DEVELOPMENTAL: Bandura et Al. (1961) Flashcards
What is the 4 aims of the study?
1) To investigate OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING of aggression of children when modelled by an adult.
2) To investigate the gender on imitation.
3) To see if boys were more inclined to imitate aggression than girls.
4) To investigate if participants exposed to non-aggressive model would be less aggressive than those not exposed to a model at all.
Why did Bandura carry out this study?
previous research based on observational learning shows that observed behaviour is likely to be imitated when the model is present.
But there was little knowledge on whether behaviour would still be imitated in the absence of the model.
What theory is this study based on?
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY.
explaining human behaviour and the cognitive processes that occur and is influenced by observed (OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING) and direct experience.
What design is this study?
Laboratory experiment, independent measures, matched participant
What are 3 INDEPENDENT variables?
1) Gender of model
2) Behaviour of model - Aggressive, non-aggressive or no model
3) Gender of child
What is the DEPENDENT variable?
Aggression level shown
Recorded by observers and given a score
Who took part in the experiment?
72 CHILDREN from STANFORD University
mean age of 4yrs 4months
36 girls; 36 boys
What happened prior to the experiment?
Children were observed by nursery teacher and experimenter and rated on a four-five point rating scale to rate their aggression and matched according to aggression before randomly sorting them into the IV groups.
How many children were in each group?
Each model had 12 children (6 boys and 6 girls)
All children only went through 1 condition.
What were the 3 types of aggression that observers recorded?
1) Imitative aggression
2) PARTIALLY imitative aggression
3) non-imitative aggression
Describe how the experiment was carried out.
Each child was brought into a play room for about 10 mins with the model in the same room/no model.
Then the children was taken to another room and subjected to mild aggression arousal by allowing them to play with very attractive toys for 2 minutes and then stopped them by telling them they were reserved for other children.
Children were then observed for 20minutes (experimenter stayed in the room whilst observers, who didn’t know what condition child was in, observed through 1way mirror). The room contained the BOBO DOLL.
How did the aggressive model act?
KICKED, HIT (including with a hammer) a BOBO doll.
Also said aggressive things like “kick him… pow… sock him on the nose”
How did the non-aggressive model act?
ignored the bobo doll and assembled other toys.
What were the main results?
- Children who had witnessed aggression were significantly more aggressive.
- Little difference between aggression in control group and non-aggressive model.
- Boys were significantly more likely to imitate aggressive male models. The girls imitated female models not as much.
- Boys and girls imitated physical aggression more after watching MALE but imitated same sex for VERBAL.
Quote result for imitating VERBAL aggression after watching a female aggressive model
Boys = 4.3 Girls = 13.7
