Bandura

• SLT- human behaviour is interaction between cognitive, behavioural+ environmental factors
• SLT- aggressive behaviour is leaned thru reinforcement
• imitation is learning through observation- child's aggressive tendencies strengthened through reinforcement
• previous research- children will imitate behaviour demonstrated by adult if model stays present but little known if behaviour would be shown if model not present
• AIM- show behaviour learnt thru model will continue if model not there
• 4 hypotheses- Children shown aggressive models will show more aggressive acts then those not shown aggressive models. Children shown non-aggressive models will show less aggressive behaviour. Boys show more imitative aggression than girls. Children will imitate same sex behaviour more
• Lab with independent measures and a matched participants design
• 3 IV- children exposed to aggressive or non aggressive model (control had no model)

  -Sex of model

  -Sex of child
• DV- amount of imitative behaviour and aggression shown in phase 3 - measured by male observer and researcher at 5s intervals
• ppts were matched for aggressiveness before study- 4, 5 point rating scales by a researcher and a teacher- measured the extent of physical and verbal aggression towards inanimate objects + aggressive inhibition
• children arranged in triplets based on matching characteristics and one assigned to each variable- each child only participated in one condition
• 72 children from Stanford university ages 37-69 months- equal gender split (36)
• Phase 1- children in experimental conditions individually taken to a room and given potato prints and picture stickers for 10 min whilst

  -aggressive model- assembled a tinker toy set for ab 1 min then spent 9 min beating up a bobo doll using a standardised precedure

  -non-aggressive model- assembled tinker toys

  -control group did not participate
• Phase 2- all children taken to a second room and subjected to mild aggression arousal- toys were taken away for other children however they could play with toys in the next room
• Phase 3- children taken individually to a third room which contained aggressive and non aggressive toys

  -3ft bobo doll

  children observed for 20 min- watched for imitative aggression, partially imitative aggression. non imitative physical + verbal aggression + non aggressive behaviours
• Findings- children in aggressive condition showed more imitation of physical and verbal aggressive behaviour + partial imitation and non-imitative physical and verbal aggression
• Findings- children in non-aggressive condition showed very little aggression although not always significantly less
• Findings- girls imitated female models more than boys for imitative verbal aggression and no imitative aggression- results not significant
• Findings- boys imitated male models more than girls for imitative verbal aggression, non imitative aggression and gun play
• Findings- behaviour of male model had more influence than female model+ boys produced more imitative aggression than girls
• Concluded- children will imitate aggressive/non-aggressive behaviours even if model is not present
• concluded- children learn behaviour through observation and imitation
• Concluded- behaviour modelled by male has greater influence on children than female- boys and girls more likely to learn masculine behaviour such as physical aggression from a male adult
• concluded- boys and girls more likely to learn verbal aggression from same sex adult