Bandura

Bandura, Ross and Ross (aggression)
Bandura, A., Ross, D. & Ross, S.A. (1961) Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models
 
 
Background
This study is a laboratory experiment investigating the effects of observing aggression and was carried out by Albert Bandura who is, perhaps, best known for his role in developing social learning theory.
Social learning theory isan approach to child development which states that children develop through learning from other people around them. In particular social learning theorists emphasise the role of observation and imitation of role models. In general, social development is seen as a continuous learning process, rather than as happening in stages.
The social learning approach has its origins in the traditionaltheories of classical and operant conditioning - the behaviourist perspective. Behaviourists try to explain the causes of behaviour by studying only those behaviours that can be directly observed and measured. For behaviourists the study of private mental processes (cognitive process like memory or perception) had no place in psychology.
Although social learning theorists agree that we should observewhat is observable, they also believe that there are important cognitive processes which need to be studied to explain behaviour. These cognitive processes cannot be observed but can only be inferred from observing actual behaviour.
 
 
Aim
The aim of Bandura's study was to demonstrate that if children were passive witnesses to an aggressive display by an adult they would imitate thisaggressive behaviour when given the opportunity.
 
 
Hypotheses
 

The researchers made the following 4 predictions:
 
 
1. Children exposed to aggressive models will reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of the models.
2. Children exposed to non-aggressive models will reproduce less aggressive acts.
3. Children will imitate the behaviour of a same-sex model to a greater degree than amodel of the opposite sex.
4. Boys will be more predisposed than girls towards imitating aggression.
 
 
 
Procedure/ Method
Bandura, Ross and Ross tested 36 boys and 36 girls aged between 37 to 69 months (mean = 52 months).
The method was a laboratory experiment. The design of the experiment has three major conditions; the control group, the group exposed to the aggressive model, and the groupexposed to the passive model.

 
The two experimental groups, which consisted of children who were exposed to the adult role models, were further sub divided by their sex, and by the sex of the model they were exposed to. A summary of these groups is shown below.
 
Aggressive Model Condition

 
Non-Aggressive Model Condition
 
This complicated design therefore has three independentvariables. The condition the children were exposed to, the sex of the role model and the sex of the child.
However, the number of children in each group is quite small (six) and the results could be distorted if one group contained say three children who are normally quite aggressive. For example, if the researchers found that a particular group, such as the 6 boys who were witness to an aggressivedisplay by a male, were the most aggressive this could have resulted because this small group of 6 boys were already the most aggressive children.
The researchers attempted to reduce this problem by pre-testing the children for how aggressive they were. They did this by observing the children in the nursery and judged their aggressive behaviour on four 5-point rating scales. It was then possibleto match the children in each group so that they had similar levels of aggression in their everyday behaviour. The experiment is therefore an example of a matched pairs design.
The rating scales were;
(a) physical aggression
(b) verbal aggression
(c) aggression towards inanimate objects
(d) aggressive inhibition
Each child’s score was obtained by adding the result of the four ratings.
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