"Psychology cannot tell people how they ought to live their lives. It can however, provide them with the means for effecting personal and social change" - Albert Bandura
Who is Albert Bandura?
Albert Bandura (born December 4, 1925) is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. For almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy and personality psychology.
He was very influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment.
Bandura and Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory postulates that portions of an individual's knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences. In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be modeled.
In a famous and influential experiment known as the Bobo doll experiment, Albert Bandura and his colleagues were able to demonstrate one of the ways in which children learn aggression. Bandura's social learning theory proposes that learning occurs through observation and interaction with other people.
The participants for the experiment were 36 boys and 36 girls enrolled at the Stanford University Nursery School. The children ranged in age between 3 and almost 6 years, and the average participant age was 4 years 4 months.
There were a total of eight experimental groups. Out of these participants, 24 were assigned to a control group that received no treatment. The rest of the children were then divided into two groups of 24 participants each. One of the experimental groups was then exposed to aggressive models, while the other 24 children were exposed to non-aggressive models.
Finally, these groups were divided again into groups of boys and girls. Each of these groups was then divided so that half of the participants were exposed to a same-sex adult model and the other half was exposed to an opposite-sex adult model.
Before conducting the experiment, Bandura also assessed the children's existing levels of aggression. Groups were then matched equally so that they had an average level of aggression.
The results of the experiment yielded four distinct observations:
Albert Bandura (born December 4, 1925) is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. For almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy and personality psychology.
He was very influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment.
Bandura and Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory postulates that portions of an individual's knowledge acquisition can be directly related to observing others within the context of social interactions, experiences, and outside media influences. In other words, people do not learn new behaviors solely by trying them and either succeeding or failing, but rather, the survival of humanity is dependent upon the replication of the actions of others. Depending on whether people are rewarded or punished for their behavior and the outcome of the behavior, that behavior may be modeled.
In a famous and influential experiment known as the Bobo doll experiment, Albert Bandura and his colleagues were able to demonstrate one of the ways in which children learn aggression. Bandura's social learning theory proposes that learning occurs through observation and interaction with other people.
The participants for the experiment were 36 boys and 36 girls enrolled at the Stanford University Nursery School. The children ranged in age between 3 and almost 6 years, and the average participant age was 4 years 4 months.
There were a total of eight experimental groups. Out of these participants, 24 were assigned to a control group that received no treatment. The rest of the children were then divided into two groups of 24 participants each. One of the experimental groups was then exposed to aggressive models, while the other 24 children were exposed to non-aggressive models.
Finally, these groups were divided again into groups of boys and girls. Each of these groups was then divided so that half of the participants were exposed to a same-sex adult model and the other half was exposed to an opposite-sex adult model.
Before conducting the experiment, Bandura also assessed the children's existing levels of aggression. Groups were then matched equally so that they had an average level of aggression.
The results of the experiment yielded four distinct observations:
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Original footage from Bandura's Bobo doll experiment.
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This experiment is the empirical demonstration of Bandura's social cognitive theory. It shows that people not only learn by being rewarded or punished itself (behaviorism), they can learn from watching somebody being rewarded or punished, too (observational learning). These experiments are important because they sparked many more studies on the effects of observational learning. Recently, although no correlation can be found between violent media and violent tendencies, Bandura’s experiments have been referenced regarding how children can be influenced watching violent media.