bandura et al. (1961) - amazon s3 · bandura et al. (1961) transmission of aggression through...

15
© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that children readily imitated behaviour exhibited by an adult model in the presence of the model and also in the same setting when the model is absent. The aim was to investigate if children observing aggressive acts committed by adults in one setting would reproduce those acts in another setting when the adult role model was absent. Four hypotheses were tested: Children observing aggression modelled by an adult will imitate the behaviour, even if the model was no longer present. Non-aggressive models will result in an aggression-inhibiting behaviour (self- control). Children will imitate the behaviour of the same sex model more than that of a model of the opposite sex. Boys will show more aggressive behaviour than girls, with highest aggression being demonstrated by boys exposed to a male model. Method: This was a laboratory experiment. Bandura worked with Stanford University and drew his sample from the university’s nursery school. All the participants were in the age group of 3 years to 6 years, with the average age being 4 years and 4 months. It was a mixed gender group of 36 girls and 36 boys. The children were divided into three groups. There were equal number of girls and boys in each group. To the extent possible, members of each group were matched for their general level of aggression. They were then distributed into further sub-groups as follows: Condition 1 Aggressive model Condition 2 Non-aggressive model Condition 3 Control group Same sex model Opposite sex model 6 female participants 6 male participants 6 female participants 6 male participants 6 female participants 6 male participants 6 female participants 6 male participants No model 12 female participants, 12 male participants Each child in condition 1 was exposed for about 10 minutes to a model showing physical and verbal aggression towards an inflatable Bobo doll. Children in condition 2 were exposed for a similar period to a non-aggressive model who assembled toys. Children in the control group did not see any model. SAMPLE

Upload: ngokiet

Post on 10-Jan-2019

220 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models.

Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that children readily imitated behaviour exhibited by an adult model in the presence of the model and also in the same setting when the model is absent. The aim was to investigate if children observing aggressive acts committed by adults in one setting would reproduce those acts in another setting when the adult role model was absent.

Four hypotheses were tested: Children observing aggression modelled by an adult will imitate the behaviour,

even if the model was no longer present. Non-aggressive models will result in an aggression-inhibiting behaviour (self-

control). Children will imitate the behaviour of the same sex model more than that of a

model of the opposite sex. Boys will show more aggressive behaviour than girls, with highest aggression being

demonstrated by boys exposed to a male model.

Method: This was a laboratory experiment. Bandura worked with Stanford University and drew his sample from the university’s nursery school. All the participants were in the age group of 3 years to 6 years, with the average age being 4 years and 4 months. It was a mixed gender group of 36 girls and 36 boys.

The children were divided into three groups. There were equal number of girls and boys in each group. To the extent possible, members of each group were matched for their general level of aggression. They were then distributed into further sub-groups as follows:

Condition 1 Aggressive

model

Condition 2 Non-aggressive

model

Condition 3 Control group

Same sex model

Opposite sex model

6 female participants 6 male participants

6 female participants 6 male participants

6 female participants 6 male participants

6 female participants 6 male participants

No model 12 female participants, 12 male participants

Each child in condition 1 was exposed for about 10 minutes to a model showing physical and verbal aggression towards an inflatable Bobo doll. Children in condition 2 were exposed for a similar period to a non-aggressive model who assembled toys. Children in the control group did not see any model.

SAM

PLE

Page 2: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

All the children were then taken individually to play in a room full of toys. After a short while the child was told that the toys were for other children. The child was then taken to a third room filled with aggressive and non-aggressive toys, including a Bobo doll. The child was allowed to play in this room for 20 minutes while the researchers observed her/him from behind a one-way mirror. Measures were taken of physical and verbal aggression that imitated the earlier model. Researchers also measured the child’s non-imitative aggressive behaviour.

