Bobo doll experiment

The Bobo doll experiment was a landmark 1961 study that examined the role of imitation in social learning among children. It focused on the premise that children can learn aggressive behavior and engage in aggressive actions toward other individuals as a consequence of observing other individuals engaged in aggressive behavior.

Introduction

The Bobo doll experiment was conceptualized by psychologist Albert Bandura at Stanford University in 1961 as a test of early social learning theory. The basic premise of this experiment was that imitation is one source of learning. The Bobo doll experiment was designed to investigate the role of observational learning in social behavior; specifically, the role of observation of aggressive behavior toward an inanimate object in children’s subsequent behavior in the absence of the adult model.

A Bobo doll is an inflatable toy with a weighted bottom that is approximately the same size as a prepubescent child. During the original 1961 experiment, children aged three to six years old were assigned to one of eight experimental conditions plus a control group. Participants in the experimental conditions were exposed to either aggressive or nonaggressive models, were male or female, and observed either same-sex or opposite-sex models. Participants in the control group were not exposed to an adult model. The experimenter attempted to match groups on personality types.

Subsequent to viewing the adult behavior (as per their experimental condition), the children were taken to a second room filled with entertaining toys. The children’s play time was limited, with the goal of mild arousal of aggression. Then the children were taken to a third room filled with “aggressive” and “nonaggressive” toys that they could play with for twenty minutes, in the absence of the adult model. Eight measures of aggression were recorded, including physical aggression toward the Bobo doll, verbal aggression toward the doll, other forms of aggression demonstrated by the adult models, and forms of aggression not demonstrated by the adult models toward the Bobo doll.

Results

Children exposed to aggressive models were more likely to behave in physically and verbally aggressive ways than children exposed to nonaggressive models or children not exposed to adult models. Children exposed to nonaggressive models exhibited the least frequent aggressive behaviors, even when compared with children who had not viewed an adult model. Male children tended to behave more aggressively than female children. Children were more influenced by same-sex models who were behaving aggressively than by opposite-sex models who were behaving aggressively, although relationships between sex of the model and sex of the participant in demonstrating aggression are complex. Sex of the model may influence imitation of aggression or nonaggression for reasons not examined directly in this research. The aggressive behaviors demonstrated by the children resembled the behaviors of the adult models, pointing to the role of imitation in social learning.

In 1963, Bandura reported that observing aggressive behavior displayed on video had less of an effect on children’s behavior than observing live models. In this work, the role of imitation and reinforcement on children’s behavior cannot be disentangled. In 1965, Bandura, studying the role of reinforcement in imitation, reported that children who viewed aggressive behavior being punished were less likely to exhibit the behavior than were children who viewed aggressive behavior being either rewarded or having no consequence. In 1977, Bandura suggested that there are four steps in the modeling process:

•Attention is related to the perceived prestige of the perpetrator

•Retention of actions is necessary for those actions and their consequences to be remembered

•Imitation requires skill, which comes from reproduction of a behavior

•Reinforcement plays a role in imitation by enhancing motivation

Critiques and Further Research

While highly influential, the original Bobo doll experiment has faced significant criticism. Two major points are often raised. First, because the Bobo doll rights itself when hit, children may have viewed the doll as a target intended to be struck rather than as a bona fide object of aggression. Second, drawing a conclusion about a child’s likelihood of striking an actual child or adult from the child’s striking a doll is problematic. Other psychologists have also raised ethical concerns about the structure of the original experiment.

With respect to social learning theory, behaviors such as aggression can be learned by observation and skill can be developed through repeated imitation even in the absence of reinforcement—whether of the model or the child. Bandura and his colleagues postulated that exhibiting aggression, over time, is related to diminishing inhibitions toward aggression. In later work, Bandura studied the role of viewing live versus videotaped aggression on behavior, and he studied the role of reinforcement in imitation. Social learning researchers remain interested in whether the behavior exhibited in the Bobo doll experiment can be generalized to other life situations. Much attention from scientists, educators, policymakers, and the general public has been directed toward better understanding the causes of aggression in children and, specifically, the effects of viewing violence on children’s behavior and on their behavior as adults.

Bibliography

Bandura, Albert. Social Learning Theory. 1977. Prentice, 2002.

Bandura, Albert, D. Ross, and S. A. Ross. “Imitation of Film-Mediated Aggressive Models.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 66, no. 1, 1963, pp. 3–11.

Bandura, Albert, D. Ross, and S. A. Ross. “Transmission of Aggression through Imitation of Aggressive Models.” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 63, no. 3, 1961, pp. 575–82.

Cherry, Kendra. "What the Bobo Doll Experiment Reveals About Kids and Aggression." Verywell Mind, 28 Dec. 2022, www.verywellmind.com/bobo-doll-experiment-2794993. Accessed 9 July 2024.

Galanaki, Evangelia, and Konstantinos D. Malafantis. "Albert Bandura's Experiments on Aggression Modeling in Children: A Psychoanalytic Critique." Frontiers in Psychology, 2022, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.988877. Accessed 9 July 2024.

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Zimmerman, Barry J., and Dale H. Schunk, editors. Educational Psychology: A Century of Contributions. 2003. Erlbaum, 2010.