from the nursery in Stanford Uni meaning they majority of children were likely to be kids of academics from middle-class and white backgrounds and the kids were all 3-5 y/o. This may indicate a cultural bias so the findings being learnt about observations may not generalise to the broader population and the research cannot be generalised further to older children or adults. However, arguably Bandura tried to increase reliability by ensuring the sample consisted of both 36 m and females so his research isn’t androcentric

Question 12

Reliability of 1961 study

Answer 12

One strength of the study is that it’s high in reliability as standardised procedures were used for each child making the research replicable. For example, the aggression arousal stage which lasted 2 min for all ppts the children had the exact same toys to play with such as a doll set with a complete wardrobe and the experimenter had the same phrase of ‘these are my very best toys..!’. Furthermore, the results of the 2 observers who recorded 240 observations in the delayed imitation stage were checked for reliability and had a 0.9 inter-reliability correlation

Question 13

Applications of 1961 study

Answer 13

One strength of the study is that is had numerous applications. This is because it provoked further research on effects of aggressive role models on children’s behaviour and aided in the development of policies that censor what children can watch to avoid aggressive behaviour being learnt

Question 14

Ecological validity of 1961 study

Answer 14

One weakness of the study is that it was in a laboratory setting meaning the study may lack ecological validity. This is because the artificial environment may have made the behaviour seen in children less natural. For example, the bobo doll was an unusual object to the children and the 3 rooms were all very controlled with the same toys and events which may of created an unrealistic reflection of the children’s natural environment. This also limits usefulness of the study as if the responses to seeing someone acting aggressively isn’t accurate then it reduces real world applications for the research

Question 15

Validity of 1961 study

Answer 15

One strength is that internal validity is high as it was carried out in a laboratory setting and had numerous controls to ensure extraneous variables did not influence children’s behaviour. For example, matched pairs was used to ensure a child was with another with a similar aggression levels and then they were randomly allocated ensuring any aggressive behaviour was not the result of pre-existing aggression. This control allowed Bandura to make cause and effect links between aggression models and behaviour of children since main variables were isolated. However, the bobo doll may reduce internal validity as children may of believed the adult model was giving them instructions on what was expected. These demand characteristics may mean that behaviour differences may not be because of observational learning.

Question 16

Ethics of 1961 study

Answer 16

One weakness of the study is that ethics may be lowered as it’s not clear if consent was granted for children to partake in the study and if parents knew what would happen to theiir kids. For example, it can be argued the kids weren’t protected from harm as they were trained to be aggressive and it wasn’t known how long effects may last as the kids were never followed up on. Furthermore, in the second stage of the study in aggression arousal may of the children became upset when they were not allowed to play with the toys.

Question 17

Aim of 1963 study

Answer 17

To investigate whether a filmed model would have the same effect as a live model on children aggression. A secondary aim was to investigate whether cartoon violence would have a similar impact to realistic filmed aggression

Question 18

Sample of 1963 study

Answer 18

48 f and 48 m with 4 groups of real life aggression, film aggression, cartoon aggression and control with 12 m and 12f and then same sex and opposite for real life and film aggression

Question 19

Procedure of 1963 study STAGE 1

Answer 19

real life aggression led ppt into 1st room and child was seated at table and play with potato prints and stickers and then escorted to corner to play with tinker toy and bobo doll and mallet and experimenter left the room model played with tinker set then after 1 min went to bobo and acted aggressively and repeated 3 times in a 10 min period like laying doll on its side and punched it on the nose, hitting its head with a mallet, saying ‘pow’ and ‘sock it to him’

Question 20

Procedure of 1963 study film aggression

Answer 20

led into semi-darkened room and introduced them to picture materials while they played with potato prints a movie would play 6 ft from subjects table and shown for 10 min and models in film were same in the real-life condition

