Bandura 65

• Aim

  The aim was to consider whether reinforcement and punishment of an aggressive model would influence the aggression displayed by observers (children) in response to irritation 
• Sample

  • 33 boys and 33 girls aged 42-71 months from Stanford university nursery 
• Procedure

  • children randomly allocated to one of three conditions all involved film of adult aggressing towards bobo doll 11 Boys and 11 girls in each group 
  • Independent groups
• 1. Model reward condition - children saw a second adult prise model for their aggression and give them a drink and chocolate 
  2. Model punishment condition- second adult colder model and spanked three with rolled up magazine 
  3. No consequence condition- model was neither reinforced nor punished
• Afterwards children were as before deliberately irritated and taken into playroom. There was key difference in procedure this time- all three groups were later offered attractive rewards to aggress towards doll
• Finding 

  • children in model punished condition were significantly less aggressive than other two groups 
  • However introducing the reward wiped out the difference increases score significantly for all groups 
• Conclusion

  • vicarious punishment reduces imitated aggression
  • Reinforcement is a more powerful influence on aggression
• Independent variable

  • observed consequence for model

  Dependant variable

  • aggression in child