Bandura, Ross and Ross (1965) Influence of models' reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of imitative responses

Question 1

Why did the study take place?

Answer 1

Due to the belief that in order for imitative learning to take place, some form of reinforcement is needed.
Some children in Bandura’s previous studies could recall the behvaiour but didn’t reproduce them.

Question 2

Hypothesis no.1

Answer 2

The highest rate of imitation would be given by children if they witnessed a model being rewarded for their behaviour

Question 3

Hypothesis no.2

Answer 3

Those who saw no consequence for the models’ behaviour would produce the next biggest rate of imitation

Question 4

Hypothesis no.3

Answer 4

The rate of imitation would be low if they saw the model being punished for their behaviour

Question 5

Who would produce the most imitative responses?

Answer 5

Boys more than girls

Question 6

How many participants used?

Answer 6

33 boys and 33 girls from Stanford University Nursery school

Question 7

How old were the participants?

Answer 7

42-71 months

Question 8

Who served as role models?

Answer 8

Two adult males and one female experimenter

Question 9

The participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions containing

Answer 9

11 boys and 11 girls

Question 10

First the participants were brought individually into a semi darkened room where he experimenter informed them that they had to leave for a minute before they could go into the

Answer 10

‘surprise room’ and during that wait they could watch a TV programme

Question 11

Secondly, the experimenter switched on the TV and then left leaving on a 5 min film within which the model

Answer 11

walked up to a bobo doll and ordered him to move out of the way and then punched it in the nose while remarking “pow” “boom”

Question 12

Finally the model threw rubber balls at the doll saying “bang” with each throw. This sequence was repeated

Answer 12

twice

Question 13

Model reward condition: a second adult appeared with sweets and drinks and said to the model that

Answer 13

their superb aggressive performance deserved a treat “strong champion”

Question 14

Model punished condition: a second adult appeared wagging their finger whilst saying

Answer 14

“hey there, you big bully” the model was spanked with a rolled up magazine

Question 15

In the control group there was

Answer 15

no reinforcement

Question 16

In all conditions, children were taken to experimental room that contained toys like a bobo doll and the experimenter left the room for 5 mins while

Answer 16

the children’s behaviour was recorded every 5 seconds through a one way mirror

Question 17

Inter rater reliability was

Answer 17

99

Question 18

The two observers were unaware which

Answer 18

condition each participant was in and scored independently

Question 19

Last step: Experimenter entered with juice an stickers and told the kids that for every physical or verbal aggressive act they could reproduce,

Answer 19

they would recieve a sticker and another juice

Question 20

Boys performed more imitative responses than

Answer 20

girls

Question 21

Participants who saw the model be rewarded for their behaviour performed significantly more imitations than those in the

Answer 21

punishment condition

Question 22

The introduction of positive incentives completely wiped out any differences in imitative learning seen

Answer 22

previously

Question 23

They concluded that imitative learning is highly influenced by

Answer 23

motivational variables and the anticipation of positive or negative reinforcements on imitation

Question 24

They also concluded that the attention an individual pays to the relevent parts of the models’ behaviour and

Answer 24

the complexity of the behaviour presented by the model determine the degree of imitation that takes place

Question 25

As the children were of pre school age, their motor responses may be more highly developed than their verbal skills which explains why

Answer 25

there were more physical actions imitated (67%) than verbal ones (20%)

Question 26

It wasn’t possible for the researchers to identify other factors that may have encouraged/inhibited the imitation of responses therefore

Answer 26

further research is required in order to investigate these factors further

Question 27

The likelihood of imitation may have been affected by any prior history of reinforcement of imitative behvaiour that the ppts had experienced and not

Answer 27

just due to the consequences for the model whcih means internal validity may be reduced. The effect of prior learning is uncontrollable so it was inevitable

Question 28

A high level of inter rater relibaility was found amongst judges rating the ppt’s behaviour which increases

Answer 28

the reliability and validity of the results as it reduces the subjective nature of interpretation

Question 29

Reliability is likely to be a strength as researchers found the same more aggressive behaviour in males than females as previous experiments due to

Answer 29

the well documented and standardised procedure, this means that it could be replicated

Question 30

Generalisability is limited to the children of the same age range - 42-71 months and culture of USA therefore it is likely that

Answer 30

different ages with different levels of verbal and motor skills would produced different results - not representative of all ages

Question 31

Ecological validity is likely to be limited as the setting was unfamiliar and so was the experimenter which means

Answer 31

the behaviour they displayed in the room may not have been an accurate representation of behaviour they would demonstrate in everyday settings