Results: Children exposed to aggressive behaviour imitated the same aggression physically and verbally. This indicated the role of observational learning. Participants exposed to the non-aggressive model and those in the control group did not demonstrate this aggressive behaviour. The results for testing aggression-inhibiting behaviour were mixed. Children who observed the non-aggressive male model showed much less non-imitative aggressive behaviour than the control group. However, boys who observed the opposite sex non-aggressive model showed more imitative aggressive behaviour as compared to boys in the control group. Violent behaviour by boys in condition 1 was influenced significantly more by an aggressive male model than by an aggressive female model. Results for girls were less extreme. They did, however, appear more influenced by an aggressive female model than by an aggressive male model. In same sex aggressive conditions, girls were more likely to imitate verbal aggression while boys showed more physical aggression. In all the conditions boys were more physically aggressive than girls. Conclusion: This experiment demonstrated that children can learn behaviour, here aggressive behaviour, through observation and imitation of an adult model. The learning can occur even when the model is not physically present. The child may learn the behaviour even without reinforcement and deliberate teaching. The study also highlighted how young children may be affected by exposure to violence in real life or as depicted in the media. Both boys and girls are more likely to learn masculine behaviour such as physical aggression from a male adult than a female. While verbal aggression is more likely to be imitated from a same-sex adult. Evaluation Sampling Bias: The participants were from a single nursery and were children of University, therefore is biased and ungeneralisable. However, the age group of the

SAM

PLE

Page 3: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

sample was appropriate for demonstrating social learning. This is a critical learning period for cognitive development and the child is sensitive to environmental cues. A mixed gender sample ensured that questions around gender differences were addressed. Aggressive behaviour is thought to vary in females and males, so this study offered data to study this possibility. Validity: This study has low levels of ecological validity, as this was an artificial situation, with the children watching unusual adult aggression towards a toy. The modelled aggression was not standardised across each child. Furthermore, the initial level of aggressiveness in the child may not have been accurately measured since it was based only on observations by parents and teachers, and therefore allocation to groups may not have been matched pairs by level of aggressiveness. Research Method: The study was conducted in a controlled laboratory environment, enabling the researchers to study specific behaviour in great detail. Procedures were standardised and extraneous variables were minimised, therefore all positive were exposed to same conditions. Furthermore the study is easily replicated. However, lab studies are also prone to demand characteristics which may have affected the results, children were reported as saying that they were supposed to hit the Bobo Doll. Exam Style Questions 1. Who were the participants in Bandura et al.’s study? (1)

A. Boys and Girls aged between three and six years old B. Boys and Girls aged between three and five years old C. Boys and Girls aged between two and five years old D. Boys and Girls aged between two and six years old

2. Outline one conclusion from Bandura et al.’s study. (2) 3. Describe one weakness of the research method used by Bandura et al. (3) 4. Describe the procedures in Bandura et al.’s study (4) SA

MPL

E

Page 4: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Exam Style Questions – With Answers 1. Who were the participants in Bandura’s study? (1) A. Boys and Girls aged between three and six years’ old. 2. Outline one conclusion from Bandura et al.’s study. (2) Bandura concluded that children can learn aggressive behaviour through the observation and imitation of an adult role model, this learning can take place even when the model is not physically present 3. Describe one weakness of the research method used by Bandura et al. (3) One weakness of the lab experiment used by Bandura, is that it lacks ecological validity. The procedures involved a child being put into an artificial environment, where they watched an unknown person being aggressive to a doll. This is not something which happen in everyday life and aggressive towards a doll cannot be generalised to aggressive other humans, further the children may have behaved the way did because of demand characteristics rather than learned aggression. 4. Describe the procedures in Bandura et al.’s study (4) Children were divided into separate groups, firstly into same-sex or opposite sex model conditions and then further divided into an aggressive condition, a non-aggressive condition and a control group who did not see a model. The children in the experimental groups were observed their model. They were all then placed into a room of toys but were informed they were not for them to play with. Finally, they were all then allowed to play for 20 minutes with aggressive and non-aggressive toys, including a Bobo doll – their behaviour was observed through a one-way mirror. Procedures were standardised and highly controlled.

