Bandura

• Observation


  The process of closely watching or monitoring something or someone.
• Imitation


  The action of using someone or something as a model, to then copy the behaviour.
• Role model


  A person looked up to or that we identify with, and so who is likely to be imitated.
• Vicarious reinforcement


  The tendency to imitate the behaviour of someone who has been reinforced for that behaviour (e.g. avoiding hot water after seeing another person burned by it).
• Vicarious punishment


  The tendency not to repeat behaviours that we observe others being punished for (e.g. avoiding forgetting homework after seeing someone else told off for it).
• Outline the background that led to Banduras research into the transmission of aggression (4)

  1)Outline Social learning theory (using key words: observation, imitation, role model)2)Outline previous research by Bandura and Hudson3)How this influenced Bandura to research the influence of role models further, when the model is absentBanduras research into the transmission of aggressive behaviour in children is influenced by the social learning theory. This theory suggests that we learn through observation and imitation of role models, leading to the modelling of behaviour observed.Previous research by Bandura and Hudson found that children will readily imitate behaviour demonstrated by an adult role model if the model remains present in the situation.This research provided evidence for the influence of a role model on behaviour, however very little was known on how behaviour displayed by a model might affect an individual when the model is absent from the situation. Therefore this influenced Bandura to investigate this further in experimental conditions to observe the level of aggression demonstrated by children in the absence of a previously observed aggressive model.
• What was the aim for Bandura's research?


  To demonstrate that learning can occur through mereobservationof arole modeland thatimitationof learned behaviour can occur in theabsence of a model.
• What was 1 hypothesis for Bandura's research?

  Children shownaggressive modelswill show significantly moreimitative aggressive actsresembling those of their model than thoseshown non-aggressiveor no models.
• Research method in Bandura's research (2)

  •Lab Experiment

  •Matched Participants
• IV's in Bandura's research (3)

  1.Gender of the child

  2.Gender of the role model

  3.Behaviour of model (aggression, no aggression)
• DV in Bandura's research

  Level of aggression shown by child in room 3
• Sample in Bandura's research

  •72 children

  •Equal amounts of girls and boys

  •Stanford University Nursery
• What was the sampling technique in Bandura's research?

  Opportunity sampling
• The matching process in Bandura's research (5)

  •The children were pre rated on aggression whilst on the playground in nursery

  •This was a 5 point scale

  •Both physical and verbal aggression

  •On the basis of these ratings, children were put into 3s e.g. 3 children who scored 5 were matched, 3 children who scored 2 were matched

  •THEN, each of these 3 children were randomly allocated to the 3 conditions (aggressive role model, non aggressive and no role model)
• What was the purpose of matching the aggression levels of the participants and then randomly placing them into one of the three groups in Bandura's research?

  To control for the individual differences in their pre-existing level of aggression. To ensure not all aggressive children or non aggressive children accidently ended up in the same condition, confounding the results.
• What was the purpose of the control group in Bandura's research? (2)

  -To act as a comparison to compare the results of both the aggressive and non-aggressive conditions to.

  -Having this comparison group acted as a control which allows us to be confident in a cause and effect relationship between type of behaviour observed and the behaviour modelled. This increases the validity of the results.
• Room 1-The role model in Bandura's research (6)

  -children in thecontrol group did not go into the first room-children were lead into a room with atablein it on their own with anexperimenterand started playing withcraft toystogether some of the toys in the room weresoldiers, mallet and a Bobo doll-after one minutein the room the role model turned to the Bobo doll and spend the remainder of the time being eitheraggressive or non-aggressive (2 experimental conditions)towards it.-in the aggressive condition, the role model performedstandardised aggressive behaviour, both physical and verbal. For example; punched it on the nose throwing it in the air and hitting it with a mallet. The role model was also verbally aggressive sayingstandardised phrasessuch as 'Pow!', 'Suck him in the nose!', 'Kick him'-This set routine was repeatedthree times-In thenon-aggressive condition, the role model would ignore the Bobo doll and play with the child to 10 minutes
• Why were the aggressive acts repeated three times for each child in Bandura's research?


