Bandura Study Guide - AICE Psych Midterm 2022

Aggression study.

Sampling Technique and Info

* Opportunity Sample
* 72 children aged 3-6 years old
* 36 boys, 36 girls
* Obtained from Stanford University nursery

Independent Variables

* Model type
* Aggressive, non aggressive, or no model (control)
* Model gender
* Same as child/”learner” or different
* Child/”Learner” Gender
* Boy or girl

Inter-Rater Reliability

* The extent to which two researches rate the same activity in the same way.
* In this study, it was the ratings of the children’s aggression levels.

Psychological Concepts Addressed

* Imitative learning
* Imitative/Social Learning Theory
* Observational learning
* Identification

How Study was Standardized

* Model’s behavior was the same for all P’s in their group.
* All children were pre-annoyed
* All rooms had the same type and amount of toys
* Children’s behavior was observed in 5-second intervals
* etc.!

How Aggression was Encouraged by Children, Other than by Seeing the Models

* Children were pre-annoyed
* Brought to a room with nice toys for 2 minutes
* After 2 minutes, they were told they were these toys were the “best” toys and were to be saved for the other children.

Results

* Boys more likely to imitate physical aggression
* Girls more likely to imitate verbal
* Boys more likely to imitate a same-sex model
* Boys imitated physical aggression of a male than girls
* With a female model, girls imitated less than with the male model
* Children approved of the male model’s aggression, disapproved of the female model’s aggression

Research Methods

* Lab experiment
* Independent measures
* Matched pairs
* P’s put in groups based on their initial aggression rating

Application

* Helps parents know that children imitate aggressive behavior
* May make parents wary of aggressive shows, video games, environments, etc.