Bandura 1965 Flashcards
What was the aim
To find out if children are more likely to imitate a role model they see being rewarded and less likely to imitate a role model they see being punished
To see if the children would be more likely to imitate if they themselves were offered rewards
What was the IV
IVs:
. Whether the aggressive role model “Rocky”, was rewarded, punished or were no consequences
. Whether the role model was the same sex or opposite sex to the child
. Whether the child received no incentive or a positive incentive.
What was the participant design
It is a matched pairs design, the children saw different role models however had been matched based on their initial aggression
It also implements a repeated measures design because he children were firstly in the No Incentive condition, and then put in the Positive Incentive condition
What is the DV
The observers recorded the number of verbal, physical, mallet and gun play aggressive actions the children carried out; they also counted the number of acts oof non-imitative aggression
What was the sample
66 children, 33 boys and 33 girls, all aged 3-5, all recruited from the Stanford University Nursery School (opportunity sample)
What was the procedure
The model went through a scripted routine of aggressive behaviour towards a Bobo Doll
In the reward condition, the experimenter gave rocky sweets for his “superb aggressive performance” and
In the punishment condition, the experimenter called rocky “a big bully” and hit him with a rolled up newspaper
Nothing occurred in the No Consequences condition
The children were placed in the Observation Room for 10 minutes
They were brought juice the more they could imitate Rocky, being asked
“Show me what rocky did”
“Tell me what rocky said”
If there was imitative aggression in response, they were immediately rewarded. This is the positive incentive condition
What results were taken
The Model reward condition produced similar imitation from girls (mean 2.8) and boys (3.5) as the no consequences condition
The Model punishment condition produced much less imitation, especially among the girls (mean 0.5)
After the positive incentive condition, the imitation increased significantly for girls and boys and is very similar across all conditions of the model, with the girls’ scores much closer to the boys’ (all >3)
What conclusion was reached
Children will be less likely to imitate role models they see being punished. However the No Consequences condition shows that behaviour doesn’t have to be punished for it to be imitated
The children exhibited the punished models behaviour once they were offered incentives, implying that they still learn the behaviour
Girls are less likely to imitate the behaviour when the idea of being punished is apparent
