In 1961, with follow-up studies in 1963 and 1965, Albert Bandura divided 72 Stanford nursery-school children into groups that watched an adult model act aggressively or non-aggressively toward an inflatable Bobo doll, or saw no model. Mildly frustrated afterward, children who had watched the aggressive model were far more likely to imitate physically aggressive behavior toward the doll. The results were widely credited with helping shift academic psychology's focus from pure behaviorism toward cognitive psychology.
Facts
Key FindingChildren who observed an adult behave aggressively toward a Bobo doll were significantly more likely to imitate that aggression than children who saw a non-aggressive model or no model, demonstrating observational learning. 2 Method
Study DesignRandomized Controlled Trial 1 Participants Connections
Associated With
The Bobo doll experiment is the classic empirical demonstration of Bandura's social learning theory.
Source Wikipedia: Bobo doll experiment
Conducted By
Source Wikipedia: Albert Bandura
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Bobo doll experiment
WikipediaWikipedia summary: The Bobo Doll Experiment
In 1961, with follow-up studies in 1963 and 1965, Albert Bandura divided 72 Stanford nursery-school children into groups that watched an adult model act aggressively or non-aggressively toward an inflatable Bobo doll, or saw no model.
lead section, study-design
The most notable variation of the experiment measured the children's behavior after seeing the adult model rewarded, punished, or experience no consequence for physically abusing the Bobo doll.
View the Source 2. Wikipedia: Bobo doll experiment
Wikimedia Foundationstudy description
1961 (with follow-up studies in 1963 and 1965)
Associated With: Social Learning Theory, Article body, section connecting the experiment's findings to social learning theory
Social learning theory proposes that people learn largely through observation, imitation, and modelling. The Bobo doll experiment demonstrates that people learn not only by being rewarded or punished but they can also learn from watching someone else being rewarded or punished.
Wikipedia: Albert Bandura
Wikimedia FoundationConducted By: Albert Bandura, Research sectionQuote, Conducted By: Albert Bandura, Research section
He was responsible for the theoretically influential Bobo doll experiment (1961)
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