SLT Bandura study (1961) in detail

Four predictions -

1. Children observing aggression modelled by an adult will imitate the behaviour, even if the model was no longer present.   

2. Non‐aggressive models will result in an aggression‐inhibiting behaviour (self‐control).  

3. Children will imitate the behaviour of the same sex model more than that of a model of the opposite  sex.  

4. Boys will show more aggressive behaviour than girls, with highest aggression being demonstrated by boys exposed to a male model.

Methodology

• Laboratory experiment in which the independent variable (the type of model) was manipulated in three conditions:

  • Aggressive model

  • Non-aggressive model

  • No model is shown (control condition)

• Bandura worked with Stanford University and drew his sample from the university’s nursery school.

• Ppts were 3-6 years old (72 children; 36 girls and 36 boys).

• Aggressiveness was controlled by ensuring that each group contained equally aggressive children.

• Aggressiveness ratings of the children were determined beforehand by an experimenter who knew the children well and one of the children’s teachers

Matching participants on aggression

• The inter-rater reliability (agreement) between the experimenter and the nursery schoolteacher was high.

• Bandura then arranged ppts into groups of three, depending on their levels of aggression. 

• So, three children with high aggression would be placed together and then placed into different conditions (one in each).

Phase One (10 min)

• The children in both experimental conditions were taken into room 1 and observed an aggressive or non-aggressive model.
  

Aggressive condition: model started playing with some other toys but after a minute began acting aggressively towards the Bobo Doll.

          The physically aggressive acts included:

•Sitting on and punching the Bobo doll

•Raising the Bobo doll up and hitting it on the head with a mallet

•Throwing the Bobo doll in the air and kicking it around the room

The verbally aggressive responses were:

•“Pow”; “Throw him in the air”; “Kick him”; “Sock him on the nose”; “Hit him down”

Non-aggressive condition: model ignored the Bobo doll, playing with other toys in a quiet subdued way

Phase Two (2 mins)

• All the children (including those in the control group) took part in this stage.

• They were taken to room 2 and allowed to play with toys for 2 minutes.

• The experimenter then stopped the child, telling them that these were the very best toys and that they were saving them for other children. They then told them that they could play with any of the toys in the next room and took them to room 3. 

Aggression arousal

Earlier research had shown that if children weren’t frustrated at all, simply watching aggression might not lead them to act aggressively themselves

Phase Three (20 mins)

• The experimenter took them to room 3 which contained a variety of toys, including the Bobo doll.

• The child was able to play with the toys and their behaviour was observed (by 2 observers) through a one-way mirror.

• They were observed for:

• Direct imitation (e.g. imitation of aggressive acts that the model exhibited)

• Indirect imitation (e.g. engaging in aggressive acts that were similar to the model’s, such as hitting other objects with the mallet when the model only hit the Bobo doll with the mallet)

• Non-imitated aggressive behaviour (engaging in novel aggressive behaviour, such as behaving aggressively towards other objects or using novel aggressive phrases)

Findings

• Children in the aggressive group imitated many of the model’s physical and verbal behaviours.

• Children in the non-aggressive and control group displayed very few aggressive behaviours (70% of them had zero scores as in no aggressive behaviour displayed).

Additional Findings

• Children in the non-aggression group spent more time playing non-aggressively with dolls than children in the other groups.

• Same sex imitation: There was some evidence to suggest evidence of a ‘same sex effect’ for boys but not for girls (meaning that boys were more likely to imitate behaviours of male models)

• Sex of the model: The male models had a greater influence in general than the female models.

• Sex of the child: boys imitated more physical aggression than girls, but the groups didn’t differ in terms of verbal aggression.