  To ensure that they had actually seen the behaviour occur and also to standardise the procedure for all participants.
• Room 2- The Arousal Room in Bandura's research (2)

  •All 72 children went into this room. The children were taken to a room filled withattractive toys; such as a fire engine and a colourful spinning top.•Theexperimenterexplained thetoys were for the children to play with, but as soon as the child became involved in playing with the toys(about 2 mins),the experimenter then took the toys away, saying they were reserved for other children.
• What was the purpose of Room 2 in Bandura's research

  To act as acontrol.All children would become frustrated/ act in the same or similar way when the attractive toys were removed from them. Therefore this controlled their arousal levels upon entering the observation room 3.
• Room 3- The observation room in Bandura's research


  -this will contains various story is both of anaggressive and non-aggressive nature(mallets, toy guns, crayons and paper)-The child was allowed to play for20 minutesand wasobserved without their knowledgethrough aone-way mirrorby the male model and another observer in5s intervals-as a control, the observers used adouble blind designand afemale experimenterstayed in the room with the child but to avoid distraction keep themselves busy withpaperwork-The children's behaviour wasobservedandrecordedin this room in order togather dataas tohow aggressivethey were behavingafter seeing the role model
• Quantitative results in Bandura's research

  -Children in theaggressive conditionshowedsignificantly more imitation of physical and verbal aggressive behaviourthan children in the non-aggressive or controlled conditions-Overallboys produced more imitate of physical aggressionthan girls
• Qualitative results in Bandura's research

  -The overall results appeared to show that the male model was more influential over both the boys and the girls then the female model. There was often confusion about the female role, it seemed that the children felt it was not appropriate for the female model to act in such an aggressive way. In room one children were reported to have said "who is that lady?That's not the way for a lady to behave, ladies are supposed to act like ladies ", the children seem to simply accept the aggressiveness of the male model more easily saying things like"that man is a strong fighter ".
• Conclusions in Bandura's research (2)

  •Aggression is learntthroughobserving role models, as such highlighting theimportance of considering our own actionsaround children who are likely to notice and replicate them.(Provides evidence for Social learning Theory)

  •Bandura suggests that if a child sees an adult behave aggressively itlegitimisesthe behaviour, so the child will assume that aggressive behaviour is acceptable.
• What practical applications can we developed based on this knowledge for Bandura's research ? (3)

  -Children should be censored from things that are difficult to understand or acquire most watch like horror movies/video games

  -educate adults on their influence on children

  -9pm watershed filtering the children are exposed to
• Research Method- Lab experiment: Strengths in Bandura's research

  High control of extraneous variables - Pre-rating pre-existing levels of aggression, allows us to have more confidence in the causal relationship between the type of aggressive observed and the type of aggression then imitated.
• Research Method- Lab experiment: Weakness in Bandura's research

  Low in ecological validity - The artificial setting of observing role models behaviour in experimental rooms makes us questions how true to real life the behaviour shown by the children were.
• Sample: Strengths in Bandura's research

  Large sample of 72 children- Allowing Bandura to assess how easily youngsters will imitate adult models.
• Sample: Weakness in Bandura's research

  Low population validity- All from California America, limiting the generalisability of the results to children outside of America.
• Qualitative data: Strengths in Bandura's research

  More insight into the children's ideas on gender specific behaviour based on some of the comments recorded by the children.
• Quantative data: Strengths in Bandura's research


  Easy comparisons across the experimental groups
• Quantitative data: Weakness in Bandura's research


  No explanation as to why the amount of aggressive behaviour that was imitated, was imitated.
• How does Bandura's research have high validity?

  High Internal Validity- Many controls implemented to be confident in a causal relationship between aggression observed and then imitated.
• How does Bandura's research have low validity?

  Low ecological validity- due to artificial setting but also in relation to the task, hitting an inflatable doll. Bandura didn't investigate into whether the aggression displayed by the children would be imitated on a person.
• How does Bandura's research have high reliability? (2)

  High Internal Reliability- Highly standardised procedure, for example, the length of time in each room, the verbalisations made, were all kept consistent for each participant.

  
  

  High external Reliability- Due to the collection of quantitative data allowing for comparisons across the groups to be made to check for consistencies.
• How does Bandura's research have low reliability?

  Low external reliability- The collection of qualitative data we could argue makes it difficult to check for consistency and draw comparisons between each experimental group.
• How is Bandura's study Reductionist?

  Only looks at the influence of a model on imitative behaviour, ignores other factors such as personality, biological factors, disposition
• How is Bandura's study Scientific? (2)

  -Highly standardised-Aggressive condition was repeated 3 times to make sure child realises the behaviour

  -Deduction used - Bandura tested his own theory (SLT)
• How is Bandura's study Unscientific? (2)

  As it was his own theory have to question objectivity - may be influenced by researchers own perspective

  
  

  Qualitative data collected - may have been misinterpreted by researchers
• How is Bandura's study useful? (2)

  Highly useful- adds to our knowledge of SLT and how children can learn aggression from adults

  
  

  Practical applications highly effective - can use positive role models, 9pm watershed