The Bobo Doll Experiment Alexis T. Smith University of Alabama at Birmingham April 2016 The Bobo Doll Experiment was a study on aggression conducted by Albert Bandura at Stanford University in 1961 because there was a lot of debate about whether a child’s social development was due to genetics, environment factors, or social learning from others around them. The purpose of the study was to give credit to Bandura’s claim that children behavior can be acquired by observation and imitation of a trusted adult role model. The experiment was performed by a team of researchers who physically and verbally mistreated a 3- and 5-foot painted cartoon clown doll, that is designed to sit back upright when knocked down, in front of preschool-age children, which led the children to later copy the behavior of the adults by attacking the doll in the same fashion. The experiment is an example of a matched pairs design, which is used when an experiment has two treatment conditions and the subjects are paired based on a blocking variable, and within each pair the subjects are assigned to a different treatment randomly. There were a total of 72 children within this lab …show more content…
The first stage of the experiment is called modeling. In this stage the children were individually shown into a room where they would sit in one corner and pay with potato prints and pictures and the adult sat in the other corner with a mallet and the Bobo doll. In the first group, 24 children would watch a male or female adult abuse the doll both physically (kicked, punched, threw, and hit with different objects) and verbally (made aggressive and non-aggressive statements). In the second group, 24 children were exposed to adult who played quietly in the corner with the toys but avoiding the Bobo doll. The third group, 24 children were not exposed to neither an aggressive or non-aggressive adult. After 10 minutes went by, the adult in both groups left the
Albert Bandura created the bobo doll experiment in 1961, the aim of this experiment was to show that if children where witnesses to aggressive displays by an adult of some sort they would imitate this behaviour when given an opportunity. The tested group contained 36 young girls and 36 young boys all aged between 4 and 5 years which was then divided into 3 groups of 24 – the aggressive condition, the non aggressive condition and the control group. The first group involved the children watching aggressive models, where the children where then subdivided by sex of the role model they were exposed to. The second group
The fundamentals of the social learning theory significantly describe offenders and their criminal behavior which is learned based on observation and imitation. A researcher by the name of Albert Bandura along with coworkers tested the social learning theory with several experiments on children and their imitation of aggression based on what they saw and were exposed to. Bandura’s focus was to prove that human behavior such as aggression is learned through social imitations and copying the actions of others. Walters (1966) gives details about the Bobo doll experiment and explains its purpose related to learning a violent behavior based on observation. In the experiment, the tested subjects were children of both sexes, ranging from the ages of three to six years. Some of the children were exposed to a non-aggressive adult, while the other children were placed in a room with an aggressive adult who would both physically and verbally attack the Bobo doll. The control group in the experiment was not exposed to any adult. During the second phase of the experiment, the children were left in a room by themselves with the toys, and watched to see if they would demonstrate the aggressive behavior like that of which they observed adults doing earlier. Walter (1966) describes the results as “children who had been exposed to an aggressive model showed more imitative physical and verbal
Behaviorists argue that people are not born with a violent disposition; rather they learn to think and act violently as a result of their everyday experiences (Bandura, 1977). Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. This popular behavioral notion is known as the social learning theory. Bandura believes that humans are active information processors and think about the relationship between their behavior and its consequences. Studies of family life, for example, show that aggressive children often model the violent behaviors of their parents. In 1961, Bandura conducted the famous bobo doll experiment in which children observed the people around them behaving in various ways. The experiment involved exposing children to two different adult models; an aggressive model and a non-aggressive one. After observing the adults and their aggressive or non-aggressive behavior, the children were later allowed to play in a room with the Bobo doll by themselves. When they played with the doll by themselves, alone in a room, they began to imitate the actions they had previously observed by the adults. The children who had observed the adults aggressively playing with the doll imitated a similar aggressive behavior while playing with the doll alone. Those who observed the
Bandura suggested children learn from watching adults – referred to as ‘Bobo doll experiment’. Three groups of children watched a film of a variation in behaviour in adults towards a doll.
The room was also equipped with a one-way window so the child could be observed without their acknowledgement. The experiment showed that the consequences in the films that the children observed in the ending, created a different outcome. The children who witnessed the film were the adult was rewarded was most likely to repeat or imitate the aggressive behavior toward the Bobo doll. In the situation of the other children who watched the adult being punished for their aggressive behavior, the children were less likely to recreate the aggressive behavior towards the Bobo doll. After the findings Bandura added to the experiment. The children who watched any of the three films were asked to recreate what the adult did in the film. Each imitation the child recreated correctly, they were rewarded with candy and stickers. Virtually all the children were capable of recreating all actions, aggressive or non-aggressive. The different variations of the films the children watched had no impact on them. In conclusion to Bandura’s experiment, you are capable of imitating any behavior, aggressive or non-aggressive, but you are more likely to imitate if there is expectation of any type of reward.
