Imitation is copying behaviour and is the fastest type of learning in both humans and animals. Behaviour may be imitated because it is seen as rewarding, but if positive reinforcement does not follow imitation will cease.
Aim: Bandura (1965) conducted a study to investigate if social behaviours (i.e. aggression) can be acquired by imitation.
Method: Under controlled conditions, Bandura arranged for boys and girls to watch a video of a male or female models behaving aggressively towards a toy called a 'Bobo doll'. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner - they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted "Pow, Boom". Children were shown one of the two films each with a different outcome: (i) model punished after being (told off) aggressive; and (ii) model reinforced after being aggressive (given sweets).
Results: Whilst the children were exposed to the same behaviour, boys showed high levels of imitation. More boys imitated the male model and more girls imitated the female model. When the model was reinforced this produced the highest level of children’s imitation aggression.
Conclusion: Children learn behaviour by observation and imitation, including gender roles.
http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm
Questions:
1. Write a hypothesis for this study?
2. Write a null hypothesis for this study?
3. Name the independent and dependent variables in the study.
4. How was the dependent variable operationalised (i.e. measured)?
5. Name the experimental design that Bandura used? Why did Bandura choose this design?
6. Draw a table to show the results of the study.
7. Name at least one extraneous variable that might have affected the results (DV).
8. Does this study have high or low ecological validity and why?
Definition:
Reinforcement: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behaviour being repeated (i.e. strengthen behaviour).
If a child imitates a model’s behaviour and the consequences are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behaviour. If parent sees a little girl consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you are”, this is rewarding for the child and makes it more likely that she will repeat the behaviour. Her behaviour has been reinforced (i.e. strengthened).
Reinforcement can be external or internal and can be positive or negative. If a child wants approval from parents or peers, this approval is an external reinforcement, but feeling happy about being approved of is an internal reinforcement. A child will behave in a way which it believes will earn approval because it desires approval. Positive (or negative) reinforcement will have little impact if the reinforcement offered externally does not match with an individual's needs. Reinforcement can be positive or negative, but the important factor is that it will usually lead to a change in a person's behaviour.
Positive reinforcement strengthens a behaviour by providing a consequence an individual finds rewarding (e.g. praise, a smile, chocolate etc.).
The removal of an unpleasant reinforcer can also strengthen behaviour. This is known as Negative Reinforcement because it is the removal of an adverse stimulus which is ‘rewarding’ to the animal. Negative reinforcement strengthens a behaviour because it stops or removes an unpleasant experience (e.g. an electric shock).
Mischel (1966) argued that children learn their gender roles by being reinforced directly for behaving in gender appropriate ways and for imitating same-sex models, especially the same-sex parent. Parents tend to pay more attention to their children when they do this.
Being indirectly reinforced (i.e. observing someone else being rewarded for gender appropriate behaviour) is known as vicarious reinforcement.
In accordance with the principles of operant conditioning, if a behaviour is rewarded it is more likely to be repeated. So if a little girl puts make-up on and is then told 'What a pretty lady you are', she is more likely to repeat the behaviour. Beverly Fagot (1978) carried out naturalistic observations of the interactions between parents and their two-year-old children. She found that the girls were rewarded for playing with dolls and helping, whereas boys were rewarded for being independent and active in their play. Parents encouraged boys to climb, but disapproved when their daughters did so. These results show that parents treat their children differently and encourage them in gender-related activities. According to the principles of operant conditioning, behaviour which is not appropriate will be weakened if it is ignored or frowned upon. These consequences are examples of punishment.
This relates to attachment to specific models that possess qualities seen as rewarding. Children will have a number of models with whom they identify. These may be people in their immediate world, such as parents or elder siblings, or could be fantasy characters or people in the media. The motivation to identify with a particular model is that they have a quality which the individual would like to possess.
Identification occurs with another person (the model) and involves taking on (or adopting) observed behaviours, values, beliefs and attitudes of the person with whom you are identifying.
The term identification as used by Social Learning Theory is similar to the Freudian term related to the Oedipus complex. For example, they both involve internalising or adopting another person’s behaviour. However, during the Oedipus complex the child can only identify with the same sex parent, whereas with Social Identity Theory the person (child or adult) can potentially identify with any other person.
Identification is different to imitation as it may involve a number of behaviours being adopted whereas imitation usually involves copying a single behaviour.
Jack, who is 5 years old, was watching his favourite cartoon on the television. The cartoon was about a boy who was rewarded for helping his father with jobs, including washing the car. After the cartoon had ended, Jack immediately went to his father and said, “Daddy, can we wash the car, please?”
With reference to the social learning approach, explain the effect of the cartoon on Jack’s behaviour. (4 marks)
Social learning theory proposes that the child acquires its gender identity through observation and imitation of models and reinforcement of behaviour which is considered appropriate to the child's sex.
· However, the social learning approach fails to take account of the biological differences between males and females. It focuses on social (i.e. environmental) factors, which do seem to be important, and ignores important biological factors such as hormones and chromosomes.
Also, the social learning approach is unable to explain why:
· Children prefer sex-typed toys and activities by about two years of age. Observational learning and reinforcement are, by themselves, unlikely to produce such strong preferences at such a young age.
· Children reared in one-parent or homosexual families do not have difficulties with the development of gender identity. There is no evidence that the absence of a powerful same-sex model, or non-stereotypical models for male or female behaviour, affect a child's gender identity.
· Children persist in behaviour which they do not see modelled. The film Billy Elliott is an example of this. Billy was drawn to ballet and desperately wanted to be a ballet dancer, despite being surrounded by men who were typical of the male stereotype. The only ballet dancers he saw were female, but he did not want to be female, he was comfortable as a male. He just wanted to dance.
· Bandura’s Bobo Doll study used the lab experiment research method, which lacks ecological validity. Durkin (1995) points out that very rarely will an adult demonstrate how to attack something and then allow a child to have a go.
· To many psychologists, Bandura’s (1961) "Bobo doll" experiment suffers from a central methodological shortcoming. The sole purpose of a "Bobo doll" is to bounce back up when knocked over; to act as a target. Therefore, the researcher's perceived expectations of the participants' behaviour may have a significant effect on their observed behaviour.
The implications of the social learning approach are that gender is constructed by the society we live in. If we were brought up in a society with different expectations and behaviours for males and females, perhaps one where the distinction between male and female did not exist, then gender identity would have no meaning. If we look at how gender differences are promoted and reinforced, this point may become clearer.