Bandura et al (aggression )

State the 2 assumptions of learning approach

1. Classical conditioning helps to explain changes in behaviour.

2. Social learning helps to explain changes in behaviour.

Describe the psychology being investigated

• Imitative (social) learning: the learning of a new behavior which is observed in a role model and imitated later in the absence of that model.

  • Attention: Observers must pay attention to behavior of the model. The model must have some feature that attracts the observer.

  • Retention: Observers must store the behavior in their long-term memory so that the information can be used again (when the observer wants to imitate the behavior).

  • Reproduction: Observers must feel capable of imitating the retained, observed behavior.

  • Motivation: If the role model receives a reward for the observed behavior, the children are more likely to be motivated to imitate it. If the role model receives a punishment for the observed behavior, they are less likely to be imitated.

Describe the aims

The aim was to investigate whether a child would learn aggression by observing a model and would reproduce this behavior in the absence of the model.

State the 4 hypotheses

1. Children seeing aggressive models will be more aggressive than those seeing a non-aggressive model or no model.

2. Children seeing non-aggressive models will be less aggressive than those seeing aggressive condition.

3. Children are more likely to copy the behavior of a same-sex model.

4. Boys will be more likely to copy aggression than girls.

Describe the research method and design

• Its a laboratory experiment as the environment was not the normal place where the children played.

• This experiment used independent measures design as different children were used in each of the levels of the independent variables.

• A matched pairs design was used.

What are the independent variables?

• model type: whether the child saw an aggressive model, non-aggressive model or no model.

• model gender: same gender as child or different gender.

• learner gender: whether the child was a boy or a girl.

What is the dependent variable

The dependent variable was whether the child displayed aggressive behavior or not.

Describe the sample

• 72 children (36 boys and 36 girls).

• Ages 3 to 6.

• From Standard university nursery school.

• There were 2 models male and a female.

Explain the procedure

• Before the experiment the children were observed in the nursery school by the experimenter and the teacher. They were rated on four five point scales that measures physical aggression, verbal aggression, aggression to inanimate object and aggression inhibition (anxiety).

• They were then assigned into three groups with the aggression level of the children matched with each other.

• 51 children were rated by two observers of which similar results were produced giving high inter-rater reliability.

• The control group consists of 24 participants (12 boys and 12 girls). The control group saw no models.

• The remaining participants were divided equally by the sex between aggressive and non-aggressive model groups and between the same and opposite sex models.

• The experimenter and the child entered the observation room and there was a table and a chair and the child was shown how to make potato prints and stickers.

• The opposite corner of the room also contained a table and chair, tinker toy set, a mallet and a five-foot bobo doll.

• The participants were taken into a different room with attractive toys, after 2 mins of playing, the experimenter stopped them and told that they were reserved for other students to play.

• This act made the participant deliberately annoyed for 2 reasons:

  1. watching aggression may reduce the production of aggression if he/she is calm to begin with

  2. to ensure that a behavior can be expressed even in non-aggressive and control condition.

Describe what was done in the control condition.

The participants were put into a observation room but there were no models so no aggression was seen by the participants.

Describe what was done in the non-aggressive condition.

The model assembled the tinker toy set for 10 mins completely ignoring the bobo doll.

Describe what was done in the aggressive condition.

The model assembled the tinker toy set for 1 minute and then the model started attacking the bobo doll by punching in the nose and hitting its head with a mallet while using aggressive comments and then tossed up the bobo doll in the air and kicked it. This routine was repeated 3 times over 9 minutes.

What happened after the routine of the model was completed?

• The child was then took into a different experimental room that contained a three foot bobo doll, a mallet, a peg board, 2 dart guns and a tether ball.

• The child was observed through a one way mirror.

• The possible activities that can be produced by the child are :

  1. Imitation of the physical aggression

  2. Imitative verbal aggression

  3. Imitative non aggressive verbal responses

  4. Partially imitative aggression

  5. Aggressive gun play

  6. Non-imitative physical and verbal aggression.

• A male observed all the children’s behavior except for the participants whose conditions in which he was the model for.

• To increase the reliability, a second person observed and rated half of the children’s behavior. (inter-observer reliability)

What were the results of this study.

1. The children exposed to aggressive models imitated their exact behaviors and verbal responses and were significantly more aggressive than the other conditions.

2. More non-aggressive behavior wad recorded in the non-aggressive conditions.

3. The boys are more likely to imitate physical aggression of a male model (same sex model) than girls, whereas the girls are more likely to imitate the behavior of a male model than the female model (opposite-sex model).

4. The boys are more physically aggressive and the girls are more verbally aggressive.

What are the conclusions of the study

• Aggressive behavior observed from the model by the observer is enough to imitate.

• The observation and imitation is used to learn a specific act without any reinforcement of the model or the observer.

• All the four hypotheses were supported in this study.

What are the strengths of this study.

• High reliability - Its a lab experiment and it has standardized procedures.

• High validity - control of extraneous variables

• High inter - rater/ observer reliability

• Less chance of demand characteristics

• Reduced effects of participant variable

• Quantitative data - objective record of the number of imitative actions

What are the weaknesses of the study.

• Low ecological validity

• Low mundane realism

• Psychological harm

• Physical harm

• Small sample, lacks generalizability

How can the findings of this study be applied to real life?

Many countries have restrictions on viewing, such as TV times before which programmes with inappropriate content for children cannot be shown and certifications for films and games which indicate the age of child it is deemed suitable for viewing.

Nature vs nurture

NATURE

Boys were more likely to imitate aggressive behavior than girls, possibly because boys have more of the hormone testosterone which is a nature factor.

NURTURE

Boys may be more likely to imitate aggression because they have already acquired stereotypes about what is acceptable behavior for males or have been rewarded for masculine-type behaviors.

Individual or situational?

SITUATIONAL

Imitation clearly suggests that situational factors matter in that the model is an aspect of the situation, as are differences between male and female models.

INDIVIDUAL

Individual factors also play a role is imitation because even though girls and boys are exposed to the same models, their learning of behaviors differs because boys and girls may be differently rewarded for sex-typed behaviors. For example, a daughter may be praised for not fighting but a son praised for ‘sticking up for himself’.