Bandura’s Study Flashcards
What was the study based on?
Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models
What perspective is Bandura’s study based on?
Behaviourist
What is the background of Bandura’s study?
Hint. What did Behaviourists believe
Behaviourists believe humans are born TABULA RASA (blank slate) and we learn everything after birth and developed Social Learning Theory based on these principles.
What did the Social Learning Theory involve?
Suggests people learn through observation and imitation of significant/adult role models
What was the aim of the study?
To see whether children would imitate aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity even if they saw these behaviours in a different environment and the model observed was no longer present
What was the sample method?
Opportunity sampling
What was the sample?
- 72 children for Stanford University Nursery
- Equal gender split (36 girls, 36 boys)
- Aged between 37 and 69 months (means 52 months)
What type of experiment is Bandura’s study?
Laboratory Experiment
What were the 4 hypotheses of Bandura’s study?
- Subjects exposed to aggressive models would reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of their models
- Observation of nonaggressive models would have a generalised inhibiting effect on subjects subsequent behaviour
- Subjects would ‘imitate the behaviour of same sex models to a greater degree the a model of the opposite sex’
- Boys should be more predisposed than girls towards imitating agression
What was the predominant thought about the effect of watching aggression prior to the study?
It was cathartic and suggested seeing someone else behave aggressively meant you were less likely/stopped from being agressive
What type of study has Bandura conducted?
Observational
Why was pre-testing completed?
To control extraneous variables (control aggressive to see if children are already aggressive). To match children into triplets based on their aggression rating and randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups
What did pre-testing test/how as it conducted?
Children were assessed individually in their social interactions during nursery to determine there natural level of aggression.
What was the pretesting method?
Children were observed during their social interactions during nursery and a experimenter and teacher (who knew them well) rated them in four 5 point scales (1 being calm and 5 being aggressive). The scales measured the extent to which the children were;
- physically aggressive
- verbally aggressive
- aggressive towards inanimate objects
- inhibition of aggression
To determine overall rating
What were the 4 five point scales used to assess children’s natural aggression.
- Physical Aggression
- Verbal Aggression
- Aggression towards inanimate objects
- Aggression Inhibitoion
What was the experimental design of Bandura’s study?
Matched pairs design because the ratings from 1-5 where 1 was calm and 5 aggressive, all the 1s were in triplets and so on. Put into triplets based on their aggression rating/score. These triplets were split and spread out in any of the groups
What happened as a result of the pre-test?
Put into triplets based on their aggression rating/score. These triplets were split and spread out in any of the experimental conditions (control/model)
What were the groups like in the matched participant design?
8 groups of 6 children
6 boys aggressive male model
6 girls aggressive male model
6 boys aggressive female model
6 girls aggressive female model
6 boys non-aggressive male model
6 girls non-aggressive male model
6 boys non-aggressive female model
6 girls non-aggressive female model
24 in control group
What are the independent variables?
Aggression of role model
Gender of model
Gender of participants
What were the different model conditions?
Aggressive male
Aggressive female
Non-aggressive female
Non-aggressive male
Contol
Outline advantages of using matched participants design?
Reduced participants extraneous variables
No order effects (demand characteristics)
Outline a disadvantage of using the matched participant design?
Time consuming
Difficult and expensive
Many participants required
Not always possible to match perfectly
Why were 51 children rated individually by both judges/observers?
Judgements compared to achieve an inter-rate reliability (observations consistent)
Achieved 0.89/1
What Inter-rater reliablity score did Bandura’s study achieve?
0.89/1
What is the dependent variable for Bandura’s study?
Aggressive acts measured by observation
How long dos stage 1 of Bandura’s study last?
10 minutes