SAM

PLE

Page 5: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Baron-Cohen (1997) Another Advanced Test of Theory of Mind: Evidence From Very High Functioning Adults With Autism or Asperger Syndrome. Background and aim: Baron Cohen developed his famous Theory of Mind (TOM) in 1990, which proposes that all people with Autism have a severe impairment in their understanding of mental states and in their appreciation of how mental states affect behaviour. People with Autism lack TOM. However, not all research findings agree on this. Because of the large variation in the degree individuals are affected by autism, a spectrum was developed. Within the spectrum are those with Asperger Syndrome, who show the same characteristics as autism but are of average or above average intelligence and seem to have good communication skills. Happé (1994) tested adults with autism or AS on an ‘advanced’ TOM task and found they had more difficulty with mental state stories (Happé’s Strange Stories) than controls. Following on from this, Baron-Cohen used an adult test to assess TOM in high-functioning adults with Autism or AS. Method: The sample for this study was made up of high-functioning adults with Autism or AS. There were also adults with Tourette Syndrome (TS) and an aged-matched group of ‘normal’ adults. All participants were of average intelligence - the experimental design was matched pairs. The AS/Autism group consisted of 13 males and 3 females and responded to an advert in the National Autistic Magazine. The control group were 25 males and 25 females from the general population in Cambridge and 8 males and 2 females with TS from a tertiary referral centre in London. Therefore, the type of person likely to have TOM deficits was the IV, as this was naturally occurring. This can be considered a quasi- experiment. Participants were given 25 black and white photographs of the eyes of different male and female faces and were asked to choose one of two words which best described what the person in the photograph was feeling or thinking. Furthermore, they were given a Gender Recognition Task where they simply had to identify whether the eyes were male or female (not a mind reading task). A Basic Emotion Recognition Task was also carried out, which involved judging emotions of whole faces. This was done to check whether difficulties on the Eyes Task were due to difficulties with basic emotional recognition. Happé’s Strange Stories were used to validate the results from the Eyes Task, as participants answered questions on what the characters in the stories were thinking. The four tasks were completed in a random order, either at home, in a clinic or in a lab at Cambridge University.

SAM

PLE

Page 6: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Results: The mean scores from these tests was the DV. On the eyes task, ‘normal’ adults (20.3) and those with TS (20.4) had significantly higher mean scores than the Autism/AS group (16.3), whereas ‘normal’ females performed better than ‘normal’ males - 21.8 compared to 18.8. Within the autism/AS group there was also no significant correlation between IQ and performance. On the Strange Stories task, the Autism/AS group made significantly more errors than the other two groups (no participants with TS made any errors). There were no significant differences between the groups on the control tasks. Conclusions: Results from this study provide evidence that adults with Autism/AS do indeed have an impaired TOM. It can also be concluded that because some participants within the autism/AS group had degrees and were all of normal intelligence, we can assume that TOM deficits are independent of general intelligence. Evaluation Validity: This study used two control groups to compare the AS/Autism with; the groups were also matched on key characteristics such as age and intelligence. As a result, extraneous variables were minimised. Therefore, the study has high levels of internal validity. A further strength was that participants did the four tasks in different orders, which reduced order effects (e.g. they may do worse on the fourth task as they are bored or tired). However, the tasks were very artificial and lacked ecological validity; for example, they were given photographs of eyes, rather than a live person. Data: Quantitative data was produced which allowed analysis and comparisons to be made between the three groups; for example, mean scores out of 25 on the eyes task were calculated. Sampling Bias: The small number of participants in the AS/Autism group (16), of which only 3 were female, make the results difficult to generalise. Furthermore, as this group were all volunteers they have certain types of characteristics and may not be representative of all individuals with these disorders. Exam Style Questions 1. What experimental design was used in Baron Cohen’s study? (1)

A. Independent Measures B. Matched Pairs C. Repeated Measures D. Quasi-experiment

2. What can we conclude from Baron Cohen’s study on Autism in Adults (2) 3. Describe the three groups of participants in this study (3) 4. Describe the tests participants completed as part of the procedures in Baron Cohen’s study (4)

