Bandura, ross and ross (1961)

aim

To investigate if children that watched aggressive adults would imitate the same actions when given the opportunity

research method

lab experiment

participants

72 (36 males, 36 females) children aged 3-7

experimental groups

• observed aggressive model

• observed non aggressive model

• no model

• either watched same or opposite gender

procedure

• children observed the model

• then were taken into a room with toys which were taken away to raise arousal

• brought to interact with the bobo doll

results

• Viewed aggression was more aggressive

• girl were more verbally aggressive

• boys were more physically aggressive and more likely to respond to same sex model

conclusion

aggressive behaviour was remembered and imitated, hence aggressive behaviour can be learnt through observation and gender differences exist