Bandura

Generalisability

(AO1)
- Sample of 72 children aged 3-5
- Equally split between 36 males and 36 females
- Divided into eight experimental groups of 6 children, with the remaining 24 forming a control group

(AO3)
- Sample was proportional to the population as gender split
- cannot apply results to other ages/adults
- Sample was all taken from the same nursery, sample is also not large enough to be generalised to children worldwide

Reliability

(AO1)

• 1) Room 1, full of toys but children are unable to touch them (10 minutes) 

  - In aggression condition, an adult will come in an exhibit extreme aggression towards the Bobo doll, in non-aggressive condition the adult will play normally with the other toys and does not touch the Bobo doll 

• 2) Room 2 was designed to anger the children, and included better toys e.g. a fire engine. The child is told that these were ‘the experimenter’s best toys’ and was asked not to play with any of the toys 

• 3) Moved back into the original room for 20 minutes, and told that they could play with the toys.

(AO3)

• Standardised procedure, easily replicable. Control over all variables, documenting the toys in each room (in the second room there were better toys, including a fire truck and colourful spinning top) The physical aggression was accompanied by set verbal aggression with phrases like ‘hit him down’ and ‘kick him.’ 

• Interrater reliability increased as two researchers were used to do the time sampling

Application

(AO1)
- Watching an aggressive role model has a greater impact in boys than girls, particularly when observing a same sex model 
- Children exposed to an aggressive role model displayed significantly more direct imitation than children exposed to the non-aggressive model, for example using the same phrases and tools as the adult model (novel aggression also observed) 

(AO3)
- Huge positive influences on society, imitation of positive behaviour by increasing the prevalence of positive role models in society.
- The watershed, guidance and screening of TV programmes before 9pm (children are vulnerable)

Validity

(AO1)
- This study shows that not all behaviour is shaped by reward and punishment. Some behaviour is learnt through observation which can later be reproduced.  
- Observing aggressive behaviour may weaken social inhibitors, particularly if the behaviour is performed by adults and observed by children, as in most cases children look towards adults as role models and those who know right. 

(AO3)
- Children were matched on the basis of their pre-existing aggressiveness, rated by an experimenter and a nursery schoolteacher, increases validity
- Time sampling every 5 seconds is based off of observations, therefore subject to bias but also difficult to carry out as information can be missed. However the observation was covert (behind a one-way mirror) so child was unaware being watched, therefore reduces chances of demand characteristics/social desirability bias - increases validity of findings

Ethics

(AO1)
Protection from harm is the BPS guideline stating that participants must leave the experiment in the same mental state with which they entered, and no harm (physical, mental or emotional) can be constituted

(AO3)
Unethical to expose children to aggressive behaviour, reports that some of the children were disturbed or confused by this. There is a risk of encouraging children to act aggressively, and them exhibiting these aggressive behaviours outside of the study

What was the 1963 variation?

Bandura, Ross and Ross
Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models

Facts about procedure of the1963 variation

• 48 boys & 48 girls at Stanford University Nursery school, aged between 3 and 6 years 

• One female experimenter. Male and female models. 

• 3 x experimental groups and 1 x control group*: 

• ‘real-aggression’ group – watched an aggressive human model [this is the data from the 1961 study] 

• ‘Filmed-aggression’ group – Watched the same model but a filmed version - children were in a darkened room working on potato prints while the film was running six feet away from them. 

• ‘Aggressive cartoon character’ group – watched cartoon character being aggressive - the film was turned on casually by the experimenter. The character was a female dressed as a cat, behaving as a cat. Everything in the film was artificial, and there was cartoon music at the end. 

Results of the 1963 variation

• All three aggression groups differed significantly from the control group. 

• There was no significant difference between watching the ‘real-life’ model or the ‘human-film’ model. 

• 99 mean number of aggressive incidents in cartoon aggression condition compared to 54 in control group

What was the 1965 variation?

Investigation of the role of vicarious reinforcement

Facts about the procedure of the 1965 variation

66 participants (33 male & 33 female) 

• The children watched the TV, which included an adult sized Bobo doll. Immediately after watching the TV, the children were observed for 10 minutes playing in a different room. Behaviour was recorded every 5 seconds by two observers

  3 conditions: 

• Model rewarded for aggressive behaviour: another adult is seen (on the TV) entering the room with sweets and soft drinks. The adult told the model that he was a ‘strong champion’ with ‘superb aggressive performance’. The model consumed the drinks and sweets, clearly enjoying them. 

• Model punished for aggressive behaviour: another adult entered and shook a finger at the model, whilst calling the model a ‘big bully’. The model was hit by the other adult with a rolled up newspaper. 

• No consequences for the model’s behaviour: there was no reinforcement or punishment at the end of the film

Results of 1965 variation

Seeing the model receive positive reinforcement increased the likelihood of the aggressive behaviour being imitated. Boys performed more imitative responses than girls