Bandura, Ross and Ross (Criminal)
Bandura, Ross and Ross. (1961) Transmission of Aggression through Imitation of Aggressive Models (textbook pg.181-183)
“Understand the aims, procedures and findings (results and conclusions), strengths and weaknesses of”
Background: Bandura and his colleagues were interested in seeing how children can learn by copying the behaviour of those around them. They were also interested in the role that gender plays in this, and whether children are more likely to imitate behaviour from a same-sex role model.
| A | Bandura aimed to investigate whether children would imitate aggressive behaviours observed from a role model. Bandura also aimed to see if gender of the child and role model impacted whether or not the aggressive behaviour would be imitated. |
| P | SAMPLE: 72 3-5 year old children from Stanford University nursery. They were split into 3 groups: control group (no role model), aggressive role-model and non-aggressive role model. There was an equal amount of girls and boys in each condition. Matched pairs design was used, with children in each group matched based on their baseline levels of aggression (determined by their nursery teachers). In the two conditions with role-models, half the time it was a female and half the time it was a male. ROOM 1: The child was taken to a playroom. For a third of the participants, there was no role model. For a third of the participants, the role model entered and played aggressively with a bobo-doll, e.g. punching it and saying “pow.” For a third of participants, the role model entered and played nicely with some toys. ROOM 2: After 10 minutes, the child was taken to a new room with really good toys. After 2 minutes, the child was told that the toys were not for them – they were for other children instead. This was to make the children frustrated. ROOM 3: The child was taken to a final room with toys, including a bobo doll. The child was observed by a one-way mirror (covert observation) for 20 minutes, and the observed recorded what the child was doing every 5 seconds. They observed whether or not the child imitated any of the aggressive behaviours. |
| R | Children who watched an aggressive role model showed more physical and verbal aggression than children who watched a non-aggressive model or no model. Boys were more likely to imitate aggression seen by a male role model compared to a female role model. Whereas girls were equally likely to imitate a male or female. |
| C | Children do learn aggression through observation of a role model, showing evidence for social learning theory. In particular, boys are more likely to imitate aggression from a role model if the role model is a male rather than a female. |
| G | (+) They used a large sample size of 72 children. (-) However, the sample was aged 3-5, so we can’t assume that older children or adults would also learn aggression by imitating a role model. |
| R | (+) A standardised procedure was used (e.g. 20 minutes observation time, scripted aggression towards the bobo doll, same toys in each room etc.) meaning the procedure can easily be replicated to check the consistency of results, to test for reliability. |
| A | (+) The results are useful because they provide supporting evidence for social learning theory. The study shows that children will imitate behaviour shown by a role model. This led to things like the 9pm watershed and age-ratings on TV shows/films as children can imitate aggression. |
| V | (-) The observation was structured and was an unusual situation for the child, with unusual toys and a stranger. Therefore perhaps the study has low ecological validity, meaning children may learn by observation differently in everyday situations. (+) The observation was covert (they observed the children through a one-way mirror) so they didn’t know they were being watched, so they would observe genuine behaviour, high in validity. (+) The researchers used matched pairs (matched children into the conditions based on their aggression levels) meaning they can be sure that the IV (what the role model was doing) caused any changes in the DV (aggression seen by the child), and that there wasn’t just one very naturally aggressive group. High internal validity. |
| E | (-) It might cause psychological harm to expose very young children to aggression. This might have had long-term effects – for example, the children may have replicated the aggression later on whilst at nursery or school. |
31
Bandura, Ross and Ross’ Study Key Term Glossary
| Role model | Someone we might look up to and imitate |
| Bobo doll | An inflatable toy, weighted at the bottom, so it “bounces back” when hit |
| Matched pairs design | Different but similar participants used in each condition of an experiment |
| Covert observation | The participants are unaware they are being observed |
| One-way mirror | From one side, it is a mirror showing a reflection but from the other side, it is a window allowing you to see through to the other side |
| Structured observation | An observation that takes place in an unnatural controlled setting |
| Need more help? Want to stretch your understanding? |
| https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html https://www.psychologywizard.net/bandura-ao1.html https://www.verywellmind.com/bobo-doll-experiment-2794993 https://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/bobo-doll-experiment-albert-bandura-learning-aggression |
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjTxQy_U3ac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqNaLerMNOE |
Still got a question? Leave a comment
Leave a comment