bandura Flashcards
what was the aim of banduras study
to demonstrate that if children are passive witnesses to an aggressive display by an adult they would imitate this aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity
what were the four hypotheses of banduras study
1) children exposed to aggressive models will reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of the adult models.
2) children exposed to non- aggressive models will reproduce less aggressive acts
3) children will imitate the behaviour of a same sex model to a greater degree than a model of the opposite sex
4) boys will be more predisposed than girls towards imitating aggression
what was the method/ design
a lab experiment (controlled observation) with a matched pairs design
describe the sample
36m/ 36f from Stanford Bing nursery, aged 3-5
each condition (aggressive/ non aggressive/ control) had 24 participants
what were the three IVs and the DV
IV:
1) condition the children were exposed to
2) sex of the model
3) sex of the child
DV: imitative and non imitative aggression
how were the children pre tested
the researchers observed the children in their nursery and judged their aggressive behaviour on four 5 point rating scales so they could then match children with similar scores together and put them in each group to give a matched pairs design
the rating scales were:
1) physical aggression
2) verbal aggression
3) aggression towards inanimate objects
4) aggressive inhibition
describe phase 1 of the study
the children were brought to the experimental room and the model was invited to come in and join the game.
the room was set out to be appealing to nursery school children.
one corner was the child’s area which had a table, chair, potato prints and picture stickers. after settling the child in its corner, the adult model was taken to the opposite side of the room which had a table, chair, tinker toy set, a mallet and a 5ft bobo doll.
the experimenter then left the room.
in the aggressive condition, the model assembled the tinker toy set for one minute then turned to bobo and was aggressive in a very distinctive way
e.g “ raised the bobo doll and pommelled it on the head with a mallet” (physical aggression) and “sock him in the nose” (verbal aggression)
in the non aggressive condition the model ignored bobo and assembled the tinker toy set quietly
the child spent 10 minutes in this room
describe phase 2 of the study
the experimenter then brought the child to a new room which had different, more attractive toys e.g a fire truck which was the most desired toy at the time.
as soon as the child started playing with the toys, the experimenter told the child that they were her best toys and she was reserving them for the other children.
this was done to frustrate the child or subject them to mild aggression arousal
the child spent 2 minutes in this room
describe phase 3 of the study
the child was then taken to the next room and was told it could play with any of the toys in there./ there was a variety of both aggressive and non aggressive toys such as crayons, a tea set, three bears and plastic farm animals, a mallet, peg board, dart guns and a 3ft bobo doll
the experimenter stayed in this room “ otherwise a number of children would either refuse to stay alone or would leave before termination of the session”. the experimenter did not make any oservations
the child was kept in this room for 20 minutes during which their behaviours were observed by judges through a one way mirror. observations were made every 5 seconds (time sampling) , giving each child 240 response units.
describe the response measures
three measures of imitation were obtained (responses from the child that were very similar to the display by the adult model)
these were:
1) imitation of physical aggression- punching the doll in the nose
2) imitative verbal aggression- “pow”
3) imitative non aggressive verbal responses- “he keeps coming back for more?”
they also looked at behaviours which were not complete imitations of the model:
1) mallet aggression- striking a toy with the mallet
2) sitting on bobo- the child sits on bobo but is not aggressive
they also recorded aggressive behaviours that were not imitative of the model:
1) punches bobo in places other than the nose
2) non imitative physical and verbal aggression
3) aggressive gun play
describe the results
the main findings were:
1) the children in the aggressive model condition made more aggressive responses than the children in the non aggressive model condition
2) boys made more aggressive responses than girls
3) boys in the aggressive model conditions showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male than if the model was female
4) girls in the aggressive condition showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male but more aggressive verbal responses if the model was female
the aggression of the female model had a confusing effect on children perhaps because it didn’t fit in with their prior knowledge about what was culturally appropriate behaviour
what were the explanations for banduras findings
children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation learning. In this study, likeliness of imitation were based on:
1) appropriateness of the model- perhaps it is more acceptable in western culture for men to be more aggressive than women. even by the age of 3-4 children are learning the dominant stereotypes that relate to sex role differences, therefore aggressive male models are more likely to be imitated as it is seen as more fitting or appropriate to the children
2) relevance of the model- boys were more likely to imitate the aggressive male models than the female models, perhaps the greater relevance of the male models behaviour is due to the fact that the boys perceive themselves similarity between themselves and the model
3) similarity of the role model- perception of the similarity between the child and the model is based on the development of the child’s gender identity i.e being able to identify itself and others as a girl or boy. the first stage of this ability isn’t usually reached until 2-2.5 years of age.
during other studies bandura also found that:
-nurturant ducts are more likely to be imitated than unfriendly ones
-more powerful models are more readily imitated and that adults who are seen to be rewarded fr their behaviour are more likely to be imitated.
evaluate the methodology and design
+ lab experiment (controlled observation) making it highly controlled and reduces extraneous variables so we can be more sure of cause and effect
- lacks ecological validity as it is untrue to real life- not typical behaviour
+ the use of a matched pairs design minimised individual differences so cause and effect can be established
-matched pairs is time consuming and subjective to the experimenters opinions- individual differences can never fully be eliminated
evaluate the way data was collected
+ quantitative data is easy to analyse
- quantitative data lacks depth and detail- we can see why the children behaved more aggressively but we don’t understand why. collecting qualitative data would’ve allowed us to understand this
+ having more than one observer behind the one way mirror allowed inter-rater reliability to be established
evaluate the validity of banduras study
+ ecologically valid as it is a covert observation so the participants don’t know they are being watched so they do not manipulate their behaviour to fit the experiment- they act in a natural manner
+ large sample enhances population validity and there is also no gender bias
- low in ecological validity as it is a lab experiment and doesn’t represent real life and how children would actually learn from their role models
