4.1.4 Bandura's Bobo doll experiments Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 4

The 20 questions

1. In Bandura's original Bobo doll study (1961), what was the aim?

   • To test whether children can learn to read more quickly when they are taught using a Bobo doll as a teaching aid in class
   • To test whether adults show less aggression after playing with a soft toy, as predicted by Freud's catharsis hypothesis
   • To test whether children imitate aggressive behaviour that they observe in an adult model, compared with a non-aggressive model
   • To test whether the id of a child is stronger than the superego when a toy is removed from the child during play time

2. In Bandura's 1961 study, which group of children was the main focus of the findings?

   • Adults in their thirties, who were asked to play with a Bobo doll in a laboratory after completing a questionnaire on mood
   • Children aged around 3 to 6, who were exposed to adult models who were either aggressive or non-aggressive toward the doll
   • Teenagers in a secondary school, who were asked to rate the aggression of films they had seen on television at home
   • Newborn infants, who were observed in their cots while adults hit an inflatable doll placed close to them in the nursery

3. What did Bandura (1961) find about children who observed an aggressive adult model?

   • They only imitated the aggression after a delay of several months, which showed that imitation requires long-term memory alone
   • They showed no imitation at all, which confirmed that aggression is entirely innate and cannot be learned from any model
   • They imitated the aggressive behaviour, including specific physical and verbal aggressive acts towards the doll, more than controls
   • They were less likely to imitate aggression than children who saw a non-aggressive model, because aggression was suppressed

4. Why did Bandura use both live models and film versions of the model in his later research?

   • To check whether children could identify the difference between cartoon animals and real humans in the play sessions with dolls
   • To ensure that children were never exposed to any model, so that the baseline level of aggression could be measured accurately
   • To test whether a film could make children sleep during the play session, which would reduce their level of aggression
   • To compare whether children imitate aggression in the same way from a live person and from a filmed model shown on screen

5. In Bandura's 1965 Bobo doll study, what was manipulated about the model?

   • Whether the doll was red or blue, which was the only factor that was changed in order to test the effect of colour
   • Whether the model was rewarded, punished or had no consequence for the aggressive behaviour that the children observed
   • Whether the children were allowed to eat sweets during the session, which controlled the level of motivation in each group
   • Whether the model was male or female, which was the only factor that was changed across all the conditions in the study

6. What did Bandura (1965) find when children saw the model punished for aggression?

   • They became aggressive towards the adult who punished the model, which showed that punishment always causes retaliation directly
   • They imitated less aggression than children who saw the model rewarded, showing that observed punishment reduced imitation
   • They imitated the aggressive behaviour more than children who saw the model rewarded, because punishment encourages imitation
   • They showed identical imitation to all other groups, which proved that vicarious consequences have no effect on any learning

7. In the 1965 study, what happened when children were offered a reward for reproducing the model's behaviour?

   • Children in the rewarded group became less aggressive, because the reward reduced their motivation to copy the model further
   • Children in the control group stopped being aggressive, because the reward caused their behaviour to change to a calmer style
   • Children in all groups showed similar levels of learned behaviour, showing that the behaviour had been learned in each group
   • Children in the punished group showed no learning at all, which proved that they had no memory of the model's behaviour

8. What does the 1965 finding suggest about the difference between learning and performance?

   • Learning and performance are identical, so a child who has learned a behaviour must always show it in every situation
   • Learning occurs only after a reward is received, so children never learn anything from a model that is not rewarded at all
   • Performance occurs only when the child is punished, since learning cannot happen without a negative consequence at all
   • A behaviour can be learned without being performed, and incentives such as rewards can affect whether it is shown

9. Which ethical concern is most relevant to Bandura's Bobo doll studies?

   • Children were given too many sweets as rewards, which may have caused dental problems in the long term for the participants
   • Children were asked to remain silent for long periods of the study, which may have caused anxiety for each of the children
   • Children were exposed to aggressive models, which may have encouraged aggressive behaviour in the children themselves
   • Children were asked to play with dolls at home, which is a breach of the rule that research must be carried out in schools

10. Which limitation of the Bobo doll studies is most often raised?

    • The results cannot be measured, since aggression toward a doll is impossible to observe or count in any kind of study at all
    • The results are too consistent, since all children in every study behaved in exactly the same way toward the doll always
    • The results may lack ecological validity, since children in a laboratory playing with a doll may not behave as they do in real life
    • The results were collected only from adult volunteers, so they cannot be generalised to any child in any part of the world

