Classic study: Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961), Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluation, and links to the developmental area and social learning theory.

What this dot point is asking

Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) is the classic study in the developmental area for the theme "external influences on children's behaviour", paired with Chaney. You must know its aim, method, results and conclusions, evaluate it, and explain what it tells us about the developmental area and social learning theory.

The answer

Aim and method

In the aggressive condition the child watched an adult attack a Bobo doll with distinctive physical and verbal acts. All children were then mildly frustrated (shown toys they could not play with) and observed for 20 minutes with a Bobo doll and other toys.

Results and conclusions

Evaluation

• Control and reliability. A standardised lab procedure with matched groups gives high internal validity and replicability, and behaviour was objectively recorded with good inter-rater reliability.
• Ecological validity. Low: striking a Bobo doll (made to be hit) is unlike real aggression against a person.
• Demand characteristics. Children may have inferred the doll was meant to be hit.
• Ethics. Concerns about exposing young children to aggression and deliberately frustrating them.
• Sample. Stanford nursery children, limiting generalisability.

Examples in context

Example 1. Why this study defines the developmental area. The developmental area studies how behaviour changes over a lifetime and how experience shapes it. Bandura shows a key developmental mechanism: children acquire new behaviours by observing and imitating adult models, so social experience directly shapes development. This is why OCR uses it as the classic study on external influences on children's behaviour.

Example 2. The contrast with Chaney. Bandura is paired with Chaney et al. (2004), who used operant conditioning (positive reinforcement from a whistling inhaler) to improve children's behaviour. Where Bandura shows learning by observation (social learning theory), Chaney shows learning by reinforcement (operant conditioning), so together they cover two ways external influences shape children, the classic-contemporary comparison the exam asks for.

Try this

Q1. State the experimental design used by Bandura, Ross and Ross. [1 mark]

• Cue. Matched pairs (children matched on pre-rated aggression across the conditions).

Q2. Explain what is meant by social learning theory. [2 marks]

• Cue. Behaviour is learned by observing and imitating models, especially those the learner identifies with, such as same-sex models.

Q3. Explain one ethical weakness of the study. [2 marks]

• Cue. Young children were deliberately exposed to aggression and frustrated, which could have caused distress or encouraged aggressive behaviour, raising protection-from-harm concerns.