BasumcBosoI Ba*oune, A., Ross,D. & Ross, s.A. (1961). Transmrssion ofaggressionthrough imitation of aggressive models.I ournalof Abnor malandSocial p sy cholog A, 6.3, 575 _g2.INrRonucrroxThis studylooks at howaggressivebehaviourdevelopsin children. It hasattracted a lot of attentionfrom a numberof academicdisciplines andis still quoted in many textsdespite its age. There are two social issuesthat the studyaddresses.First, is aggression an innatefeature of ourbehaviour?Andto look at qne particular aspectof this issue, can wesaythat maleaggressiontowardswomenis a feature of ,natural,malebehaviouror is it learnt? Thesequestions have a bearingon how wedevelop social policies to dealwith aggressivebehaviour.The secondissue, whichfollowson from thefirst,is if aggressionis learntthenhowis it learnt?Banduras approachis an extensionof behaviourisizr and basicallyseespeople as being mouldedby their life experiences. It looks at howwe are affectedby the rewardsand punishments that we experienceevery day Bandurais a leadingfigurein socialLearningTheorywhichattempts to extend the concepts used in operant andclassical condi_tioning to explaincomplexhuman social behaviour. Keyconceptsinthisapproach are reinforcemenf and imitation.THE SrunyIn this study,Bandurasetout to demonstrate that if childrenare passivewitnessesto an aggressivedisplayby an adult, they will imitate thisaggressive behaviourwhengiven the opportunity. MorespecificallSqthe study wasguided by the followingpredictions:. . . subjectsexposed to aggressivemodelswill reproduceaggressiveacts resemblingthoseof themodels. . .. , . the observationof subdued non-aggressive modelswill haveageneralized inhibitingeffecton the subjects subsequentbeha_viour. . .MORAL DEVELOPMENT 247. . . subjectswill imitate the behaviour of a same-sex model to agreater degreethan a modelof the oppositesex. . .. . . boys will be more predisposed than girlstowardsimitatineaggression...(p.s7s)SubjectsThirty-sixboysand 36 girls agedbetween37 to 69 monthsweretested.The mean age was 52 months.They usedone male adult and onefemale adult to act as role models.DesignThe study had three major conditions;a controlgroup, a group exposedto an aggressivemodel, and a groupexposedto a passive model. Thechildren whowere exposedto the adult models were further sub-divided by their gender, and by the gender of the modelthey wereexposedto. In otherwordsthere werethree independentvariables.Asummary of the groups is shown in Table 13.2.This is quite a complicateddesignthat appears to cover a lot ofdifferentpossibilities. However,the numberof children in each group isquite small,and the results could be distortedif one group containedafew childrenwhoare normally quiteaggressive.Theresearchers trieclTable13.2BanduraseishtexperimentalgroupsControlgroup - 24 subjectsEightexperimentalgroups (each with 6 subjects)rAggressivemodelcondition - 24 subjectsrNon-aggressive model condition - 24subiectsAggressivemodel condition., 6 boyswith6 boys with6 girts with6 girtswithi.Same-sexopposite sexsame-sex oppositesex.. modelmodelmodel modelNon-aggressive mod el control6 boyswith6 boys with6 girlswith 6 girls withsame-sex opposite sexsame_sex oppositesexmodel modelmodel rnodelto reducethis problemby pre-testing thechildrenand assessing theiraggressiveness.They observedthe children in the nursery and iudgedtheir aggressivebehaviouron four 5-pointrating scales.rh.-.atingscaleswere:(a) physicalaggression;(b) verbal aggression;(c) aggressiontowards inanimate objects;(d) aggressive inhibition.A compositescorefor eachchildwasobtainedby adding the results ofthe four ratings. It was then possible to matchthe children in eachgroup so that they hadsimilarlevelsof aggressionin theireverydaybehaviour.Theobservers werethe experimenter(female), u ,r.,rr".uschoolteacher(female), andthe model for maleaggression.The studyreports thatthe first twoobservers'were well acquaintedwith thechii-1r/oren (p. )/b).A disadvantage of usingrating scalesin this way is that differentobserverssee differentthingswhen they view the same event.Thismight mean that the ratings will vary from oneobserver to another.Tocheck the inter-raterreliabilityof the observations, 51 of the childrenwere ratedby two observersworkingindependently andtheir ratingswere compared. Thehigh correlationthat was achieved(r:.g9)showed theseobservationsto be highlyreliable,suggesting tirat theobserverswerein closeagreementaboutthe behavlouiof the children.ProcedureThe childrenweretestedindividually.In stageone they weretaken tothe experimentalroom which was set out for play. one cornerwasarrangedas the child's play area, where therewas a tableand chair.potatoprints and picture stickers, which were all selectedas havinghigh interestfor these children. The adult modelwas escortedto theopposite corner wheretherewasa smalltable, chair,tinker toy malletand Bobo (a flve-footinflatabledoll).The experimenterthen left theroom.In the non-aggressive condition,the model assembled the tinkertoys in a quiet, subdued manner,ignoring Bobo.In the aggressive condi-tionthe modelstarted to assemblethe tinker toys, but after one minuteturned to Boboandwasaggressive to the doll in a stylizedand distinc-tive way The aggression 'was both physical (for example ,raised theMORAL DEVELOPMENT 249Bobo doll, pickedup the mallet and struck the doll on the head',p.576),and verbal (for example,'Pow!',and'Sock him in the noseip.576). After10 minutes the experimenter returnedand took thechild to anothergamesroom.In stagetwo, the child was subjected to'mildaggressionarousall Thechild wastakento