SAM

PLE

Page 7: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Exam Style Questions – With Answers 1. What experimental design was used in Baron Cohen’s study? (1) B. Matched Pairs 2. What can we conclude from Baron Cohen’s study on Autism in Adults (2) It can be concluded that people with Autism and Asperger Syndrome have an impaired Theory of Mind. This means that they have difficulties understanding what other people may be thinking or feeling and how it affects their behaviour, and this is not due to levels of intelligence. 3. Describe the three groups of participants in this study (3) There were 16 high functioning adults with Autism (4 participants) or Asperger Syndrome (12 participants) who volunteered to take part in the study. Their TOM was compared to 10 people with Tourette Syndrome from London and 50 normal controls who were members of the general population of Cambridge. 4. Describe the tests participants completed as part of the procedures in Baron Cohen’s study (4) Four tasks were given to participants to complete. In the eyes task they were given 25 black and white photos of eyes along with two words; they were asked to choose the word which indicated the mental state of the eyes, such as happy or sad. The eyes were either those of a male or female and participants had to identify which they belonged to; this was called the Gender Recognition Task. This was a control test to make sure that the participants could recognise gender. Similarly, the Basic Emotion Recognition Test, which involved judging emotions of whole faces, was used to see if they could perceive emotions in the whole faces. Fourthly, they were asked questions on what characters in some ‘strange stories’ were thinking.

SAM

PLE

Page 8: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Bocchiaro et al. (2012) Disobedience and Whistleblowing. Background and aims: Milgram found that due to situational factors, levels of obedience to authority are extremely high, regardless it seems of our disposition. Bocchiaro et al. however wanted to investigate why people will disobey and who are the people that disobey or even blow the whistle. Why do they choose the challenging moral path? Furthermore, do these people actually have personal characteristics that make them different? Bocchiaro et al. also predicted that as Milgram found, there is a large difference between people’s predictions of their own and others’ levels of obedience/disobedience when compared with the actual behaviour they portray. Method: Although this study took place in a laboratory at VU University in Amsterdam, as was the case with Milgram’s study (at Yale), there was no IV or DV. Therefore, it was not an experiment and was classed as a ‘scenario study’. 96 female and 53 male University students made up the sample of 149 participants, with a mean age of 20.8 years old. The undergraduates were paid either €7 or they received course credits. Prior to the study, 8 pilot studies took place to check that the procedure was credible and ethical. On arrival, each participant was met by a male, Dutch experimenter who was formally dressed with a stern demeanour. He then asked participants to give names of other students; this was followed by the ‘cover story’. Participants were told that there was an investigation into sensory deprivation on brain function. Recent research in Rome had completely isolated six participants which had some disastrous effects with most participants reporting a frightening experience - two had requested to withdraw from the study but were not allowed to do so because these would lead to data being invalid. The researchers wanted to replicate the study at VU University and a Research Committee was deciding whether to approve the study and were collecting feedback from students who knew details about the experiment, to help inform their decision. Participants were asked to write a statement to convince other students to participate in the study. These statements would be sent to these identified students by mail. The researcher left the room for three minutes to allow participants to reflect on what they were going to do; they were then moved to a second room where there was a computer for them to use to write their statement, a mailbox and the Research Committee’s feedback forms. Participants were asked to be enthusiastic in their statements and had to use two adjectives which included “exciting”, “incredible”, “great” and “superb”. Negative effects of sensory deprivation were not to be mentioned. Participants were

