1. BANDURA’S SOCIAL MODELLING APPROACH TO AGGRESSION

2. Theoretical Background BEHAVIOURISM  Focus on the observable (behaviour)  All that cannot be observed is ignored  Nearly all behaviour is learned  Focus on experimentation rather than speculation  Environmental determinism: tabula rasa, little importance attached to genes  Animal research can be generalized to humans

3. Classical Conditioning PAVLOV Stimulus-Response (S-R) Operant Condicioning SKINNER Reinforcement (+,-) & punishment Social Learning Theory BANDURA Stimulus- Observation- response (S-O-R) Theoretical Background / BEHAVIOURISM

4. HYPHOTHESIS  MAJOR HYPOTHESIS  H1. Participants exposed to aggressive models will reproduce aggressive acts resembling those of the models to a significantly greater extent than both participants exposed to non-aggressive models and those not exposed to any models at all.

5. HYPHOTHESIS  SECONDARY HYPOTHESIS  H2. Participants exposed to subdued, non-agressive models will display significantly less imitative aggression than control group participants (i.e. those who are not exposed to any models at all)  H3. participants will imitate the behaviour at same sex models to a greater degree than opposite sex models.  H4. Boys will be more likely to imitate aggression than girls, especially when they are exposed to aggressive male models

6. DESIGN VARIABLES Exposure to aggressive model or non-aggressive model Independent Variable Imitation / behaviour after the exposure Dependent Variable

7. Response measures This category included acts of striking the Bobo doll with the mallet, sitting on the doll and punching it in the nose, kicking the doll, and tossing it in the air. Imitation of physical aggression Subject repeats the phrases “sock him”, “hit him down”, “kick him”, “throw him in the air”, or “pow”. Imitation of verbal aggression Subjects repeat, “he keeps coming back for more”, or “he sure is a tough fella”. Imitation of non-aggressive verbal responses

8. DESIGN PARTICIPANTS / 36 girls & 36 boys from Stanford Nursery mean age: 4 years and 4 months Total 72 boys and girls Aggressive condition 24 Control 24 Non-aggressive condition24

9. Experimental DESIGN  Matched pairs design - all the kids where matched for their normal levels of aggressive behaviour in the nursery school Physical aggressionVerbal aggression Experimenter and Nursery school teacher - the kids where arranged in groups of 3 then, assigned randomly to one of the two experimental conditions or the control group

10. Experimental DESIGN Control group 24 NON- AGGRESSIVE CONDITION Participants malefemale Modelmale66 female66 AGGRESSIVE CONDITION Participants malefemale Modelmale66 female66

11. RESULTS Scores of children in the aggressive condition where significantly higher than those of either the non- aggressive or control groups H1. supported or rejected?

12. RESULTS / mean aggression scores for experimental and control subjects Response categoryExperimental groups AggressiveNon-aggressiveControl Groups F modelM modelF modelM model Imitative physical aggression Female subjects Male subjects 5.5 12.4 7.2 25.8 2.5 0.2 0.0 1.5 1.2 2.0 Imitative verbal aggression Female subjects Male subjects 13.7 4.3 2.0 17.2 0.3 1.1 0.0 0.7 1.7 Mallet aggression Female subjects Male subjects 17.2 15.5 18.7 28.8 0.5 18.7 0.5 6.7 13.1 13.5 Punches Bobo doll Female subjects Male subjects 6.3 18.9 16.5 11.9 5.8 15.6 4.3 14.8 11.7 15.7 Non-imitative aggression Female subjects Male subjects 21.3 16.2 8.4 36.7 7.2 26.1 1.4 22.3 6.1 24.6 Aggressive gun play Female subjects Male subjects 1.8 7.3 4.5 15.9 2.6 8.9 2.5 16.7 3.7 14.3

13. RESULTS H1 confirmed Subjects in the aggression condition reproduce a good deal of physical and verbal aggressive behaviour h1 H2 rejected No significant differences were found between non- aggressive and control groups h2 H3 confirmed Subjects imitate more when the aggressive behaviour was done by the same sex model h3 H4 partially confirmed Boys reproduced more imitative physical aggression than girls but no more imitative verbal aggression h4

14. DISCUSSION  Social imitation may hasten or short-cut the acquisition of new behaviours without the necessity of reinforcing successive aproximations.  The fact that subjects expressed their aggression in ways that clearly resembled the novel patterns exhibited by the models, provides striking evidence for the occurence of learning by imitation.  Imitation was found to be differentially influenced by the sex of the model with boys showing more aggression than girls following exposure to the male model, the difference being particularly marked on high masculine-typed behaviour.

