Bandura et al (1961) Flashcards
What area of study is this from?
The developmental area
What was it a study of?
Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models
What was the predominant thought at the time about the effects of children seeing adult behaviour?
-Children would imitate behaviours shown by an adult but only when the model is present
-Witnessing aggression reduces immediate aggression
-Behaviour would only be shown if it was rewarded (Skinner)
What was the aim of this study?
To see whether children would imitate adult behaviour (specifically aggressive) even if they saw these behaviours in a different environment, and the original model was no longer present
What were the four specific hypotheses of Bandura’s study?
- Subjects exposed to aggressive models would reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of their models
- Observation of non aggressive models would have a generalised inhibiting effect on subjects’ subsequent behaviour
- Subjects would imitate the behaviour of a same sex model to a greater degree than a model of the opposite sex
- Boys should be more predisposed than girls toward imitating aggression
Who were the participants?
-72 children
-Age 37-69 months (average 52 months)
-36 boys
-36 girls
How were the participants obtained?
-Opportunity sampling
-From Stanford University Nursery (+studied there)
What is a matched participants design?
Participants are split into groups that share similar traits
What were the children matched on?
-Similar levels of aggression, mean aggression rating
1. Physical
2. Verbal
3. Aggression towards objects
4. Aggression inhibition
-Mean age
-Gender split 50/50 -> remaining 24 were in a control group w/no model
How were the children allocated to the different conditions of the experiment?
-Groups of three
-Randomly allocated once child to aggressive, non aggressive, and no model group