SAM

PLE

Page 9: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

given seven minutes to complete these tasks alone. There was the opportunity for participants to anonymously challenge the ethics of the research by putting a form in the mailbox. The researcher then returned, administered two personality inventories, probed for suspicion, fully debriefed the students and asked them to sign a second consent form, which this time gave full informed consent. A description of the situation was also given to a comparison group, who were then asked if they were in this situation “What would you do?” and “What would the average student at your university do?” Results: Out the 149 participants, 76.5% obeyed the experimenter, 14.1% disobeyed and 9.4% became whistle-blowers. Out of the 14 whistle-blowers, 9 of them wrote an anonymous message, while 5 of them were open whistle-blowers. Bocchiaro reported no significant differences in results from different groups in relation to personality, gender or religious affiliation or involvement. The only significant result was that whistle-blowers were more likely to have a faith (defined as a confident belief in a transcendent reality). Qualitative data from the study showed that participants obeyed because of situational factors: ‘‘I cooperated because the experimenter asked me to.’’ They had entered the agentic state and were not responsible for their behaviour. In contrast, those who disobeyed reported feelings of responsibility: ‘‘I don’t want to do unethical things, I would be very disappointed in myself’’. Out of all the participants in the comparison group, just 3.6% stated they would obey the orders, 31.9% reported that they would be disobedient and a further 64.5% said that they would be a whistle-blower. When predicting the behaviour of average students at the University, only 18.8% thought other students would obey, while 43.9% suggested they would disobey, while 37.3% predicted that the typical student would whistle-blow. Conclusion: Despite the authority figure asking people tend to carry out clearly unjust orders, the majority of us will still obey; these findings are similar to what Milgram found in his study. Disobeying and whistleblowing are psychologically, socially and economically demanding for people, particularly for whistleblowers (although whistleblowers have more faith than either obedient or disobedient people) which may explain why we do not readily behave in this way. Behaving in a moral manner is challenging for people, even when the reaction appears to observers as the simplest path to follow. What we think we may do and what we think others may do in such a scenario are very different to how we actually behave. Evaluation Research method: This study was conducted in a lab which was highly controlled, procedures were standardised and it can be easily replicated. However, the cover story was very contrived and participants may have worked out the aim which could have led to demand characteristics. In order to overcome this issue, Bocchiaro et al. did remove 11 participants from the initial sample, due to their ‘suspiciousness’. Ethical considerations: Participants were deceived, as they were told that they were helping researchers recruit participants for an unethical study; these were of course not

SAM

PLE

Page 10: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

the true aims. However, they did have the right to withdraw at any time without penalty. They were also assured of the confidentiality of the data and they were also fully debriefed at the end of the study and full informed consent was then gained. Sampling bias and Ethnocentrism: Despite the sample being quite large and including both males and females, the sample of Dutch students is not representative of the target population and therefore results cannot be generalised. It might be said that students are more likely to disobey than non-students. Data: Both qualitative and quantitative data was obtained. Qualitative data was gained during the debrief and the students explained reasons for their actions, giving us a greater insight into why people obeyed, disobeyed or blew the whistle. Percentages and personality scores provided quantitative data and allowed easy comparison and analysis of results.

Exam Style Questions 1. Where did Bocchiaro et al.’s study take place? A. London B. Paris C. Amsterdam D. Brussels 2. Outline the aim of this study (2) 3. Describe some ethical considerations in Bocchiaro et al.’s study (3) 4. Describe the results from Bocchiaro et al.’s study? (4)

SAM

PLE

Page 11: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Exam Style Questions – With Answers 1. Where did Bocchiaro et al.’s study take place? C. Amsterdam 2. Outline the aim of this study (2) Bocchiaro’s aim was to find out why people disobey and whistleblow and what kind of people they are. They also wanted to see if these people have different personalities to those who are obedient. 3. Describe some ethical considerations in Bocchiaro et al’s study (3) Although this study was unethical Bocchiaro did take steps to make the study more ethical. Participants were given the right to withdraw without any consequences. All of the participants’ results and personal information remained confidential. A full debriefing took place at the end of the study, informing participants of the previous deception and full informed consent was taken at this point. 4. Describe the results from Bocchiaro et al.’s study? (4) 76.5% obeyed, 14.1% disobeyed and 9.4% became whistle-blowers. 9 out 14 whistleblowers did so anonymously, while the other 5 were open whistle-blowers. This was not what the comparison group suggested they would do. Only 3.6% of them stated they would obey, 31.9% said they would disobey, while 64.5% suggested they would be a whistle-blower.

