Why was Bandura's study unethical?

One limitation of Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment is that it's unethical it has ethical issues because it used very young children as subjects. Bandura hypothesized that learning could happen through observation, and the results supported this.

What are the ethical issues in Bandura's study?

There are many ethical issues with Bandura's studies. The major issue is harm and the wellbeing of participants. The children may have been distressed by the aggressive behaviour they witnessed and the aggressive behaviour they learned from the study may have stayed with them, going on to become a behavioural problem.

What was unethical about the Bobo doll experiment?

It is possible to argue that the bobo doll experiment was unethical. For example, there is the problem of whether or not the children suffered any long-term consequences as a result of the study. Although it is unlikely, we can never be certain.

What was the problem with Bandura theory?

Child behaviour and development theorists criticized Bandura's classical theory, arguing that it ignores autonomic nervous system responses and biological factors. According to book theories, some behaviours, like affinity toward people and responses, are partly inherited, not only learned.

What are the criticisms of Bandura's Bobo doll experiment?

Research ethics - Procedure incited aggression in children. Selection bias - Sample of the subjects made it difficult to generalize findings. Limited external validity - A narrow age range where older subjects may not have had the same results.

Social Learning Theory: Bandura’s Bobo Beatdown Experiments

Was Bandura's Bobo doll experiment unethical?

Many students make the mistake of being too vague and brief when they explain the ethical issue. For example, here's a common type of evaluation of Bandura's Bobo Doll studies: One limitation of Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment is that it's unethical because it used very young children as subjects.

What are the disadvantages of Bandura?

What are the pros and cons of Bandura's theory?

Pros: Provides insight into how people learn from others and provides ideas for including effective elements into your scenarios. Cons: Not a model for how everyone might behave, more of a guide that can predict behaviour.

What are some limitations of the Bobo doll experiment?

One limitation of the bobo doll experiment is the low ecological validity, as the laboratory setting and the limited social situation do not accurately represent real-life scenarios where modeling behavior often takes place within the family.

Was the Bobo doll experiment valid?

Example Two: Bandura's Bobo Doll experiments

Weak Evaluation: Bandura's experiment took place in an unnatural environment and so its results lack ecological validity. This makes his conclusions about learning to be aggressive through observation invalid.

Why does this Boo Boo doll experiment can be unethical to today's standard?

The 3.04 standard states that psychologists take reasonable steps to avoid harming their research participants. Since the procedure in the Bobo doll experiment transmitted aggressive behavior onto children, it can be seen as a harmful procedure.

What do other researchers say about the Bobo doll experiment?

For example, the data suggest that males are somewhat more prone to imitate physical aggression—a highly masculine-typed behaviour—than are females, with male subjects reproducing more physical aggression than female subjects; there were, however, no differences in the imitation of verbal aggression, which is less sex- ...

What were the findings of Bandura's research into social learning?

Bandura concludes that children will imitate filmed aggression in the same way as live aggressive role models. Bandura also concludes that watching filmed violence is NOT cathartic. Instead of becoming less aggressive after watching aggressive film or cartoons, the children showed more aggression.

What are the ethical issues in an experiment?

Mistreatment of research subjects is considered research misconduct (no ethical review approval, failure to follow approved protocol, absent or inadequate informed consent, exposure of subjects to physical or psychological harm, exposure of subjects to harm due to unacceptable research practices or failure to maintain ...

What are ethical issues in observational research?

"Studies based on observation in natural settings must respect the privacy and psychological wellbeing of the individuals studied. Unless those observed give their consent to being observed, observational research is only acceptable in public situations where those observed would expect to be observed by strangers.

What is the reliability and validity of the Bobo doll experiment?

HOWEVER, the research is very short term and contrived making it artificial and unrealistic, which leads us to question the reliability and validity of the research. The doll lacks mundane realism (ie it can not be generalised to the real world), and it doesn't represent everyday aggression.

What is the most critical aspect of Bandura's theory?

Observational learning is a major component of Bandura's social learning theory. He also emphasized that four conditions were necessary in any form of observing and modeling behavior: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.

What is the purpose of Bandura's theory?

Albert Bandura's social learning theory suggests that observation and modeling play a primary role in how and why people learn. Bandura's theory goes beyond the perception of learning being the result of direct experience with the environment.

What are the advantages of Bandura's study of the Bobo doll?

Bandura and his colleagues believed that the Bobo doll experiment demonstrates how specific behaviors can be learned through observation and imitation. According to Bandura, the violent behavior of the adult models toward the dolls led children to believe that such actions were acceptable.

What is one weakness of the observation method used by Bandura?

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.

What are the criticisms of social learning theory?

Although heavily supported through empirical research, the primary criticisms of the social learning theory include that it assumes passivity in the nature of the observer who recieves rewards or punishments, that the theory does not explain why certain behaviors are rewarded or punished, and that it fails to explain ...

What happened in Bandura's study?

Bandura found that the children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to pursue physically aggressive behaviour than those who were not exposed to the aggressive model. The results concerning gender differences strongly satisfied Bandura's prediction that same-sex models have more influence over children.

What are the two limitations of social learning theory?

There are two limitations of this theory: genetic conditions that may affect a child's antisocial, maladaptive, and aggressive behavior and the media that serves as a medium for learning, which can also affect behavior.

What did the children do after watching the adult interact with the Bobo doll in Bandura's experiments?

Bandura found that children exposed to the aggressive social model were significantly more likely to behave aggressively toward Bobo, hitting and kicking him, compared to those exposed to the non-aggressive model.

Which statement best describes the Bobo doll experiment?

Expert-Verified Answer. Bobo doll study concluded that children learn to display aggressive behavior when they observe that other people are rewarded for doing it, and when others encounter no consequences at all.