A AS Psychology.. Key Studies

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A / AS Psychology.. Key Studies

• Developmental Psychology
• Key study
• Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)

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Bandura, Ross Ross

• Do children learn behaviour from T.V.?
• Could we devise an experiment to find out is this
  is the case?
• Consider how you would plan this experiment.

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The Question?
Nature vs. Nurture

• Nature
• To what extent do we get our skills, attitudes,
  and so on directly through our genes from our
  parents?
• Are we born aggressive?

• Nurture
• Do children learn behaviour from the behaviour
  they see around them?
• Do we learn aggression?

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Specifically.

• Can aggressive behaviour be learned by
  observation?
• NB This was the study that triggered the TV
  violence debate

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Before we begin.Albert BANDURA

• List two behaviours you think might be learned by
  watching others.
• List two behaviours you think could not be
  learned in this way.

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Aim If children were witnesses to an aggressive
  display by an adult they would imitate this
  aggression when given the opportunity.
• TWO adult role models -
• one male and one female and a female experimenter

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• The participants
• 72 children (Stanford University nursery school)
• 36 boys 36 girls
• age range 37 months - 69 months
• Mean age 52 months

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Method a laboratory experiment in controlled
  conditions.
• There were three conditions
• 24 children in each condition

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• The THREE CONDITIONS
• Non aggressive condition
• Aggressive condition
• Control condition

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Non aggressive condition
• and
• Aggressive condition
• There were male and female role models
• 12 children in each

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Bandura Ross Ross
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Bandura Ross Ross
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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Thus
• 6 boys saw aggressive male
• 6 boys saw non-aggressive male
• 6 boys saw aggressive female
• 6 boys saw non-aggressive female

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Thus
• 6 girls saw aggressive female
• 6 girls saw non-aggressive female
• 6 girls saw aggressive male
• 6 girls saw non-aggressive male

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Level 1 Independent Variable (IV)
• Aggressive or non-aggressive role model
• Level 2 Independent variable (IV)
• Same sex or opposite sex role model
• Dependent variable
• Observed Behaviour of children

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• In order to ensure that each group contained
  equally aggressive children they were all rated
  for aggression before the experiment
• rated on
• physical aggression, verbal aggression
• aggression to inanimate objects
• aggression inhibition (self control)

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• What happened then?
• Children taken one at a time
• Phase one of the experiment
• Modelling the behaviour phase

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• What happened then?
• Phase two of the experiment
• The AROUSAL phase
• This was necessary to provoke the children

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• What happened then?
• Phase three of the experiment
• The OBSERVATION phase

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• What was observed?
• The criteria
• Aggression - physical verbal
• Imitative aggression
• Non-imitative

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The Results
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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• The conclusion
• Learning can take place by observation without
  classical or operant conditioning
• Children more likely to learn from same sex
  models

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• The conclusion
• Bandura suggested Freuds theory of
  identification may be used to explain how
  learning took place.
• Which of Freuds stages might these children have
  been in?
• Phallic 5/6 years old

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Thinking about British Psychology Society
  guidelines
• WAS THIS STUDY ETHICAL?
• What are the issues?
• If not ethical WHY not?

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Thinking about methodology
• Does this study have ecological validity?
• If not ecologically valid - why not?

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• Thinking about the participants
• To whom can we generalise the findings?

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• The debate as regards children learning
  aggressive behaviour from watching violence on TV
• How might watching TV differ from the experience
  of the children in the Bandura experiment?

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Bandura Ross Ross The BOBO doll study

• THE END