SAM

PLE

Page 12: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Casey et al. (2011) Behavioural and Neural Correlates of Delay of Gratification 40 Years Later. Background and aim: Mischel’s famous marshmallow test investigated whether children could delay gratification by receiving a second marshmallow if they resisted the temptation to eat it for 15 minutes; only 1/3 were able to resist. Eigsti (2006) found that performance on a delay-of-gratification task in childhood predicted how well they performed a cognitive control task as adolescents and young adults. Casey et al aimed to build on these findings to see whether delay of gratification in childhood predicts impulse control abilities and sensitivity to alluring or social cues in adulthood. Alluring qualities of targets in an impulse control task were manipulated to examine behavioural and neural correlates of delay of gratification using fMRI scans. Method: This was a quasi-experiment because the IV was whether the participant was a high delayer or a low delayer, which was naturally occurring. The DV was the reaction times and accuracy on the impulse control task and brain imaging results using fMRI. Because some participants completed self-control scales when in their 20s and 30s and that those participating in Experiment 1 did both the “hot” and “cool” go/nogo tasks means the study had, in parts, a repeated measures design. The study was also a longitudinal study as some participants had been tested from the age of four years old. 562 four-year-old pupils from Stanford’s Bing Nursery School completed a delay-of-gratification task during the late 1960s and early 1970s. 155 of them completed self-control scales in 1993 and then 135 of them did so again in 2003. The 117 of them who were above or below average in their original delay-of-gratification performance as well as in self-reported measures of self-control were invited to participate in this study, of which 23 males and 36 females agreed. Participants were classified as low (32) or high (27) delayers which was based on their delay-of-gratification performance and the self-control measures. Of the 59 participants, 15 high delayers (5 male, 10 female) and 11 low delayers (7 male, 4 female) also took part in the fMRI experiment. The first experiment tested whether individuals who were less able to delay gratification as children and young adults (low delayers) would show less impulse control in the suppression of a response in adulthood in a “hot” and “cool” impulse control task. Participants completed two versions of the go/no-go task. The “cool” version consisted of male and female stimuli: one sex was presented as a “go” (target) stimulus to which participants were instructed to press a button, and the other sex as a “no-go” (non-target) stimulus for which they should not press the button. Before this, a screen indicated which stimulus was the target. Participants were asked to respond as quickly and accurately as possible. Each face appeared for half a second, followed by a 1 second