15. ACTIVITY  EVALUATION  theoretical issues  subsequent research  methodological issues  aplications and implications

16. TRANSMISSION OF AGGRESSION THROUGH IMITATION OF AGGRESSIVE MODELS EVALUATION OF THE EXPERIMENT – 1PSY Theoretical issuesSubsequent researchMethodological issues Applications and implications People only aggres under appropiate social conditions which facilitate such behaviour: Behaviour is learned. 1) Bandura, Ross & Ross: 4 year old watched 2 films involded aggression betweem 2 men. 1st video: aggressive model won. 2nd video: the agressor was beaten up. Children exposed to a new toy act differently than children who have been previously exposed to the toy –familiarity. Mass media has an important rol, children will imitate this behavior (specially aggressive). Learning may occur without any reinforcement; exposure to a behaviour is sufficient for learning (Bandura) R&R Results: 1st video: participants imitated aggression. 2nd video: participants imitated non aggression. The control group in the middle of both. Did they learn or only reproduce aggression? The behavior performed by the adult is very bizarre, it is very unlikely that an adult will act like that in front of a child. Physical punishments are the demonstration of the behavior parents are trying to eliminate (the child becomes more aggressive). 2)Bandura’s 2nd experiment: 1 st phase; participants tested in 3 conditions (model rewarded, model punished and model neither rewarded nor ppunished). 2nd phase; children were offerer rewards for imitating the model’s behaviour. Long term effects and ethical issues were not considered in the experiment. 6-8 months later, children showed the same aggression (40% of them). If you have been the victim of physical abuse as a child, you are very much likely to be an abusing parent than if you haven´t. Bandura’s Results: 1 st phase; 1 st group more aggressive than 2 nd group (but no more than control group) 2 nd phase; under those conditions the 3 groups reproduced the same number of imitative aggressive acts. The bobo doll is an inanimate object, a toy. Therefore the child sees the situation as play. It is not applicable to real life, how that the toy s purpose is to be hit. When people believe they have control over their behavior and can achieve their goals they have “self- efficacy”. It is a laboratory experiment, therefore it lacks of ecological validity. It doesn´t represent the child´s real and home life, it only shows the behavior in that certain condition. Anxiety is experienced when we think of ourselves of being “ill- equipped” to manage potentially painful situations.

17. TRANSMISSION OF AGGRESSION THROUGH IMITATION OF AGGRESSIVE MODELS EVALUATION OF THE EXPERIMENT – 2PSY Theoretical issuesSubsequent researchMethodological issues Applications and implications Bandura: sees aggression as a social learning behaviour (aggression is a learned behaviour. Learning is different than performance. Not generalizable.Bandura´s experiment stimulated further studies on media violence. Presence of models: - Facilitate aggressive behaviour - Shapes behaviour + attitude There are two types of reinforcement: Direct and vicarious (indirect) The long term effects aren´t defined but could depend on the previous characteristics of the participants. This lead to the theory of the “cycle of violence”. Reinforcement: - Direct; reinforced to imitate behaviour - Vicarious; behaviour (reinforcement or punished) Behaviour + Reward: More imitation Observational learning is still considerable in explaining the impact of media violence. Factors leading to aggressivenes: -Being abused - witnessing violence. People learn from actions, as well as from symbolic representations (images / verbal) Learnes by classical conditioning: can lead to phobias. There are three therapies for phobias, and the modelling one was the most effective.

18. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqNaLerMN OE