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
What happened during stage one Bandura’s procedure?
- control group had no prior exposure to the adult models
- For both aggressive and non-aggressive model condition the child was taken into a room and sat at a table with toys (stickers, potato printing). The model sat at the other table and played with the Bobo doll, mallet and tinker toys
- in the non aggressive condition the model played with the tinker toys and ignored the mallet/Bobo
- in the aggressive condition the model played with the tinker toys for 1 minute then lay the doll on the floor and punched it whilst sitting on it, picked up the mallet and struck the doll in the head, tossed the doll in the air and kicked it about the room. The model repeated the sequence 3 times with verbal aggression such as ‘sock him in the Bandura’s nose’ ‘Hit him down’ and ‘He keeps coming back for more’, ‘He sure is a tough fella’
In stage 1 how did the Non-Agressive model act?
Ignored the mallet and the Bobo doll just played with the tinker toys
How did the aggressive model act in stage 1?
Played with the tinker toys for 1 minute
Hit Bobo in head with mallet, laid it on the floor and punched it whilst sitting on it, threw it up in the air and kicked it around the room
The sequence repeated 3 times with verbal aggression like ‘Hit him down’ and non-aggressive sayings like ‘He sure is a tough fella’
What is stage 2 of Bandura’s study called?
Mild-Aggression arousal
How long did stage 2 of the procedure last?
2 minutes
What happened during stage 2?
The children were individually taken to a smaller room.
They were allowed to play with the MORE ATTRACTIVE toys but once they started/settled in they were told they were no longer allowed to play with the toys anymore as they were the best toys kept for other children.
Why was stage 2 incorporated in the study?
The mild aggression arousal phase was included to show the natural reaction of children to see if provoking them would lead them to be aggressive
What was stage 3 of Bandura’s study?
Test for delayed imitation
How long did stage 3 last?
20 minutes
What happened in stage three of the procedure?
All 72 children taken back to the main experimental room One by one they had a range of toys all in the same places ( all toys from the first room were include such as the Bobo doll and mallet along with other aggressive toys, hanging from the ceiling, as well as non-aggressive tea sets)
The child was allowed 20 minutes to play in the room and were observed through a one way mirror
Every 5 seconds a note children’s behaviour was taken in one of 3 behavioural categories (imitative, partially imitative and novel behaviour)
How were the results collected?
Time sampling (results noted every 5 seconds - 240 observations in 20 minute)
What were the three behavioural categories participants were matched on?
Imitative behaviour
Partially imitative Behavior
Novel behaviour
What was imitative behaviour?
Imitation of the physical aggression like striking the Bobo doll with a mallet in the head, sitting in the Bobo doll and punching it, tossing it in the air and kicking it
Imitation of verbal aggression with use of phrases ‘Pow’ ‘Hir him down’ ‘Throw him in the air’ exact replication or model
Imitation of verbal non-aggression like ‘He keeps coming back for more’ and ‘he sure is a tough fella’
What is partially imitative behaviour?
Mallet aggression without hitting the doll or sitting on the doll after laying it on its side
General imitation but not exact/direct
What was novel aggression?
Any aggression displayed which hadn’t been seen by the models
Aggressive gun play of throwing/hitting the Bobo with toys
Why did the models have such distinct aggressive acts?
It is easier to record if the children directly imitate the model
What were the control variables in Bandura’s study?
Pre-test
Time in each stage of procedure
Action of model
Observational categories
Toys in each stage
Location
Was hypothesis 1 proven ?
‘Children who saw an aggressive model were more likely to show aggression’
Proved as all numbers for aggressive models are higher than control and non aggressive groups
Was hypothesis 2 proven?
