Case Study: Bandura - Ross & Ross

• What was their aim

  to investigate observational learning in children when confronted with an aggressive adult role model
• Who were the participants?

  72 children with a mean age of 4 (36 males, 36 females) who attended Stanford university nursery in California, USA
• how did the nursery staff rate the kids

  they rated the kids as to their level of aggression to produced matched pairs design to ensure that there were equal numbers of same-level aggressive children across each condition
• What was the first phase of the procedure

  child taken to experimental room where they observed either an aggressive or non-aggressive adult or no adult at all
• how long did each session last

  10 mins
• what did the aggressive condition involve

  distinctive aggressive behaviour towards a Bobo doll repeated 3 times
• What was the control group?

  Would not see an adult role model at all, consisted of 24 children, 12 boys and 12 girls.
• What was Phase 2?

  child was taken into a room full of attractive toys but were then taken out and told that the toys were meant for another child
• what was phase 3

  The child was then taken into a third room filled with aggressive and non-aggressive toys, including a Bobo doll where they were left to play for 20 minutes while the researchers observed from behind a one-way mirror
• what was the results

  Children in the aggressive condition produced more directly imitative acts of aggression towards the Bobo doll, which were not seen in the non-aggressive or control conditions
• conclusion

  Aggression can be the result of observational learning experienced in one setting and carried over to a different setting