Two Key Studies of Social Cognitive Theory: Bandura (1961) & Dijkstra & DeVries (2001) (DP IB Psychology)

Key Study: Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961)

Aim: To investigate observational learning in children when confronted with an aggressive adult role model

Participants: 72 children (mean age = 4 years, 36 males and 36 females) who attended Stanford University day nursery in California, USA. The children had been rated as to their level of aggression by nursery staff to produce a matched pairs design to ensure that there were equal numbers of same-level aggressive children across in each condition

Procedure: The procedure consisted of three distinct phases:

• Phase 1: each child was taken to an experimental room where they observed either an aggressive or a non-aggressive adult or no adult at all (see conditions below). Each session lasted around 10 minutes. The aggressive condition involved the model performing distinctive aggressive behaviours towards a Bobo doll (a large doll that swings on a weighted base) repeated 3 times (this was done to measure direct imitation) e.g. punching, kicking etc.

• Phase 2: the child was then taken to a room full of attractive toys. They were then told that the toys were meant for another child and that they had to leave the room

• Phase 3: The child was then taken to a third room filled with aggressive and non‐aggressive toys, including a Bobo doll where they were left to play for 20 minutes while the researchers observed them from behind a one-way mirror. Specific examples of physical and verbal aggression were measured by the observers (direct imitation plus generalised non-imitative aggressive behaviour) 

There were 3 conditions to the experiment:

1. Aggressive model – the model behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll

2. Non‐aggressive model – the model behaved in a non-aggressive way

3. Control group - no model was present

There was an equal number of times in which a same sex model or opposite sex model was observed per condition

Results: Children in the aggressive condition produced more directly imitative acts of aggression towards the Bobo doll e.g. punching, kicking, hitting it with a toy hammer. 
This imitation was not seen in the non-aggressive or control conditions. 
There was more same-sex imitation of aggressive behaviour and boys overall showed more physical aggression than girls

Conclusion: Aggression can be the result of observational learning experienced in one setting and carried over to a different setting

Evaluation of Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961)

Strengths

• The use of a matched pairs design controlled for the potential confounding variable of individual differences in aggression

• The findings of this study highlighted the importance of children’s TV viewing being restricted to content suitable for their age as it was thought that watching violence on TV might encourage further imitative violence in real-life situations

Weaknesses

• Children observe violent, aggressive behaviour in natural settings, often involving adults they know well which makes this procedure lack ecological validity

• There are ethical considerations which were not adhered to when this study was conducted – particularly protection of participants from harm – which means that the procedure could not be replicated today

Key terms:

• Observational learning

• Role models

• Matched pairs design

Key Study: Dijkstra & DeVries (2001)

Aim: To investigate self-efficacy (a key component of SCT) as a factor in quitting smoking

Participants: 1546 smokers from the Netherlands

Procedure: The researchers conducted a field experiment using participants who wanted to quit smoking. The participants were randomly allocated to one of the following conditions:

• Condition 1: Outcome information – the participants were given information as to the negative and harmful outcomes of smoking e.g. shorter life expectancy; unpleasant diseases; tooth decay etc.

• Condition 2: Self-efficacy enhancing information – the participants were given information pertaining to self-efficacy alone and how to incorporate it into their lives e.g. believing that they could give up, strategies for successfully quitting smoking

• Condition 3: Both outcome information and self-efficacy information – the participants were given the information from condition 1 and from condition 2

• Condition 4: Control condition – the participants were given no information at all

Results: 

• The participants reported back to the researchers after 12 weeks, telling them how many days ‘clean’ they had had in the past 7 days (i.e. how many days in the past week that they had not smoked) and also if they had attempted to quit smoking over the past 12 weeks

• The highest number of participants who had been ‘clean’ for 7 days came from Condition 2, the self-efficacy-enhancing information (8.5)

• Condition 2 also had the highest number of smokers who had attempted to quit in the last 12 weeks (27.3). Of the two other groups (not including the control condition) the lowest number of 7 days ‘clean’ came from the outcome information condition (4.8) and the lowest number of attempts to quit came from the outcome information and self-efficacy condition combined group (24.6)

Conclusion:  Self-efficacy may be a key factor in helping people to quit smoking: simply warning people of the dangers of smoking does not appear to be as effective

Evaluation of Dijkstra & DeVries (2001)

Strengths

• Using a large sample within a field experiment means that this study has good ecological validity

• The findings of this study could be used to inform health campaigns which aim to help people quit smoking

Weaknesses

• Using self-reported data means that the results may not be valid as participants could have lied about their smoking which is a type of social desirability bias

• As there was no follow-up study it is unclear whether the participants in Condition 2 went on to be more successful at quitting smoking than in the other groups

Key terms:

• Self-efficacy

• Field experiment

• Social desirability bias