Bandura ,, Ross & Ross (1961) - AGGRESSION

• learning through conditioning


  → behaviourist psychologists believe that all behaviour is learned ,, supporting the 'nurture' side of the nature vs nurture debate

  • children are born as a blank slate and therefore genetics don't influence behaviour
  • individuals can learn behaviour through classic and operant conditioning ; classic conditioning is learning through association
• social learning theory (SLT)


  → SLT is based of observation and imitation ;

  • children will observe the behaviour of a model who is important to them ,, and they may imitate their behaviour
  • if the child's behaviour is then reinforced ,, then the behaviour will be likely to occur again
  • however ,, observational learning can take place without reinforcement - sometimes simply being exposed to a model may be sufficient for learning to occur
• modelling


  → SLT suggests that children are more likely to imitate models who are important to them

  → features of a model ;

  • POWERFUL - such as teachers or parents
  • SIMILAR - such as children of the same age or sex ,, or from the same family such as a brother or sister
  • REINFORCED - if a child sees the model being rewarded for their behaviour ,, this in turn acts as a reinforcement to the child

  KNOWN AS VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT
• hypothesis


  → researchers made the following 4 predictions ;

  • ''..participants exposed to aggressive models will reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of the models..''
  • ''..the observation of non-aggressive models will have an inhibiting effect on the participant's subsequent behaviour..''
  • ''..participants will imitate the behaviour of a same-sex model to a greater degree than a model of the opposite sex..''
  • ''..boys will be more likely than girls to imitate aggression..''
• pre-testing ; 1

  → in banduras experiment ,, the children were rated on 4 characteristics on a 5 point scale ,, e.g.

  • physical aggression

  1 ,, 2 ,, 3 ,, 4 ,, 5

  → was done by an experimenter and a nursery school teacher both of whom were well acquainted with the children

  → the 4 measures were ;

  • physical aggression
  • verbal aggression
  • aggression towards inanimate objects
  • aggressive inhibition
• pre-testing ; 2


  → bandura then arranged participants into groups of threes ,, depending on their levels of aggression. so three children with high aggression would be put together and then placed into different conditions (one in each) ;

  • one in aggressive model condition
  • one in no model condition (control group)
  • one in non-aggressive model condition
• IV


  • gender of child ; boys or girls
  • gender of model ; male or female
  • model condition ; aggressive ,, non-aggressive or no model
• method // design ; 1

  → tested 72 children ; 36 boys and 36 girls - aged between 37 & 69 months (mean age-52 months)

  → role models were one male and one female adult

  → method was a laboratory experiment

  → the experiment had 3 major conditions ; the group exposed to the aggressive ,, passive model and a control group (who weren't exposed to any model)

  • Group 1 → control group ; 24 participants
  • Group 2 → aggressive model condition ; 24 participants
  • Group 3 → Non-aggressive model condition ; 24 participants
• method // design ; 2


  → the children who were exposed to the adult models were furthur sub divided by their gender ,, and by the gender of the model they were exposed to ;

  • Aggressive & Non-Aggressive Model Condition (divided into 4 diff groups) ;

  → 6 boys with male model

  → 6 boys with female model

  → 6 girls with female model

  → 6 girls with male model
• procedure ; 1

  → STAGE 1 ; EXPERIMENTAL ROOM

  • child watches model behaving either aggressively towards a Bobo doll ,, or non-aggressively by playing with tinker toys and ignored the doll
  • physical aggression examples ; sat on the doll ,, punched the doll ,, kicked the doll around the room ,, hit the doll with a mallet
  • verbal aggression examples ; ''Kick him'' ,, ''Pow''

  → STAGE 2 ; MILD AGGRESSION AROUSAL

  • children taken to a second room with toys ,, started playing for a couple of minutes - told the toys were reserved for somebody else
• procedure ; 2

  → STAGE 3 ; OBSERVATION ROOM

  • children would go into a final room with toys ,, including a Bobo doll and their aggressive responses are covertly observed
  • aggressive toys ; bobo doll ,, a mallet ,, 2 dart guns ,, a tether ball
  • non-aggressive toys ; a tea set ,, crayons ,, colouring paper ,, a ball ,, 2 dolls ,, 3 bears ,, cars ,, trucks & plastic farm animals