Bandura's variations Flashcards
what was the aim of his film variation?
to investigate whether a filmed model would have the same effect as a live model on children’s aggression.
- a secondary aim was to investigate whether cartoon aggression would have similar effects to realistic aggression
what were his ppts for the film variation?
48 boys and 48 girl aged between 39-52 months
what were the groups of his film variation?
live aggression condition - watched an adult aggress towards a bobo doll
filmed realistic aggression - watched the same behaviour displayed on a screen
cartoon aggression condition - watched a TV model dressed as a black cartoon cat perform the same aggressive behaviours towards a bobo doll
control group - did not watch aggression
what was the procedure of his film variation?
the same as before
what were the findings of his film variation?
the three experimental groups increased aggression. the mean number of aggressive acts:
live - 83
filmed realistic - 92
cartoon - 99
what was the conclusion of his film variation?
exposure to live or filmed aggression increases the liklihood of aggression in response to frustration, even if the aggression is by a catroon figure
what was the aim of the reinforcement variation?
to consider whether reinforcement and punishment of an aggressive model would influence the aggression displayed by observers in response to frustration
who were the ppts of of the reinforcement variation?
33 boys and 33 girls aged 42-71 months from the same nursery as before
what were the groups of the reinforcement variation?
model-rewarded condition - children saw a second adult praise the model for their aggression and gave them a drink and chocolate
model punished condition - second adult scolded the model and spanked them with a magazine
no consequence - the model was neither punished or rewarded
what were the findings of the reinforcement variation?
children in the model punished group were significantly less aggressive than the other two groups
- introducing the promise of a reward wiped out the difference, increasing the scores significantly for all the groups
what was the conclusion of the reinforcement variation?
vicarious punishment reduces imitated aggression however, reinforcement is a more powerful influence on aggression
what is a strength of the experiments?
the controls used to reduce the impact of extraneous variables are good
- children were matched on aggression which reduces the impact of individual differences (extraneous variables)
observing children one at a time controlled the possibility that the children were imitating each other.
what is a competing argument of the strength?
bandura’s research only showed short-term effects, and aggression only towards a doll
- there is some concern that the findings are not necessarily explaining aggressive behaviour everydat
what is a weakness?
elements of the procedure could have cued the children on how to act
- Noble (1975) reports that one child arriving at the lab said ‘ look mummy thats the doll we have to hit’
this suggests that the children may have believed that they were expected to act aggressive towards the doll
- the experiment may lack validity
how can this be applied?
it has informed the development of the Sabido method
- badura and sabido pioneered the use of telenovellas to tackle specfic social problems in countries all over the world
- viewers identify with the characters and act like them