Question 21

Procedure of 1963 cartoon

Answer 21

Sat ppts at the table with picture construction material and experimenter turned on TV 3 ft away from ppt and said ‘i guess i’ll turn on the colour TV’ and experimenter left room and. The cartoon performed by female model costumed as black cat revealing ‘‘Herman the cat’’ and the cat hitting a Bobo doll in the head with a mallet the cats verbal aggression was repeated in a high-pitched voice

Question 22

The procedure of 1961 STAGE 2 MILD AGGRESSION AROUSAL

Answer 22

Each child was taken into r2 filled with attractive toys like a doll set with a complete wardrobe and allowed to play for 2 min then informed these were the experimenter’s best toys and for other kids

Question 23

The procedure of 1961 STAGE 3

Answer 23

r3 with 3 ft Bobo doll, mallet,2 dark guns,tea-set and crayons and experimenter stayed w them 2 observers scored subjects behaviour at 5 sec intervals which gave 240 observations

Question 24

results of the 1963 study

Answer 24

mean total real-life aggression-83
film aggression-92
control group-54

Question 25

conclusions of 1963 study

Answer 25

Observing filmed aggressive acts will lead to imitation of aggression acts by children and that learning was vicarious ( learning from indirect sources such as hearing and sight )

Question 26

Validity PEE 1963

Answer 26

High due to the research being conducted in lab settings. For example, Bandura used a n.o of controls like a control group of ppts. This is useful as it could provide a baseline measurement to which he could compare the effects of the cartoon, film and real aggression condition which enables a cause-and-effect relationship to be established between the IV of aggressive behaviour shown and DV aggressive behaviour

Question 27

Reliability PEE 1963

Answer 27

High as there were 2 observers to record behaviour in the test for delayed imitation who were trained to a reliable standard and one of the judges was blind to the condition the child was placed in to avoid bias when recording behaviour. This ensured inter-rater reliability

Question 28

Aim in 1965 study

Answer 28

Investigate which reinforcements would influence the +performance of a ppt when imitating the behaviour

Question 29

Method and design of 1965 exp

Answer 29

Lab exp and independent groups

Question 30

Sample of 1965

Answer 30

33 m and 33 f from STANFORD 11F AND 11 M IN MODEL REWARDED, MODEL PUNISHMENT, AND NO CONSEQUENCES

Question 31

Procedure 1965

Answer 31

brought into the sem-darkened room and before going into the ‘surprise playroom’ watched a televised program for 5 min with a model named Rocky walking up to an adult-sized Bobo doll and ordering him to clear the way then the model exhibited 4 novel aggressive responses where laid Bobo doll on its side, sat on it punched and said ‘pow’ and pommelled it on the head

Question 32

1965 Model rewarded condition

Answer 32

2 adults came and rewarded the model verbally with candies and soft drinks saying he’s a ‘strong champion’ and poured him 7-up

Question 33

1965 Model punished condition

Answer 33

The reinforcing agent appeared by shaking his finger and commenting ‘Hey there you big bully’ and model drew back and tripped and another adult sat on the model and smacked him with a rolled-up magazine and warned him not to do it again

Question 34

1965 no consequences

Answer 34

Viewed the same film with no reinforcements

Question 35

Experimental room 1965

Answer 35

all kids were escorted to an experimental room containing Bobo dolls, mallets, and a doll house and the experimenter said feel free to play with toys and left. Each ppt spent 10 min in the room and behaviour was recorded every 5s who observed via one-way mirror and was blind

Question 36

Results of 1965

Answer 36

Boys showed more imitative responses, model rewarded showed more imitative than model punishment, and no significant difference between model rewarded and no consequences

Question 37

Conclusion of 1965

Answer 37

Indicates that reinforcements administered to the model influcned the observer’s performance and observations will not provide sufficient conditions for imitative or observational learning so behaviour can be vicariously transmitted through observation of consequences inc no consequences to model behaviour

Question 38

Eco validity PEE OF 1965

Answer 38

Low as research was completed in a lab setting with children seeing reinforced behaviour through video instead of real-life situations and reinforcement was provided by strangers, not by parents or adults that kids are used to