Albert Bandura’s bobo doll experiments Flashcards
(20 cards)
state the 3 aims 1961
- investigate whether children would copy an adult’s behaviour to a bobo doll
- investigate whether children would be more likely to imitate a same sex role model
- investigate whether boys are more likely to imitate aggressive behaviour than girls
describe the sample 1961
72
male and female
average age 4
matched pairs
state the 3 conditions 1961
control
aggressive model
non aggressive model
state the 3 IVs 1961
gender of role model
gender of child
condition
state the 2 DVs 1961
number of physically aggressive acts
number of verbally aggressive acts
describe the procedure 1961
- child in opposite corner of room to RM and doll
- aggressive condition = hit doll and said words like ‘pow’
- non aggressive = ignored doll
- child taken to next toy room and told they could not play with toys (eliminates mild aggression arousal)
- child put in room with bobo doll and observed at 5 sec intervals
describe the results 1961
- boys imitated more aggression (25.8 of actions compared to 5.5)
- girls copied more verbal acts
- children exposed to aggressive condition copied more aggressive acts
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)? 1961
- generalisability
- a weakness of the study is that it lacks generalisability
- this is because the sample only consisted of 72 boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 6
- therefore, the findings cannot be representative of how adults observe and reproduce behaviour of their role models due to being significantly different in context to the role models of children
what is a strength of the study (PEEIA)? 1961
- reliability
- a strength of the study is that it has high reliability
- for example, there were standardised procedures such as observing all the children at 5 second intervals for 20 minutes
- all children experienced the toy room that they could not play in to eliminate mild aggression arousal
- therefore, the study can be easily replicated to check for consistency
- in addition, there is high inter rater reliability
- this is because, it included 2 observers who agreed 89% of the time
- therefore, this removes subjectivity, making the results objective
what is a strength of the study (PEE)? 1961
- application
- a strength of the study is that it has applications
- for example, it highlights how children will imitate the behaviour of role models
- therefore, this can help parenting by behaving around a child they way you would want them to behave; such as not shouting at them for doing something wrong as they will likely shout back
what is a weakness of the study (PEEIA)? 1961
- validity
- a weakness of the study is that it lacks internal validity
- for example, a bobo doll is an unusual toy which was unfamiliar to the children and this may have initiated aggressive play
- due to this third variable, cause and effect cannot be easily established as the children might have thought that was how you were supposed to use the doll
- in addition, it lacks ecological validity
- for example, the research was carried out in an artificial environment where the model and child were strangers
- therefore, this cannot reflect how a child would behave in real life
what is a weakness of the study (PEE)? 1961
- ethics
- weakness of the study is that there are ethical issues
- for example, the children were deliberately encouraged to be aggressive with no talk of removing that aggression
- therefore, children may have been aggressive after the study as there was no pro social model of how to calm down
state the aim 1963
investigate whether exposing children to film-mediated aggression would increase the probability of aggression
describe the sample 1963
- 96
- boys and girls
- mean age 52 months
- stanford uni nursery school
state the 4 conditions 1963
- control
- real life aggressive models
- 10 min film of aggressive models
- cartoon of aggressive female model dressed as a cat
state the 3 IVs 1963
- condition
- gender of child
- gender of adult
state the 2 DVs 1963
- number of physically aggressive acts
- number of verbally aggressive acts
describe the procedure 1963
- children watched individually
- mild aggression arousal elimination room
- next room = toys and doll, could play
- observed by researchers
describe the results 1963
- exposed to aggressive behaviour = twice as much aggression
- boys = more aggressive
- boys exposed to male model = imitated more gun play (15.9) compared to female model (7.3)
- girls showed less gun play (1.8) with female model compared to boys
describe the conclusions 1963
- children learn aggression through imitation
- aggression can be learned through media and non human models