SAM

PLE

Page 13: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

interval. 120 go and 40 no-go trials were presented. The “hot” version of the task was identical, except that fearful (no-go) and happy (go) facial expressions were the stimuli. The tasks were presented using programmed laptop computers sent to participants’ homes. In experiment 2, an fMRI examined neural correlates of delay of gratification. It was thought that low delayers would show low activity in the right prefrontal cortex and high activity in the ventral striatum compared to high delayers. A “hot” version of the go/no-go task similar to that used in Experiment 1 was carried out, but there were differences in time intervals, which ranged from 2 to 14.5 seconds in duration, and in the number of trials: image data was gathered for 26 no-go and 70 go trials for each expression. The task was viewed on a projection screen and a neuroscreen five-button response pad recorded button responses and reaction times. Results: Experiment 1- There were no differences in reaction times, or in terms of accuracy on go trials. However, low delayers made more mistakes on the no-go trials, by recording more false alarms than high delayers. Performance was similar on the cool task, but the low delayers’ performance on the hot task got worse. Therefore, those who had more difficulty delaying gratification at four years of age, showed more difficulty as adults in suppressing responses to happy faces than the high delayers. Experiment 2 –Performance and accuracy on different tasks was similar to experiment 1. The fMRI showed candidate regions of the brain differentially engaged as a function of cognitive control tasks. The right inferior frontal gyrus was involved in accurately withholding a response. Low delayers had less activity in the inferior frontal gyrus for correct no-go trials. The ventral striatum (associated with rewards) showed increased activity to happy no-go trials for low delayers compared to high delayers. This shows that the prefrontal cortex differentiated between no-go and go trials to a greater extent in high delayers, while the ventral striatum showed exaggerated activity in low delayers. Conclusions: Sensitivity to environmental hot cues plays a significant role in an individual’s ability to suppress actions toward alluring cues. Resistance to temptation is a relatively stable individual difference that predicts biases in frontostriatal circuitries that integrate motivational and control processes. Being able to resist temptation is context dependent. The more tempting the choice, the more predictable are individual differences in peoples’ ability to regulate their behaviour. Behavioural correlates of delay ability are a function not only of cognitive control but also of the compelling nature of the stimuli that must be suppressed. Children who have difficulty delaying gratification and who continue to show reduced self-control have more difficulty suppressing responses to positive social cues in adulthood. Evaluation Research method: A quasi-experiment allows researchers to study natural behaviour that cannot be manipulated. However, problems with this are that extraneous variables cannot be controlled; for example, there could have been other traits that made participants respond to the go, no-go task as they did. Furthermore, the longitudinal nature of the study allows us to see how behaviour develops over time and whether

SAM

PLE

Page 14: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

childhood responses are still true in adulthood. However, as seen in this study there was attrition of participants, which may lead to the remaining sample being biased. Ethical considerations: Informed consent was gained initially from parents and then from themselves as adults in this particular study. No deception occurred and participants clearly had the right to withdraw, as a number didn’t participate in experiment 2. Ethnocentrism: Although the sample was Americans, the study was investigating human anatomy and physiology and therefore this species-specific behaviour can be applied to all humans. However, there is Western bias as it focuses on individual gratification; in collectivist cultures the needs of the group are more important and this may therefore affect results in such a task. Exam Style Questions 1. What was the ‘go’ stimulus in the ‘hot’ task in Casey et al.’s study (1) A. Fearful Face B. Female Face C. Happy Face D. Male Face 2. Describe one similarity between Sperry’s study and Casey et al.’s study. (2) 3. Describe how Casey et al.’s study relates to the key theme “regions of the brain”. (3) 4. Describe the results in Casey et al.’s study (4)

SAM

PLE

Page 15: Bandura et al. (1961) - Amazon S3 · Bandura et al. (1961) Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Background and aim: Previous studies have shown that

© tutor2u Psychology - Key Study Summary (Edition 1) www.tutor2u.net/psychology

Exam Style Questions – With Answers 1. What was the stimulus in the ‘hot’ task in Casey et al.’s study (1) C. Happy Face 2. Describe one similarity between Sperry’s study and Casey et al.’s study. (2) Both studies would be difficult to replicate as Sperry used a rare and difficult to obtain sample in split brain patients, while Casey’s study was longitudinal in nature, being conducted over a 40 year period and therefore would be too consuming to repeat easily. 3. Describe how Casey et al.’s study relates to the key theme “regions of the brain”. (3) Casey’s aim was to examine behavioural and neural correlates of delay of gratification using fMRI scans, which relates to the key theme because they were interested in which parts of the brain control delay of gratification. Two regions of the brain, the ventral striatum and the inferior frontal gyrus, were found to be involved in self-control. The use of fMRIs when investigating regions of the brain is shown in this study. 4. Describe the results in Casey et al.’s study (4) Results from the first experiment showed no differences in accuracy or reaction times on the go trials. Low delayers made more mistakes on the no-go trials. On the cool task, performance was similar but the low delayers’ performed worse on the hot task. This showed that those who had problems with delayed gratification at 4 continued to do so as adults. fMRI scans from Experiment 2 showed that low delayers had less activity in the inferior frontal gyrus for correct no-go trials and increased activity on happy no-go trials for low delayers in the ventral striatum.

SAM

PLE