Bandura,+Ross+and+Ross+-+Period+1

BANDURA - AGGRESSION

Relevant background information - ALBERT BANDURA proposed that learning is a result of Imitation/modeling (observational learning)

Aim - To demonstrate that if children were passive witnesses to an aggressive display by an adult they would imitate this aggressive behavior when given the opportunity.

Research method ( i.ei case study, experiment, naturalistic observation, etc)- Laboratory Experiment

How was data collected- The subjects (children) were taken to an observation room for 20 min and were observed through a one way mirror. There were 2 observers - inter- rater reliability. They recorded the subjects responses every 5 seconds. The observers looked for behavior that was similar to the display by the adult model.

What type of data was collected - -Quantitative Data. They recorded the subjects responses every 5 seconds (240 data points per child) They recorded the subjects responses every 5 seconds. The observers looked for 3 types of imitation behavior that were similar to the display by the adult model such as : 1. Imitation of physical aggression (for example, punching the doll in the nose) 2. Imitative verbal aggression (for example, repeating the phrases "Pow!" or "Sock him in the nose". 3. Imitative non-aggressive verbal responses

They also recorded behavior that were not imitations of the adult model.

Procedure - 36 boys & 36 girls with average age of 4 years old were matched on levels of aggression ( matched pairs design) Set up of three conditions 1) Aggressive condition - 24 children observed adult being aggressive to bobo doll - (6 boys with same sex model; 6 boys with opposite sex model ; 6 girls with same sex model; 6 girls with opposite sex model)

2) Non-Aggressive Condition - 24 children observed adult playing and ignoring bobo doll - (6 boys with same sex model; 6 boys with opposite sex model ; 6 girls with same sex model; 6 girls with opposite sex model) 3) Control group- 24 children

Children in either aggressive and non aggressive condition were put in corner of experimental room and witnessed the behavior of a model interacting with the toys. The child was then taken to the observation room for 20 min as observers recorded their behavior with the given toys in the room (looked for imitation of models behavior)

Special equipment/materials? Aggressive toys - dart gun, bobo doll, mallet non- aggressive toys - crayons 1 way mirror

__Results -__

1. The children in the aggressive model condition imitated more aggressive behavior than the children in the non-aggressive model condition 2. Boys responded more aggressively than girls 3. The boys in the aggressive model conditions showed more aggressive responses with male model than female; 4. The girls in the aggressive model showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female

Conclusions (based off of results)- Children tend to imitate aggression when exposed to it, especially with a same sex model. (boys and male model) Boys proved to be more aggressive than girls.

strengths - Participants matched according to level of aggression ( Matched Pairs Design ) High level of control of the Independent Variables. The experiment can be easily replicated again Large amounts of Quantitative Data collected - (240 data points per child collected)

Weaknesses - Low ecological Validity - Children exposed to stranger models long term psychological effects (snap shot Data) Aggression or playful ? Unethical

Ecological Validity - Low ecological Validity seeing as how the children were exposed to models that were strangers to them and they had no interaction with the model prior or during the coarse of the experiment.

Ethics - Maybe unethical seeing as how young children were exposed to aggressive behavior and this could cause long term psychological problems.