Throughout this course, we have explored a vast amount of theories, however, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) has been the one that intrigued me the most. Bandura’s SLT “strongly emphasized the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior (Powell, Honey, & Symbaluk 2017).” According to our readings Bandura agrees with the behaviorist learning theories of classical and operant conditioning, he proposes that the SLT is a result of both person and situation, which does not have the same effect from either component on their own (Powell, Honey, & Symbaluk 2017). One of his most well-known studies involves a bobo doll. In which Bandura demonstrates that when someone observes violent behavior it increases the chances of violence of the spectator, and
On the other hand, it is possible to say that the children were manipulated into responding aggressively towards the BoBo Doll as they were teased and may have become frustrated because they could not touch the toys even though they had to watch the role models playing however it is not actually stated how long the children remained aggressive for. The experiment can be said to be unethical and morally wrong because the children were trained to be aggressive, as they were probably not used to watching adults behave some immaturely. Also as the experiment was preformed in a laboratory it therefore lacks eco-logical validity, as it may not have real life consequences. Another study that supports the Social Learning Theories of aggression is Patterson et al (1989).
Human behaviors are learned emotion through interaction with each other. A child’s brain is like a sponge. It absorbs the behavior of its surroundings. Serial killer’s treatment and view of other people is a learned behavior through interaction with others in society. The Bobo doll experiment conducted by Albert Bandura in 1961-1963 at Stanford University shows how children’s behavior depends on adults that are around them. In the experiment, adults acted aggressively to the Bobo doll and the study was on how the children will react to it after they saw the adults’ interaction with the doll. Bandura conducted the experiment on two models where one of the models contained children exposed to the aggressive act performed by the adult on the Bobo doll. The other model contained children who saw adults act in a pleasant way to the doll. The result of this experiment showed that children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act physically aggressive than those who were not (McLeod). This study proved the social learning theory which basically states that children learn behaviors from
In the Bobo doll experiment, the kids demonstrated behavior similar to what the saw. The hit the doll, hammered the doll, and kick the doll. Then the kids began to adopt different ways of attacking the doll, whether it was with a gun, smacking it with a ball, or hitting the tether ball which hit the Bobo doll. One possible implication of viewing violence when it comes to social learning is that violence might be a product of what they are taught. Like in the video, the kids saw an adult beating up a doll. In a way, the may think if the adult can do it, I can also beat up the doll. If the kid does not differentiate from what is appropriate from adult behavior, and kids behavior, they will copy behavior of authority. Another implication could
The Bobo doll was a fun toy and probably because it could be abused is what made it fun. Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo doll experiment utilized this fact by testing where children might possibly get their aggression (Smith & Mackie, 2014). Where do children get their aggressive attitudes from as in nature or nurture is a question it was hoping to address. The children were exposed to adults that would beat up on the doll and later be observed to see if this influenced them to be aggressive (Smith & Mackie, 2014). There is a theory that a thing observed will not act the same way as it does when it is not, and it makes one wonder how they try to curb this fact when doing experiments of this type.
The Bobo doll experiment was the collective name of experiment conducted by Albert Bandura in 1961 and 1963 when children’s behaviors after watching a violence video. This experiment done in children. Albert Bandura made a video of children who used to more violence video. Instated out of 100% of people, 60% boys are more aggressive comparison to girls, because boys play more aggressive and dramatic games than a girl. According to the research, Albert found that both girls and boys who watched the older people, “how they play and beat the doll”. In our country we believe that, we learn from our siblings, if brother and sister are nice and good than small child also good. Children learn what they saw and lots of kids spend more quality time
During the aggressive model scenario, the adult would begin by playing with the toys for around one minute. Then the adult would begin to show aggression towards the Bobo doll. The aggressive adult would also verbally attack the Bobo doll shouting things like "Sock him," "Hit him down," "Kick him," or "Pow". After about 10 minutes, the experimenter came back into the room, dismissed the adult, and took the child into another playroom. The non-aggressive adult model simply played with the other toys for the entire 10 minute-period. In this situation, the Bobo doll was completely ignored by the model, then the child was taken out of the room. However children in the aggressive scenario showed much more imitation of of the adults physical and verbal
In the contemporary world, there are several considerations regarding the impact of social influences on the development and growth of a child's temperament and morality.
Another point, perhaps the weakest of the study, is methodological shortcomings. Inflated Bobo doll, is primarily designed to be hit down and bounce back up, so basically its purpose is being hit, therefore when the children hit the doll, it didn’t necessarily mean that they were imitating their role models. This contradictory argument is supported by Kniverton and Stephenson found in 1970. On the other hand, bearing all these limitations in mind, “we can deduce that the role model did indeed have a genuine effect on the child’s observed reaction and imitation because all variables other than the independent variable were well and tightly controlled.” This finding is really useful, not purely because it supports the theory of learning through observation, but mainly it demonstrates usefulness of explaining real world situations, such as the influence of TV and actors on children (this is also applicable to further development of social cognitive theory). Probably the biggest strength of this theory is its high face validity. The idea that children would imitate other’s behaviour is highly probable, because we see it every day. But although there are some really strong supporting arguments, that children actually imitate the behaviour, it
In the Bobo Doll experiment conducted by Albert Bandura, researchers were interested in testing children’s behavior in response to their exposure to violence. This study was constructed with 72 children, 36 boys and 36 girls from Stanford University Nursery School. Before the study began, each child was individually scored on his or her level of aggression towards others, as rated by the experimenter and the child’s teacher. Then the children were separated into groups based on a similar score of aggression. The children were separated into three groups of 24 children. The three groups allowed the experimenter to create the conditions used to test the children’s response to violence, which was the independent variable, as it affects the children’s aggressive behavior, the dependent variable. The first group of subjects was the aggressive model group, where the subjects were presented in a