Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment 1961-1965

Transcript: The illustrious Bobo Doll experiment was conducted by American psychologist Albert Bandura in 1961, which focused on the ‘patterns of behaviour associated with aggression’ (Bandura, 1961). By conducting this experiment, Bandura intended to showcase that by observing physical aggressive behaviour conflicted by an adult, such as kicking, hitting, and the expression of hostile language to an inflatable doll, children learn and imitate those behaviours. Within this experiment, Bandura selected 36 boys and 36 girls aged between 4 - 6 years old from a nursery school in Stanford to participate. The children were then distributed into three groups of twenty-four determined by their existing levels of aggression. Group 1 witnessed an adult perform aggressive acts to the doll and get rewarded, group 2 witnessed the same adult get punished for their aggressive behaviour, and group 3 experienced no consequences. Bandura discovered that all participants were more inclined to mimic aggressive behaviour if the model was rewarded for their actions, and were less likely to conflict violence towards the doll when the adult was punished for their aggressive behaviour (Bandura, 1965, p. 590). According to Bandura (1961) once the aggression was learned, it was then further expanded on by the learner as they became slightly more violent (Bandura, 1961). Although these behaviours have been learnt, doesn't mean it will be performed by the individual. According to Margetts and Woolfolk (2019) certain students refrain from participating in 'bad behaviours' adopted by their peers due to the discouragement of personal consequences. In addition, a student may have learned how to spell certain words, however may perform badly under test conditions due to anxiety or limitations to fine motor skills. Therefore, indicates that “performance is not an indication of their learning” (Margetts and Woolfolk, 2019).Reference: Bandura, A. (1965). INFLUENCE OF MODEL'S REINFORCEMENT CONTINGENCIES ON THE ACQUISITION OF IMITATIVE RESPONSES. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1, 589-95.Bandura, A. (1961). Transmission of aggressions through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 575–582.Margetts, K., & Woolfolk, A. (2019). Educational psychology (5th edition, Fifth adaptation ed.).