Bandera et al (1961) - Transmission of agression

What is the aim?

To investigate whether the observed aggressive behavior would be shown in a range of settings

What is the IV?

Type of model (aggressive/non aggressive), gender of model + child

What was the DV?

Amount of agressive behavior

What was the experimental design?

Matched pairs - matched on previous aggression levels

What is the experiment type?

Lab experiment

What was the procedure for stage 1?

Children exposed to model:

Agressive model physically and verbally abusing the doll using a standardized procedure

Non agressive model ignored doll entirely,

Control group did not participate in stage 1

What was the procedure for stage 2?

“Aggression arousal”:

Children led to seperate room and given attractive toys which were then taken from them, saying they were reserved for other children

What was the procedure for stage 3?

Test of delayed imitation:

Children taken into 3rd room, with both agressive (e.g mallet) and non-agressive toys (tea set)

They were (covertly) observed through a one-way mirror for 20 mins

Behavior such as imitative/non-imitative behaviour/speech was recorded, every 5 seconds

What were the results?

Overall, boys produced more imitative physical aggression than girls

Girls showed more verbal aggression with a female model, but physical aggression with a male model

Who were the participants?

72 children, equal number of male & female, recruited from Stanford university nursery, mean age 4 years

What conclusions can be made?

Children do learn through simply observing and imitation of role models, in particular, male role models