Bandura (1961)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

Investigate whether children would imitate aggressive behavior observed in adults.

Question 2

Sample and groups

Answer 2

72 children aged 3 to 6, divided into 3 groups:

• Aggressive model group (adult hitting bobo doll and making hitting sounds like “pow”)
• Non-aggressive model (adult ignoring bobo doll, playing with toys)
• Control group (no model)

Question 3

Procedure

Answer 3

Children in the aggressive and non aggressive model observed their corresponding model while those in the control group did not observe any models.

After the observation phase, each child was placed in a room with attractive toys but after a moment, told that they could not play with them to arouse mild aggression.

Finally, the child was taken to another room where there were non-aggressive toys and aggressive toys. They were kept in this room for 20 minutes and their behavior was observed by researchers through a one-way mirror. They had a list of three measures for imitation similar to child’s model including:

imitative for physical aggression

imitative for verbal aggression

imitative non-aggressive verbal responses.

as well as looking at other forms of aggressive behaviour.

Question 4

Key finding

Answer 4

• Children who saw the aggressive model made more aggressive acts than the children who saw the non-aggressive model

Question 5

Research method

Answer 5

Experiment using a matched pairs design