Bandura (1963) Flashcards
What was the aim of this Bandura study?
To test whether exposing children to film-mediated aggression would increase the probability of aggression.
Who was used in the sample?
96 boys and girls with a mean age of 52 months from Stanford University nursery school.
What were the 4 different conditions?
1) Control group
2) Watched real-life male/female models become aggressive towards the Bobo doll
3) Watched a 10 min film of a male/female model becoming aggressive towards the Bobo doll
4) Watched a cartoon version of a female model dressed as a cat becoming aggressive towards the Bobo doll
What were the 3 IVs?
1) Condition children were exposed to
2) Gender of the child
3) Gender of the adult
What were the 2 DVs?
1) Number of physical aggressive acts displayed
2) Number of verbal aggressive acts displayed
Briefly describe the procedure of this study
Children were divided equally into 4 different conditions
Each child not in the control group watched the aggressive acts individually
Children were then put in a room with other toys but were told it couldn’t play with them to elicit ‘mild aggression arousal’
Children were then sent to the next room where they could play freely with the toys including the Bobo doll and the ‘weapons’ the models used
The researchers observed the children and their interactions with the Bobo doll
What were the results of Bandura’s study?
Children who had been exposed to aggressive behaviour showed nearly twice as much aggressive behaviour as the control
Boys showed more overall aggression than girls
Boys exposed to male models showed significantly more aggressive gunplay (15.9) than when exposed to female models (7.3)
Girls showed significantly less aggressive gun play when exposed to the female model (1.8) as opposed to boys (7.3)
Describe the conclusions of this experiment.
Findings support the idea that children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation
It doesn’t need to be through observing real-life aggression, it can be through the means of the media and with models that aren’t human
Evaluate the generalisablity using a high and low point
P - High
E - Used sample of 96 boys and girls
E - This is a large sample representing both genders
P - Low
E - Used sample of children
E - This limits the ability to represent older ages such as teenagers
Evaluate the reliability using 2 high points
P - High
E - Standardised procedure such as showing the film of model for 10 mins
E - Making the study easily replicable to test for consistency of results
P - High
E - Carried out in a controlled environment with control over EVs
E - Can replicate the same conditions to test for consistency
Are there any applications?
P - Yes
E - Highlights how children will imitate the behaviour of role models even if they aren’t human or are shown in a film
E - This has lead to measures such as the watershed being put in place to protect children by showing mature TV shows after 9pm
Evaluate the validity using 2 low points.
P - Low
E - Children had never seen a Bobo doll before so maybe they thought they were supposed to hit it
E - Therefore no cause and effect could be established because they thought that was how you play with it rather than actually being aggressive
P - Low ecological
E - Carried out in an artificial environment where the model and the child were strangers
E - Doesn’t represent how children would observe and imitate behaviour in real life
Evaluate an ethical issue.
P - Unethical
E - The children were deliberately encouraged to be aggressive with no talk of removing that aggression
E - And so children may have been aggressive after the study which they should have countered by showing a pro-social role model to calm them down