‘Observation of non-aggressive behaviour would have a generalised inhibiting effect’
In the control condition 70% of the children scored a zero for aggressive acts
Was hypothesis 3 proven:
‘Imitate the behaviour of same sex models to a greater degree than the opposite sex’
Proven as boys who saw the aggressive male model had 25.8 acts of physical aggression but with the female model only 12.4 physically aggressive acts
Was hypothesis 4 proven:
‘Boys are more predisposed than girls to imitating aggression’
Disproven
- Boys were shown to be more physically aggressive (25.8 compared to 7.2)
- Girls were more verbally aggressive (13.7 acts compared to 4.3)
What were some qualitative findings of Bandura’s study?
Comments made by the children;
‘He’s a good fighter like daddy’
‘That ain’t no way for a lady to behave’
‘That lady was behaving… just like a man’
‘She’s not very ladylike’
What was the major finding from Bandura’s study?
Gender stereotypes even among toddlers was present
How did Bandura’s study change the behaviourist perspective?
It disproved Skinners theory that behaviour is only repeated if rewarded
What was the conclusions of Bandura’s study?
Disproved the cathartic belief of watching aggression prevent aggression instead proved the Social Learning Theory as imitative aggressive behaviour occurred with adult role models
What was ethically correct about Bandura’s study?
- Consent from nursery teacher (act in ‘loco parentis’ have children’s best interests at heart)
- Confidentiality- no names of the children participating
What is ethically wrong in Bandura’s study?
- Protection from harm - taught/learnt aggression
- Informed consent - parents weren’t consulted
- Deception - children didn’t know about the experiment
- Withdrawal- due to deception didn’t know there was a study
- Debrief - didn’t debrief children/families
What is validity?
Accuracy of research
What is reliability?
Consistency of research
How is Bandura’s study valid?
Internally valid - accurate test for behavioural imitation (pre-test reduced extraneous variables)
Partly ecologically valid - as children are often watched by their parents/other adults as they play
How is Bandura’s study invalid?
External population- sample cannot be generalised due to small sample size (72 -wealthy- individuals)
How is Bandura’s study reliable?
Internal reliability - standardised procedure so highly replicable (helped by control variables such as pre-test, scripts/model behaviours and observation time sampling every 5 seconds)
Inter-rater reliability- 51 children observed by 2 individuals and achieved score of 0.89/1
How is Bandura’s study unreliable?
External - only 72 children in the sample so wasn’t large enough to suggest a consistent effect of the Social Learning theory
What is the ethnocentrism like of Bandura’s study?
Highly ethnocentric ad it took place if a western culture in America which had high levels of gun ownership and crime (social norms) so prior exposure.
Why isn’t Bandura’s study necessarily generalisable?
The sample all has a high socioeconomic class (Stanford uni) all children of highly educated parents
Compare Milgram and Bandura’s methods?
Similarly both used one way mirrors to OBSERVE participants behaviour
Differently - in Bandura’s study the participants were shown how to act beforehand (saw aggressive behaviour) by being placed in a room with an adult model and toys. In Milgram’s study the adults were left to their own devices to see how they’d react to a legitimate authority figure
Compare Milgram and Bandura’s sample?
Similarly both conducted at prestigious universities (Yale and Stanford) so good reputation/trustworthy
- Bandura used children (37 - 69 MONTHS OLD) because they are still developing so will adapt to the environment (developmental area). Also used an equal number (36) of both genders to see how if his
(OPPORTUNITY sample) would act more aggressively
- Milgram used adults (AGED 20-50) and were all males because they were representative of Nazi male officers who would have worked in the concentration camps during the Holocaust- test obedience of SELF-SELECTING sample
Compare Milgram and Bandura’s conclusions?
Similarly rather unethical neglecting protection form harm, no right to withdraw
Although Bandura’s study will have impacted their development (learnt aggression)
Milgram’s study will have impacted their psychological tension/stress
Bandura children acted a they were shown -imitated aggression
Milgram’s adults were much more obedient than expected and pressured by standardised prompts
Compare Milgram and Bandura’s study regarding the area?
Bandura explore the developmental area emphasising the importance of understanding changes in behaviour through the lifespan of birth to death
Milgram explores the social area and understanding how our behaviour changes in human context (eg, in the presence of others)
