Learning approach: Bandura et al. (aggression)

Psychology AS · The core studies. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

Test this topic free All Psychology AS topics

The idea

Social learning theory says that we learn new behaviour by watching another person, the model, and copying what they do. Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) tested whether children would imitate aggression shown by an adult, even when the adult was no longer there.

Young children watched an adult for 10 minutes. The adult either attacked an inflatable Bobo doll or played quietly. A control group saw no model. Each child was then mildly frustrated by having attractive toys taken away, and was observed for 20 minutes through a one-way mirror in a room with a Bobo doll and other toys.

Children who saw the aggressive model copied the model's actions and words. Aggression can be learned by observation alone, without any reward.

Rules to remember

Sample: 72 children (36 boys, 36 girls) aged about 3 to 6 from the Stanford University nursery school.
Groups: 24 saw an aggressive model, 24 saw a non-aggressive model, 24 were controls. Groups were matched on ratings of the children's existing aggression.
Independent variables: behaviour of the model, sex of the model, sex of the child. Dependent variable: aggression shown by the child.
Observation: a record every 5 seconds for 20 minutes, giving 240 observations per child.
Result: children who saw the aggressive model showed far more imitative physical and verbal aggression than the other groups.
Sex differences: boys showed more physical aggression than girls, and boys imitated the male model more than the female model.
Weaknesses: a Bobo doll is made to be hit, only short-term effects were measured, and young children were shown aggression.

Common mistake

Students say the children were rewarded for being aggressive. No child was reinforced: they learned by watching, which is why the study supports social learning theory and not operant conditioning.

Worked example

Of the 72 children, 24 were controls. The rest were divided equally by model behaviour (aggressive or non-aggressive), sex of model and sex of child. How many children were in each experimental group?

Children in experimental conditions = 72 − 24 = 48.
Number of experimental groups = 2 (model behaviour) × 2 (sex of model) × 2 (sex of child) = 8.
Children per group = 48 ÷ 8 = 6.

Answer: 6 children in each of the 8 experimental groups. Such small groups are one reason to be careful when generalising.

Ask about this

Type what you are stuck on. The helper finds the explanation, worked examples and the notes to read, free and instant.

Keep going

← Cognitive approach: Pozzulo et al. (line-ups)Learning approach: Fagen et al. (elephant learning) →Take a Psychology AS test