a room with attractivetoys, but afterstartingto playwith them the childwas told that these weretheexperimenter's verybest toysand shehaddecided to reserve them for the other children.Thenthe child was taken to the nextroomfor stagethreeof thestudy The experimenterstayedin the roombtherwise a number of chil-dren wouldeither refuse to remainalone,or would leave beforetermi-nationof the sessionlIn this room therewas a variety of toys, bothnon-aggressive(three bears, crayons andso forth)andaggressivetoys(for example, a malletpegboard,dartguns,nnd a three-footBobo).Thechild was kept in this room for 2o minutes, and their behaviourwasobservedby judges througha one-way mirror.observationsweremadeat five-secondintervalsgiving 240 responseunits for eachchild.The observersrecordedthree measuresof imitationin which theylooked for responsesfrom the child that werevery similarto the displavby the adult model:(1) imitativefor physicalaggression;(2) imitativeverbalaggression;(3) imitativenon-aggressiveverbal responses.Theyalsolooked at twotypesof behaviourthat wereincompleteimita-tions of the adultmodel:(1) mallet aggression;(2) sits on Bobo.In addition, they recordedthree typesof aggressivebehaviourthat werenot imitationsof the adultmodel:(i) punchesBobo;(2) non-imitativephysicaland verbal aggression;(3) aggressive gun play.By looking at the resultswe can considerwhich childrenimitatedthemodels,whichmodelsthey imitated,and r,vhetherthey showeda gen-eralincrease in aggressivebehaviourrather than a speci{icimitation ofthe adult behaviours.REsulrsThe results aresulrlmarisedinTable13.3.They showthat:othe children who saw theaggressrvemodelmade more aggressiveacts thanthe children whosaw the non-aggressivemodel;oboys made more aggressiveacts thangirls;.the boys in the aggressiveconditionsshowedmore aggressionif themodelwas malethanif the model',vasfemale;ethe girls in the aggressiveconditionsalso showed more physicalaggressionif the model was malebut moreverbalaggression if themodelwas female;othe exceptionto this generalpatternwas the observationof howoften they punchedBobo, and in this casethe effects of genderwerereversed.Table13.3 Mean'aggiessionscores for experimentaland controlsubjectsExperimental groupsAggresslveNon-aggresslveFemale MalemodelFemale MalemodelmodelmodelControlgroupResponse categorYlmitative physicalaggressionFemalesubjects5.5Male subjects1-2.42.5o.27.225.84at.z2.Oo.0_L-3lmitativeverbalaggressionFemalesubjectsI3.7Male subjects4.30.0o.0o.3r.7L5.-L13.5o.56.70.5LB.777.2L8.715.528.85.8,13.O2.OL2.7o.71".7MalletaggressionFemalesubjectsMale subjectsPunches BoboFemalesublectsMale subjects6.316.518.911.9 r+.41L7.7L5.7Non-imitativeaggressionFemalesubjectsMalesubjects7.2lo.r8.436.7z)-.JLO.t1A6.1lL+ .oAggressive gun playFemalesubjectsMale subjects2.68.94.515.91.87.32.5LO. i3.7!4.3Source: Bandura,Ross& Ross (1961)MORALDEVELOPMENT251DrscusstoxOne of the issuescommentedon by Bandura, Rossand Rossis the affectthat the gender of the model had on the children.Theynoted thattheaggressionof the female model had a confusingeffecton them. Forexampleoneof the childrensaid,'Who is thatlady? Thats not the wayfor a lady to behave.Ladies are supposedto act like ladies. . 1 (p.581),and another childsaid,'Youshouldhaveseen what thatgirl did inthere.She was just actinglike a man. I neversaw a girl act like thatbefore.She waspunchingand fightingbut no swearing'(p.581).On theother hand,the aggressivebehaviourof the male model fittedmorecomfortably into a culturalstereotypeof appropriate behaviour. Forexample,oneboy said,Al'sa good socker,he beat up Bobo. I wantto socklike Al' (p.581), and one of the girls said,'Thatman is a strongfighter,he punchedand punchedand he could hit Bobo rightdownto the floorand if Bobo got up he said, "Punch your nose".Hes a goodfighterlikeDaddy' (p.581).If we lqok back at thequestionswe raised in thebackgroundsectionof thissummary,then whatcan we learn fromthe study?First,isaggressioninnate?Like all examples of the nature-nurturedebate,itis very hard to get clearevidenceoneway or the other,This studyshowsthat aggressivebehaviour can be learnt,but it doesnot offerany evi-denceon the questionof whethersomefeatures of aggressionare alsoinnate.On the issue of maleviolence,it is rvorthnotingthat thechil-dren in this study already had an expectation that men will behavemoreaggressivelythan women.Thiswasshownby the childrenscomments.The secondquestion rvas how is aggression learnt?Bandurabelievesthat we can learnby being witnessesto the behaviour ofothers, and his studyoffers some supportfor this idea. if this is so, thenit would suggest that the regular viewing of violentbehaviouron televi-sionprogrammeswouldencouragethelearning of violentbehaviourin the viewer. A later variationof the experiment(Bandura, Ross&Ross,1963)showed the children the violent behaviouron a videoratherthan in reallife,and he foundtheywerestill likely to imitatethe aggres-sion behaviourtorvardsthe Bobodoll.Thereare,however,a numberof reasonswh1'weshould be cautiousabout makingtoo many connectionsbetwcen this studyandthe every-day experienceof children.F'orexample,we harreno evidenceaboutany long-termeffects of the study,anci also, it is very uncommonforchildrento be in a situation wheretheyof their experience will be with peopleopinions on whateveris going on.ouEs?Iol{s1Howis aggressionmeasuredin this study?2Howelse couldit be meaSured?3Whatare the threeindependent variables?4What ethical guidelines doesBandura appearto break?SuggestedAnswers start at P'455are alonewith strangers. Muchthey know who will give their