bandura et al (1965)

• bandura: aim


  to investigate the impact of vicarious reinforcement on children’s imitation of aggression
• bandura: sample 


  total of 66 children from stanford university nursery, 33 boys and 33 girls, randomly allocated to one of three conditions
• bandura: procedure


  they watched a 5-minute programme of a model being aggressive using a set of physical and aggressive behaviours

  e.g. kicking the bobo doll and saying fly away or throwing balls at the doll and saying bang

  this sequence was observed twice in the 5-minute programme but the closing sequence varied according to the condition they were in
• bandura: procedure


  the child was then taken to a room and imitative aggression was observed every 5 seconds for 10 mins whilst playing with a bobo doll

  the two observers recording children's behaviour did not know which condition the child was exposed to (double blind design)
• bandura: conditions 


  model rewarded - model’s aggression being rewarded with soft drink and sweets for “champion” performance

  model punished - model’s behave aggressively and being punished (scolded and hit with newspaper)

  control group - model’s aggression without any consequences
• bandura: results 


  more imitative aggressive responses were observed in those who saw the model being rewarded and the lowest in those who were

  punished

  boys showed more aggression than girls in the control group, where there were no consequences for the behaviour.
• bandura: conclusion


  seeing a model reinforced for aggression would encourage imitation of aggression

  whereas observing a behaviour being punished would discourage

  another person to repeat such behaviour