11. A child who hits a doll after watching an adult do the same is showing which process?

    • Operant conditioning through the removal of an unpleasant stimulus after the child hits the doll for the first time
    • Imitation of modelled behaviour, following observation of an aggressive adult model in the play setting
    • Classical conditioning of a neutral stimulus, in which the doll becomes a conditioned stimulus for pain
    • Catharsis, in which the child releases built-up aggressive energy by hitting the doll in the play session

12. Which feature of Bandura's Bobo doll studies makes them a strength in evaluation?

    • They used a large sample of adults in a field setting, which gives the findings high population generalisability
    • They used interviews with the children about their feelings, which provided rich qualitative data about aggression
    • They used a controlled experimental design with clear measures of aggression, which gives high internal validity
    • They used a naturalistic design in which children's aggression was recorded at home without any control of the setting

13. In the Bobo doll experiments, why did Bandura use a control group that did not see any aggressive model?

    • To provide a baseline of how much aggression children showed without the model, to compare against the aggressive model groups
    • To provide a group that would be punished for aggression, so that the researchers could measure the effect of punishment directly
    • To provide a group of children who would never see any doll, so that the doll could be removed from the study completely
    • To provide a group that would be rewarded for each act of aggression, so that the rewards could be compared across groups

14. Which statement best describes what the Bobo doll studies suggest about the role of observation in aggression?

    • Aggression is always innate and cannot be changed by any experience, so observation has no influence on any child's behaviour
    • Aggression can be learned through observing a model, and the consequences that the model receives can influence whether it is imitated
    • Aggression is caused by hormones alone, so the presence of a model in the room does not affect the aggression of the child
    • Aggression is learned only through direct physical punishment, so observing a model cannot influence the behaviour of a child

15. Which factor did Bandura find affected imitation of aggression in his early research?

    • The time of day of the session, with children always being more aggressive in the morning than in the afternoon sessions
    • The colour of the doll, with red dolls always receiving more aggression than blue dolls in all of the research sessions
    • The number of siblings the child had, with only-children being the only ones who imitated aggressive models in any study
    • The gender of the model, with boys more likely to imitate aggression shown by a male model than by a female model

16. A psychologist claims that the Bobo doll findings show that television violence always causes aggression in children. What is the best evaluation of this claim?

    • The claim goes beyond the evidence, since the studies show imitation in a lab but not that all children always become aggressive
    • The claim is incorrect, since children who watch television never imitate any behaviour that they observe on the screen at all
    • The claim is fully supported, since the Bobo doll studies show that every child who watches television becomes aggressive for life
    • The claim is irrelevant, since the Bobo doll studies did not use any television, and so cannot say anything about media violence

17. Which concept does Bandura's 1965 study test most directly?

    • Catharsis, since it examines whether the release of aggressive energy by the child reduces their later aggression
    • Stimulus generalisation, since it examines whether children respond to dolls that look similar to the original doll used
    • Spontaneous recovery, since it examines whether children return to aggression after a long rest period from the study
    • Vicarious reinforcement, since it examines how observing a model rewarded or punished affects a child's imitation

18. Which statement about the Bobo doll findings and the Freudian explanation of aggression is most accurate?

    • The Bobo doll findings fully support Freud's catharsis, since children who hit the doll release their aggressive energy and calm down
    • The Bobo doll findings show that the id is absent in children, which means Freud's theory cannot apply to child aggression at all
    • The Bobo doll findings support social learning explanations, and they do not support the view that catharsis reduces aggression
    • The Bobo doll findings show that superego development prevents all aggression, so no children are ever aggressive towards dolls

19. A researcher replicates the Bobo doll study but uses a live model in a school. What is the main benefit of this replication?

    • It shows that children never imitate aggression at school, since school environments are free from any aggressive models
    • It guarantees that the findings will be identical to the original, which means that no further replications need to be done
    • It tests the findings in a more natural setting, which can increase ecological validity of the original laboratory results
    • It removes all ethical issues, since children in schools are never exposed to any model during any kind of research session

20. Why did Bandura use an inflatable Bobo doll as the target of aggression rather than a real person?

    • It allowed children to show aggression toward a target without any risk of real physical harm to a person in the study
    • It was cheaper than a real person, and cost was the only reason the study could be funded by the research body at the time
    • It was used so that children could not see the model's facial expressions, which were the only cause of imitation found
    • It was used because children cannot show aggression toward any real person in any situation, however it is provoked

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