Bandura Aggression (1961)

Question 1

What was the aim?

Answer 1

To see if learning that took place in one situation would be generalised to other situations?

Question 2

What was the hypothesis?

Answer 2

Boys will be more likely than girls to imitate aggressive behaviour because it is a highly masculine activity.

Participants will imitate the behaviour of the same sex model to a greater degree than a model of the opposite sex.

Question 3

What was the research method?

Answer 3

Laboratory experiment because it was in a controlled environment

Question 4

What was the design?

Answer 4

Used matched pair design and observation techniques. Pps matched in terms of aggressiveness by researcher and teacher in scale 1-5

Question 5

How many children were used? Where from?

Answer 5

72 from Stanford university nursery school. 36 boys 36 girls aged 3-5

Question 6

What were the independent variables?

Answer 6

Aggressive or non aggressive model

Gender of model

Gender of children

Question 7

What was the dependant variable?

Answer 7

Behavioural response of the children

Question 8

Before the experiment the children’s were rated on aggressiveness. What were they on?

Answer 8

Physical aggression
Verbal aggression
Aggression towards inanimate objects
Aggressive inhibition

Question 9

What happened in phase 1 (modelling)

Answer 9

1) children entered experimental room individually and the model came in.
2) Experimentor encouraged child to make pictures with potato prints and stickers
3) experimentor took model to corner where there is a tinker set, mallet, 5ft hobo doll experimentor leaves room.

Non aggressive- model ignored doll and played with other toys.

Aggressive- model punches doll in nose, kicks around room saying “pow” and “hit him down” three times.

4) after 10 mins child taken to other room

Question 10

What happened in phase 2 (aggression arousal) ?

Answer 10

1) children taken to room with attractive toys. Fire engine, colourful spinning top. Jet plane, doll set with wardbrobe and crib. Allowed to play for 2 minutes.
2) child was told that they were the best toys and were reserved for the other children

Question 11

Why did the researcher tell the children after 2 minutes that the toys were reserved for other children?

Answer 11

• observing aggressive behaviour may reduce the probability of behaving aggressively, making it less likely for those observing the model to behave aggressively.
• if everyone does this it gives every child an equal chance of being aggressive due to being frustrated

Question 12

What was phrase 3 (test for delayed imitation)?

Answer 12

1) the next room contained some aggressive toys and some non aggressive toys and a 3ft bobo doll
2) child was in room for 20 mins and behaviour was observed as rated through a one way mirror.
3) other behaviours that didn’t imitate model were also recorded. E.g. Punching bobo doll on the nose

Question 13

How was it observed?

Answer 13

• 2nd observer present for half of pps and recorded his observations independently
• observers recorded what the child was doing every 5 seconds (240 total)
• observers didn’t know which condition each child had been in.

Question 14

What are the 3 measures of imitation?

Answer 14

• imitation of aggressive acts
• imitation of aggressive phrases
• imitation of non aggressive phrases

Question 15

What are partially imitative responses?

Answer 15

• Mallet aggression (for example child strikes toy with mallet rather than Bobo doll)
• sits on Bobo but not aggressive
• also recorded three aggressive behaviours that weren’t imitations. not carried out by model.

Question 16

What are non-imitative aggression responses?

Answer 16

Punches bobo
Non-imitative physical or verbal aggression
Aggressive gun play

Question 17

What were the controls?

Answer 17

Same male and female models
All toys in stage three in same place and order
Matched pairs design

Question 18

What were the findings?

Answer 18

Boys were more likely to imitate same sex models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same sex models is not strong.

Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was little difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.

The male models had a greater influence in general than the female model.

Question 19

What was the conclusion?

Answer 19

That people will produce new behaviours that they have observed brackets (in this case aggression towards a Bobo doll)And generalise these behaviours to other situations.

males are more likely to be modelled possibly because of their higher status.

Question 20

Why did bandura bother with the pre-test beforehand?

Answer 20

To ensure that each of the conditions in the study had children of similar levels of aggression. If the conditions were not matched, then one group may have been naturally more aggressive than another which would reduce the accuracy of the results.

Question 21

Wasn’t this an ethical?

Answer 21

Yes bandura broke several ethical issues such as with draw role and protection from harm

Question 22

Why was the non-aggressive model needed?

Answer 22

To see if the children would observe and imitate any behaviour this is a good point to make as it shows the observational learning can be positive as well as negative.

Question 23

Why was that a no model (control group) condition needed?

Answer 23

To compare the results of the two experimental groups. It showed how the children would react naturally (without model intervention)

Question 24

Which toys were used in stage one?

Answer 24

5 foot Bobo doll, stickers, potato prints, small table, chair, tinker set, mallet

Question 25

How long did the children spend in stage one in the experimental room?

Answer 25

10 minutes

Question 26

Which toys were used in stage two?

Answer 26

A fire engine, jet fighter plane, colourful spinning top, doll set with wardrobe and baby crib. Attractive toys.

Question 27

How long did the children spend in stage two in the experimental room?

Answer 27

Two minutes

Question 28

What’s the toys were used in stage three in the experimental room?

Answer 28

Aggressive toys included a mallet, dart gun, tetherball, three-foot Bobo doll.

Non-aggressive toys included a Tea set, crayons, paper,ball, dolls, car, and plastic animals.

Question 29

How long did the children spend in stage three in the experimental room?

Answer 29

20 minutes