Bandura (1961) Flashcards
What was the background?
Tv becoming more prevalent.
What was the aim?
To investigate or demonstrate that learning can occur through mere observation of a model and that imitation of learnt behaviours can occur in the absence of that model.
What were the hypotheses?
One – children shown aggressive models will show more aggressive acts resembling these of the model rather than those shown non-aggressive or no models.
Two – children shown non-aggressive models, subdued models will show less aggressive behaviours.
Three – boys will show more imitative aggression than girls.
Four – children will imitate the same sex model behaviour to a greater degree than opposite sex.
What was the sample?
72 children (36 girls, 36 boys), aged 3 to 5, from Stanford University Nursery. Matched through a procedure that rated them on their levels of aggression by the experimenter and Nursery School teacher on a four, five point rating scale. The scales measured both verbal and physical aggression towards inanimate objects.
What was the method and the IVs and DVs?
Lab experiment with controlled observation. Independent measures design and matched pairs design.
IV One – role model, whether the child witnessed an aggressive or non-aggressive adult role model.
IV Two – sex of the role model, male or female.
IV Three – sex of the child, male or female.
DV – amount of imitative behaviour and aggression. Measured by a male role model and another observer noting at 5 second intervals through a one way mirror – time sampling and covert operation.
Physical: any acts imitated.
Verbal: phrases imitated (‘pow’).
What was the procedure?
Phase One: Modelling – Each child is taken individually to experimental room, in the main nursery building and the ‘model’ came in. Sat the child at the small table in the corner and encourage child to design a picture using stickers and potato prints. Once the child was settled, the experimenter escorted model to opposite corner contained a small table, chairs, thinker toy set, mallet and 5ft bobo doll. Experimenter then left the room.
Aggressive Condition – model spent 5 minutes playing quietly then turned to the bobo doll and spent the rest of the time being aggressive towards it. Repeatedly punching it on the nose, picking up the doll in the air and ‘kicking’ it around the room. Done three times with comments like ‘hit him down’, ‘pow’ and ‘he keeps coming back’.
Phase Two: Aggressive Arousal – Took into a second room containing some attractive toys (fire engine, spinning top and a doll set). Children were allowed to play with the toys for 2 minutes, the experimenter then said she had decided to reserve the toys for the other children. Then moved the children to the experimental room.
Phase Three: Delayed Imitation – The third room contained aggressive toys (3ft bobo doll, mallet and a dart gun) and non-aggressive toys (a tea set, crayons and paper). The experimenter sat quietly in the corner and the male role model observed them through a one-way mirror, with a second observer present. The observer did not know what experimental or control condition the child had participated in. (Blind experiment). Observer recorded what the child was doing for 5 seconds. Responses were recorded by providing an aggression score for each child.
Imitative Aggression Response: physical – any specific act which were imitated. Verbal – any phases that were imitated.
Partially Imitative Response: mallet aggression on toys or sitting on the bobo doll.
Non-Imitative Aggression Response: slaps Bobo doll or pushes bobo doll.
Non-Imitative Physical and Verbal Response: acts directly at toys other than the bobo doll, saying hostile things not said by the model. Saying he’s coming back for more.
What was the results?
Hypothesis One – children in the aggressive condition showed significantly more imitation of physical and verbal aggression and non-aggressive verbal responses than children in the non-aggressive condition or control condition.
Hypothesis Two – children who saw the same sex model imitated the behaviour in the following categories.
Boys imitated male role models than girls in physical and verbal aggression, non-imitative aggression and gun play. Girls imitated female models more than boys for verbal imitative aggression and non-imitative aggression. However, results weren’t significant.
Boys produced more imitative aggression than girls.
What was the conclusion?
Boys and girls are more likely to learn verbal aggression from a same-sex adult. Children will imitate aggressive/non-aggressive behaviours displayed by adult models, even if the model is not present. Children will learn through observation and imitation.
