Bobo Doll Experiment

How was the children's aggressiveness measured?

Judged their aggressive behavior on four 5-point rating scales.

Bandura Theory 4

Male children would tend to be more aggressive than female children, because society has always tolerated and advocated violent behavior in men more than women.

Who created it and When?

Performed in 1961 by Albert Bandura

How many of each sex?

Picked 36 subjects of each sex.

Where did the children come from?

The local Stanford Nursery School

What were the nonaggressive toys?

The non-aggressive toys included a tea set, crayons, three bears and plastic farm animals

Result #2

There was more partial and non-imitative aggression among those children who has observed aggressive behavior, although the difference for non-imitative aggression was small

How were they aggressive?

Distinctive manner - they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted "Pow, Boom".

Condition #2

Each subject was tested alone and individually, so that the effects and reactions of their classmates would have no influence on the final results or findings of the experiment.

What type of experiment was it?

Experiment is an example of a matched pairs design.

Group with aggressive adult(3)?

For the children WITH THE PASSIVE ADULT, the adult would sit quietly and play peacefully with the toys for ten minutes.

what were the three stages?

Modeling, aggression arousal, and test for delayed imitation.

Conditions of subjects

Necessary to pre-select and sort the children, to try and ensure that there was an even spread of personality types across the test groups; some subjects already known to be more aggressive in personality than others.

What implications did it have?

This study has important implications for the effects of media violence on children.

Reason for experiment

To try and add credence to his belief that all human behavior was learned, through social imitation and copying, rather than inherited through genetic factors.

What ages, and average age?

Varying in age from 3 to 6 years, with the average age being 4 years and 4 months.

What was the control group?

Would not see an adult role model at all, consisted of 24 children, 12 boys and 12 girls.

How many kids per group?

24

Result #5

Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was little difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.

Result #4

Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same-sex models is not strong.

How many total children in experiment?

72

How long would the adults play peacefully/aggressively with the toy?

10 minutes

How many groups were there?

3

How was the inter rater reliability of the observer measured?

51 of the children were rated by two observers independently and their ratings compared. These ratings showed a very high reliability correlation (r = 0.89), which suggested that the observers had good agreement about the behavior of the children.

How many kids of each gender per role model?

6 boy and 6 girls

after the meeting the adults, what happened?

All the children (including the control group) were subjected to 'mild aggression arousal'. Each child was (separately) taken to a room with relatively attractive toys. As soon as the child started to play with the toys the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter's very best toys and she had decided to reserve them for the other children.

Bandura Theory 3

Bandura believed that children would be much more likely to copy the behavior of a role model of the same sex. He wanted to show that it was much easier for a child to identify and interact with an adult of the same gender.

Start of Experiment

Began by placing one of the children from the test groups in a room with an adult. They sat in one corner of the room, with a few appealing toys to play with, such as potato prints and sticker activities

Conclusion of experiment

Children learn social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning - through watching the behavior of another person

Result #1

Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.

Bandura Theory 1

Children witnessing an adult role model behaving in an overly aggressive manner would be likely to replicate similar behavior themselves, even if the adult was not present.

What was the second group?

Exposed to an adult showing aggressive tendencies, was similarly made up of 24 children of either sex. Both groups of 12 were further divided; half would be tested with a female role model, half with a male role model.

What was the third group?

Exposed to an adult showing passive tendencies, was similarly made up of 24 children of either sex. Both groups of 12 were further divided; half would be tested with a female role model, half with a male role model.

Group with aggressive adult(2)?

For the children WITH THE AGGRESSIVE ADULT, after one minute of playing with the toys, the adult would begin to verbally and physically attack the doll for a period of 10 minutes

What about adult during the start?

The adult sat in the other corner of the room, with a few toys, as well as a Bobo doll and mallet. The child was not permitted to play or interact with these toys.

What were the aggressive toys?

The aggressive toys included a mallet and peg board, dart guns, and a 3 foot Bobo doll.

How long were they observed alone?

The child was in the room for 20 minutes and their behavior was observed and rated though a one-way mirror. Observations were made at 5-second intervals therefore giving 240 response units for each child.

Bandura Theory 2

Subjects who had observed a non-aggressive adult would be the least likely to show violent tendencies, even if the adult was not present. They would be even less likely to exhibit this type of aggression than the control group of children, who had seen no role model at all.

Result #3

The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female. However, the exception to this general pattern was the observation of how often they punched Bobo, and in this case the effects of gender were reversed.