5.1.5 Bandura’s Research

• Social Learning Theory is covered in detail on the previous revision note

The Bobo Doll Study

• Aims
  
  • To investigate the effect of observed aggression on children's behaviour 
  • To investigate the effect of same-sex modelling on children's aggressive behaviour
• Procedure
  • 72 participants, 36 girls and 36 boys, aged between 37-69 months 
  • The children were taken from Stanford University nursery
  • Bandura asked the nursery staff to rate each child's aggression prior to the experiment
  • Bandura used the aggression ratings to devise a matched pairs experimental design so that none of the conditions would comprise naturally aggressive children
  • A male or female model was observed per condition (the models were not known to the children)
  • There were three conditions of the independent variable:
    • Aggressive model – The model behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll, using pre-determined, standardised behaviours e.g. hitting Bobo with a toy hammer
    • Non‐aggressive model – The model behaved in a non-aggressive way
    • Control group - No model was present
  • There was an equal number of times in which a same sex model or opposite sex model was used per condition
  • The children observed the behaviour of the model for 10 minutes, after this, they were taken down a corridor and to another room
  • The children were told that they could not play with the toys in the new room as they were being saved for other children (the aggression arousal phase, to ensure a baseline across conditions)
  • The children were then taken to a room containing a Bobo Doll, aggressive toys such as a mallet and dart gun and non-aggressive toys such as farm toys and crayons
  • The participants were observed  in the Bobo Doll room using a one-way mirror (a mirror that appears reflective from one side and transparent from the other) for a duration of 20 minutes
• Results
  • Children who had observed aggressive behaviour were more likely to be aggressive 
  • Boys were more physically aggressive; girls were more verbally aggressive
  • Children were more likely to imitate the behaviour of the same-sex role model  
• Conclusion 

  • Aggression can be learned via the mechanisms of SLT

  • Imitation of aggression can occur after only a single exposure to the aggressive act

  • Aggression may be observed in one setting and imitated in a different setting

Exam tip: It is important to note that Bandura's original study (this one, published in 1961) does not include any sort of reinforcement in the procedure. Subsequent research by Bandura (1965) introduced positive reinforcement and punishment: he was interested to see if children would be more likely to imitate a role model they see being rewarded (vicarious reinforcement) for their aggressive behaviours. Plus, would children be less likely to imitate a role model they see being punished (vicarious punishment)? He also wanted to see if the children would be more likely to imitate aggressive behaviours if they themselves were offered rewards (direct positive reinforcement).

Evaluation of Bandura's Bobo Doll study (1961)

Strengths

• This was a controlled observational study with a standardised procedure which means that the study is replicable and thus could be repeated to test for reliability
• Bandura's findings fuelled much debate re: exposing children to television violence hence it has good application

Weaknesses

• There are numerous ethical issues with this study:
  • Asking nursery workers to rate childrens' aggression is intrusive and may have encouraged bias
  • Some of the children were exposed to an aggressive adult which may have alarmed and distressed them
  • The aggression arousal phase may have upset the children
• The experiment only shows short-term effects of observed aggression, making it difficult to see if there are long-term effects too