Bandura 1965

Question 1

Participants

Answer 1

66 children aged around 3–6 years.

Question 1

Aims

Answer 1

• Investigate whether the consequences of a model’s aggressive behaviour (reward, punishment, or no consequence) would affect the likelihood of imitation in children.

Question 2

Procedure

Answer 2

• All children watched a film of an adult behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll.
• Children randomly assigned to three conditions:
• Model rewarded: The adult was praised and given sweets.
• Model punished: The adult was scolded and hit with a newspaper.
• No consequence: Nothing happened after the aggression.
• Children were then observed playing with the Bobo doll, and aggressive acts were recorded.
• In a second phase, all children were offered rewards (incentivised imitation) to see if they could reproduce the aggressive actions.

Question 3

Results

Answer 3

• Children in the model rewarded and no consequence conditions showed more imitative aggression than those in the punished group.
• The punished group showed significantly less aggression initially.
• However, when given positive reinforcement, all groups were capable of reproducing the aggression — even the punished group.
• Boys imitated more physical aggression than girls, consistent with earlier findings.

Question 4

Conclusion

Answer 4

• Vicarious reinforcement and punishment influence whether children choose to imitate observed behaviour.
• Even if aggression is not imitated immediately, children retain the behaviour and can reproduce it later if motivated.
• Supports Social Learning Theory: observation, mental representation, and reinforcement all influence learning.

Question 5

Generalisability

Answer 5

Sample was limited to young American children, so findings may not generalise to older individuals or different cultures.

Question 6

Reliability

Answer 6

• High reliability due to standardised procedures (same video, conditions, reward system), so results can be replicated.

Question 7

Application

Answer 7

• Watershed 9pm Tv regulations

Question 8

Validity

Answer 8

Low ecological validity – observing aggression towards a Bobo doll in a lab is artificial and doesn’t reflect real-life aggression.

Question 9

Ethics

Answer 9

• Ethical concerns: Children were exposed to aggressive behaviour and the idea of rewards/punishments, which may affect their own moral development or cause distress.