Bobo Doll Experiment – Flashcards

Performed in 1961 by Albert Bandura

Experiment is an example of a matched pairs design.

To try and add credence to his belief that all human behavior was learned, through social imitation and copying, rather than inherited through genetic factors.

Children witnessing an adult role model behaving in an overly aggressive manner would be likely to replicate similar behavior themselves, even if the adult was not present.

Subjects who had observed a non-aggressive adult would be the least likely to show violent tendencies, even if the adult was not present. They would be even less likely to exhibit this type of aggression than the control group of children, who had seen no role model at all.

Bandura believed that children would be much more likely to copy the behavior of a role model of the same sex. He wanted to show that it was much easier for a child to identify and interact with an adult of the same gender.

Male children would tend to be more aggressive than female children, because society has always tolerated and advocated violent behavior in men more than women.

The local Stanford Nursery School

Varying in age from 3 to 6 years, with the average age being 4 years and 4 months.

72

Picked 36 subjects of each sex.

Would not see an adult role model at all, consisted of 24 children, 12 boys and 12 girls.

Exposed to an adult showing aggressive tendencies, was similarly made up of 24 children of either sex. Both groups of 12 were further divided; half would be tested with a female role model, half with a male role model.

Distinctive manner - they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted "Pow, Boom".

Exposed to an adult showing passive tendencies, was similarly made up of 24 children of either sex. Both groups of 12 were further divided; half would be tested with a female role model, half with a male role model.

Judged their aggressive behavior on four 5-point rating scales.

Necessary to pre-select and sort the children, to try and ensure that there was an even spread of personality types across the test groups; some subjects already known to be more aggressive in personality than others.

Each subject was tested alone and individually, so that the effects and reactions of their classmates would have no influence on the final results or findings of the experiment.

Began by placing one of the children from the test groups in a room with an adult. They sat in one corner of the room, with a few appealing toys to play with, such as potato prints and sticker activities

The adult sat in the other corner of the room, with a few toys, as well as a Bobo doll and mallet. The child was not permitted to play or interact with these toys.

For the children WITH THE AGGRESSIVE ADULT, after one minute of playing with the toys, the adult would begin to verbally and physically attack the doll for a period of 10 minutes

For the children WITH THE PASSIVE ADULT, the adult would sit quietly and play peacefully with the toys for ten minutes.

10 minutes

Modeling, aggression arousal, and test for delayed imitation.

All the children (including the control group) were subjected to 'mild aggression arousal'. Each child was (separately) taken to a room with relatively attractive toys. As soon as the child started to play with the toys the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter's very best toys and she had decided to reserve them for the other children.

The non-aggressive toys included a tea set, crayons, three bears and plastic farm animals

The aggressive toys included a mallet and peg board, dart guns, and a 3 foot Bobo doll.

The child was in the room for 20 minutes and their behavior was observed and rated though a one-way mirror. Observations were made at 5-second intervals therefore giving 240 response units for each child.

Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.

There was more partial and non-imitative aggression among those children who has observed aggressive behavior, although the difference for non-imitative aggression was small

The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female. However, the exception to this general pattern was the observation of how often they punched Bobo, and in this case the effects of gender were reversed.

Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same-sex models is not strong.

Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was little difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.

Children learn social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning - through watching the behavior of another person

This study has important implications for the effects of media violence on children.

51 of the children were rated by two observers independently and their ratings compared. These ratings showed a very high reliability correlation (r = 0.89), which suggested that the observers had good agreement about the behavior of the children.

3

24

6 boy and 6 girls