Bandura, Ross and Ross (1965) Influence of models' reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of imitative responses Flashcards
Why did the study take place?
Due to the belief that in order for imitative learning to take place, some form of reinforcement is needed.
Some children in Bandura’s previous studies could recall the behvaiour but didn’t reproduce them.
Hypothesis no.1
The highest rate of imitation would be given by children if they witnessed a model being rewarded for their behaviour
Hypothesis no.2
Those who saw no consequence for the models’ behaviour would produce the next biggest rate of imitation
Hypothesis no.3
The rate of imitation would be low if they saw the model being punished for their behaviour
Who would produce the most imitative responses?
Boys more than girls
How many participants used?
33 boys and 33 girls from Stanford University Nursery school
How old were the participants?
42-71 months
Who served as role models?
Two adult males and one female experimenter
The participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions containing
11 boys and 11 girls
First the participants were brought individually into a semi darkened room where he experimenter informed them that they had to leave for a minute before they could go into the
‘surprise room’ and during that wait they could watch a TV programme
Secondly, the experimenter switched on the TV and then left leaving on a 5 min film within which the model
walked up to a bobo doll and ordered him to move out of the way and then punched it in the nose while remarking “pow” “boom”
Finally the model threw rubber balls at the doll saying “bang” with each throw. This sequence was repeated
twice
Model reward condition: a second adult appeared with sweets and drinks and said to the model that
their superb aggressive performance deserved a treat “strong champion”
Model punished condition: a second adult appeared wagging their finger whilst saying
“hey there, you big bully” the model was spanked with a rolled up magazine
In the control group there was
no reinforcement
In all conditions, children were taken to experimental room that contained toys like a bobo doll and the experimenter left the room for 5 mins while
the children’s behaviour was recorded every 5 seconds through a one way mirror
Inter rater reliability was
99
The two observers were unaware which
condition each participant was in and scored independently
Last step: Experimenter entered with juice an stickers and told the kids that for every physical or verbal aggressive act they could reproduce,
they would recieve a sticker and another juice
Boys performed more imitative responses than
girls
Participants who saw the model be rewarded for their behaviour performed significantly more imitations than those in the
punishment condition
The introduction of positive incentives completely wiped out any differences in imitative learning seen
previously
They concluded that imitative learning is highly influenced by
motivational variables and the anticipation of positive or negative reinforcements on imitation
They also concluded that the attention an individual pays to the relevent parts of the models’ behaviour and
the complexity of the behaviour presented by the model determine the degree of imitation that takes place