Bobo doll study

• Babdura believed that people learn from each other through the simple process of observation and imitation.
• Vicarious reinforcement is the observation of how other people are reinforced or punished.
• Modelling is when an individual observes another person's behaviour, which can be either positive or negative.
• Bandura argued that modelling was more effective than direct experience because it allowed individuals to observe behaviours they may not have experienced themselves.
• The Bobo Doll Study involved children being exposed to aggressive behaviour by adults. Children who were exposed to aggression were more likely to exhibit aggressive behaviour towards the Bobo Doll.
• Bandura argued that modelling was more effective if it involved live models rather than TV programmes as they were more likely to pay attention to them.
• The Bobo Doll Study (1963) by Bandura showed children who watched adults hitting a bobo doll would then hit the doll themselves. This shows that children will copy what they see others doing.
• In the Bobo Doll Study, some children only observed the adult hitting the doll but did not actually watch him being rewarded with sweets. These children still copied the aggressive behaviour towards the doll.
• Children who observed aggressive model were far more aggressive that those who did not.
• All children were more likely to imitate models that had been reinforced.
• Boys are more likely to imitate same- sex models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same-sex models is not strong.
• Girls did imitate the verbal aggressions of same-sex models.
• Boys imitated more physically agressige acts than girls. There was little differences in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.