Developmental Psychology in Sec A Flashcards
What is the assumption, focus, the theme and the studies of developmental psychology?
Assumption: behaviour is an ongoing process in which systematic changes occur throughout lifespan, from cradle to grave. Changes include both inherited factors and experiences
Focus: research on children (when most changes occur), but also development during adulthood
Theme: External influences on children’s behaviour
- classic study: Bandura et al (1961)
- contemporary study: Chaney et al (2004)
Describe the aim of Bandura et al.
- overall aim was to investigate observational learning of aggression
- specifically aimed to see whether children reproduce aggressive behaviour when a model figure is no longer present, and to look for gender differences in learning of aggression
Describe the four hypotheses tested in Bandura et al.
- Pps exposed to an aggressive model would be more likely to reproduce similar aggression than those exposed to a non aggressive model / without one at all
- Pps exposed to a non aggressive model would be less aggressive than those without a model
- Pps would imitate aggression modelled by same sex adult more than that modelled by opposite sex adult
- Boys would be more inclined than girls to imitate aggression.
Describe the method for Bandura et al in terms of participants.
- 72 in total = 36 male and 36 female
- all selected from nursery in Stanford Uni
- age range from 3 - 5 years
- mean age = 4yrs and 4 months
Describe the method of Bandura et al in terms of design.
- lab experiment with an independent measures design
- effects of 3 IVs tested: behaviour of model (aggressive / not), sex of model, sex of children
- 8 diff conditions in total, and children in each condition were matched for natural aggression levels, so individual diffs could not be a confounding variable
- matched by experimenter and nursery teacher independently rating 51 of children on scale of 0-5 for aggression
- v good agreement between two rates (0.89, and anything over 0.8 was good)
Conditions were:
1) 12 boys + 12 girls with aggressive model, six boys and six girls saw aggression modelled by same sex model. Rest saw it modelled by oppositie sex
2) 12 boys + 12 girls exposed to non aggressive model, six boys and six girls saw non aggression modelled by same sex model. Rest saw modelled by opposite sex
3) control group of 12 boys + 12 girls did not see model display any behaviour (aggressive / otherwise)
Describe the method of Bandura et al in terms of procedure.
4 steps for procedure:
1) MODELLING BEHAVIOUR
- each child brought individually into playroom and invited to join in game for ten mins
- adult present with them for first two conditions demonstrated aggression towards 5ft inflatable Bobo doll (kicked and hit, including with hammer, and said aggressive things: ‘kick him.. Pow.. Sock him on the nose’
- in non aggressive condition, adult assembled toys and did not interact with doll
- in control, no additional adult present in room
2) AGGRESSIVE AROUSAL
- all children taken to diff playroom and allowed to play with attractive toys for two mins, then taken away and told ‘very best’ toys were reserved for other children to annoy and increase aggression in children
3) TESTING FOR DELAYED IMITATION
- children then observed playing for 20 mins as experimented remained in room (but busied with paperwork)
- two observers watched through one way mirror
- room had range of toys including a bob doll (smaller than 5ft one)
- observers not told what condition child was in, so helped eliminate bias
4) AGGRESSION TYPES RECORDED BY OBSERVERS
Imitative aggression:
- physical and verbal, identical to that modelled in stage one
Partially imitative aggression:
- similar to behaviour carried out by model
Non-imitative aggression:
- new aggressive acts not demonstrated by model
Describe the results of Bandura et al.
- all quantitative data recorded
- showed significant diffs in levels of imitative aggression between group that witnessed aggression and others that didn’t
- this true of physical and verbal
- more non aggressive play recorded in non aggressive model condition
Results for four hypotheses tested:
1) children who witnessed aggressive model significantly more aggressive
2) overall, v little diff between aggression in control group and in non aggressive condition
3) boys significantly more likely to imitate aggressive males, difference for girls was much smaller
4) boys significantly more physically aggressive than girls, girls more verbally aggressive after observing a female model.
Describe the conclusions of Bandura et al.
1) witnessing aggression in model can be enough to produce aggression in observer, important as widely believed prior study that learning aggression was a gradual process in which learner experimented with aggression and was rewarded for it in some way
2) children selectively imitate gender-specific behaviour
3) boys more likely to imitate aggression in same sex model, girls weren’t
4) but girls who witnessed female model were more verbally aggressive than boys
Evaluate the research method in Bandura et al.
- typical strengths and weaknesses that go with lab experiments
- strength: many excellent controls that cut down risk posed by extraneous variables
- strength: all pps had same experience with same room and toys used in all conditions
- weakness: lacks realism, hitting Bobo doll is v diff from hitting a person, so should be cautious about applying results to lifelike situations
Evaluate the data in Bandura et al.
- only quantitative data, a strength and weakness
- strengths: numbers allow easy comparison of levels of aggression in each condition
- as long as concerned with observable behaviour, safe to rate what we observe quantitively
- weakness: don’t get indication of what is happening in minds of children doing imitating from this data
- some pps had powerful emotional responses to situation
- would have been interesting to have qualitative data about what they thought + felt when hitting doll
Evaluate the ethical considerations in Bandura et al.
- all studies with children raise additional ethical issues, as children cannot give informed consent to take part or withdraw easily
- no parental permission given here either!
- children not doing anything substantially diff from everyday activities though so little risk of harm or stress, however were made to watch adult beat up Bobo doll, so quite unethical
- could have long term effects on behaviour aswell as were not debriefed and told not to repeat behaviour after study, a more serious ethical issue
- mild distress caused as children deliberately annoyed when nicest toys taken away, an ethical issue
- type and level of violence children witnessed was similar to what would be expected in cartoons, so highly unlikely any child left more aggressive by participating.
Evaluate the validity in Bandura et al.
- realism often a problem in lab experiments as; environment differs from real life and pps tend to carry out diff tasks to everyday life ones
- being asked to play with a strange adult in unfamiliar room isn’t everyday task
- experience of hitting a Bobo doll is v diff from hitting a real person as doll does not react
- real life violence = more complex as hitting a person has range of consequences
- studying aggression against a doll lacks realism so procedure lacks ecological validity
Evaluate the reliability in Bandura et al.
- excellent
- conditions closely controlled
- all pps had same experience
- prior aggression of pps also controlled
- reliability of observers was assessed and found to be v good
- reliability therefore strength of study.
Evaluate the sampling bias of Bandura et al.
- sample size quite large for lab experiment, a strength of study, but with many conditions, only ends up being handful of pps in each condition, so with a small group any confounding pp variable could have large effect
- not stated how sample was selected from nursery, but drawing sample from one school = problematic anyway
- nursery attended by children of academics (so not representative of population at large), so could be difficulties in generalising results.
Evaluate the practical applications in Bandura et al.
- interesting practical applications in settings where we’re concerned with children’s learning of aggression
- study emphasises likelihood of children imitating sort of violence they observe in parents
- also has important implications for understanding link between media and violence and aggression, suggesting kids, particularly boys, are likely to imitate physical aggression when modelled by male adult.