BANDURA ET AL. (AGGRESSION)

PSYCHOLOGY BEING INVESTIGATED

-Albert Bandura had previously conducted experiments on social learning and was interested in studying social learning in the context of aggression. To learn from others, the observer (e.g. a child) must be paying attention to behaviour of a model. They must retain (remember) the behaviour they have observed, in order to reproduce it. When social learning occurs, it could potentially lead to either aggressive or non- aggressive behaviour

-Bandura expected then that watching an aggressive model should lead to more aggressive behaviours being demonstrated, and that observing a non-aggressive model should lead to more non-aggressive behaviour being produced, i.e. even less aggressive behaviour than normal

BACKGROUND

-Previous research had shown that children imitated behaviour of a model when in the presence of the model

-Bandura et al. wanted to investigate whether social learning theory could be used to explain aggression, specifically when the child was no longer in the presence of an aggressive model

-Children are rewarded in different ways for imitating adults. In general (at least, in the USA in the 1960s when this study took place), boys were rewarded for behaviours considered to be sex-appropriate and punished for inappropriate ones, such as cooking or 'playing mother'. Similarly for girls, rewards and punishments would be applied to discourage what was considered sex-inappropriate behaviours

-First, boys and girls should be more likely to imitate same-sex models and, second, they should differ in the readiness with which they imitate aggression, with boys doing so more readily as this was seen as a more masculine-type behaviour

AIM

-To investigate whether a child would learn aggression by observing a model and would reproduce this behaviour in the absence of the model, and whether the sex of the role model was important

-4 hypothesis :

1) Observed aggressive behaviour will be imitated, so children who see an aggressive model will be more aggressive than those seeing a non-aggressive modelor no model

2)Observed non-aggressiye behaviour will be imitated, so children seeing non-aggressive models will be less aggressive than those seeing no model

3)Children are more likely to copy a same-sex model

4)Boys will be more likely to copy aggression than girls

RESEARCH METHOD & DESIGN

-Laboratory Experiment

-Independent Measures Design

-3 IV’s :

1)model type: whether the child saw an aggressive model, non-aggressive model or no model

2)model sex: same sex as child (boys watching a male model and girls watching a female model) or different sex (boys watching a female model and girls watching a male model)

3)learner sex: whether the child was a boy or a girl

-DV : the behaviour the child displayed. measured through a controlled observation of the children and measures of aggressive behaviour were recorded

SAMPLE

-72 children aged 3-6 years old (36 boys & 36 girls)

-Recruited from Standford University nursery school

PROCEDURE (1)

-Prior to the experimental part"of the study, the children were observed in their nursery school by the experimenter and a teacher who knew them well. They were rated on four different measures of physical aggression, verbal aggression, aggression to inanimate objects and aggression inhibition (anxiety) each on a five-point scale

-They were then assigned to three groups, ensuring that the aggression levels of the children in each group were matched. Of the 51 children rated by both observers (the rest were rated by only one observer), similar ratings were generally produced. Their ratings were compared as a measure of inter-rater reliability, which showed a high correlation between the observers, of r = 0.89

-Twelve boys and 12 girls were allocated to control groups who saw no model. The remaining children were divided equally by sex between aggressive and non- aggressive model groups and, within those, between same and opposite-sex models

-The experimenter and child entered the observation room, where the experimenter showed the child to a table and chair in their 'play area', where they were shown how to make potato prints and sticker pictures: activities previously identified as interesting for children

-The opposite corner of the room also contained a table and chair, a Tinkertoy set (a wooden building kit), a mallet and a five foot (152 cm) Bobo doll: an inflatable clown-like doll that bounced back when hit. This is where the model sat, in those conditions where there was one. The experimenter remained in the room so that the child would not refuse to be alone or try to leave early but they appeared to be working quietly at their desk

PROCEDURE (2)

-The three groups were then treated differently. In the non-aggressive condition, the model assembled the Tinkertoy for 10 minutes. In the aggressive condition, this lasted only l minute after which the model attacked the Bobo doll. The doll was laid on its side, sat on and punched in the nose, picked up and hit on the head with a mallet, tossed up in the air and kicked. This sequence was performed three times over 9 minutes accompanied by aggressive comments such as 'Kick him' and two non-aggressive comments such as 'He sure is a tough fella'.

-Of children in the model groups, half saw a same-sex model, the others saw a model of the opposite sex. A control group did not see any model, and therefore saw no aggression

-The experimental procedure continued with a stage in which all participants were deliberately mildly annoyed. Reasons behind this are because watching aggression may reduce the production of aggression by the observer (even if it has been learned) and it was necessary to see evidence of learning AND to ensure that even the non-aggressive condition and control participants would be likely to express aggression, so that any reduction in that tendency could be measured.

-A test of the child's aggression then followed in which the child was observed for 20 minutes using a one- way mirror. The mirror appeared transparent on the researcher's side (so they could observe behaviour) but appeared as a normal mirror on the child's side (so they could not see that they were being observed from another room). For the aggressive model group, this was a test of delayed imitation

-The experimental room contained a three-foot (92 cm) Bobo doll, a mallet and peg board, two dart guns and a tether ball with a face painted on it which hung from the ceiling. It also contained some non-aggressive toys, including a tea set, crayons and colouring paper, a ball, two dolls, three bears, cars and trucks, and plastic farm animals. These toys were always presented in the same order

PROCEDURE (3)

-The children's behaviours were observed in S-second Intervals (240 response units per child). There were three 'response measures' of the children's imitation, with a range of possible activities in each:

1) Imitative physical aggression: striking the Bobo doll with the mallet, sitting on the doll and punching It in the nose, kicking the doll, and tossing it in the air.

2)Imitative verbal aggression: repetition of the phrases, 'Sock him', 'Hit him down', "Kick him', 'Throw him in the air' or 'Pow'.

3)Imitative non-aggressire verbal responses: repetition of 'He keeps coming back for more' or 'He sure is a tough fella'.

-Partially imitative aggression was scored if the child imitated these behaviours incompletely. The two behaviours here were:

1)mallet aggression: striking objects other than the Bobo doll aggressively with the mallet

2)sits on Bobo doll: laying the Bobo doll on its side and sitting on it, without attacking it

-Further categories were: aggressive gun play: shooting darts or aiming a gun and firing imaginary shots at objects in the room AND non-imitative physical and verbal aggression: physically aggressive acts directed toward objects other than the Bobo doll and any hostile remarks except for those in the verbal imitation category (e.g. 'Shoot the Bobo', 'Cut him', "Stupid ball', ‘Horses fighting, biting' 'Knock over people')

-Finally, behaviour units were also counted for non-aggressive play and sitting quietly not playing at all, and records were kept of the children's remarks about the situation

-The male model scored all the children's behaviours. Except for those conditions in which the male was the model, he was unaware of which condition the child had been in. However, the condition in which the child had been was usually obvious, as in the case of the aggressive model children as they performed the specific behaviours exhibited by the model. To test the reliability of the scorer, a second scorer independently rated the behaviour of half of the children. The reliability score was high at approximately r = 0.9 for different categories of behaviour.