Bandura, aggressive behavior by observing others and by imitating He wondered if he could win. To this end, he conducted an experimental study in children in 1961 with researchers from Stanford University.

According to this experiment, children have their behavior By observing them, they learned violent behavior from them and practiced themselves. So what were the other details discovered by this interesting experiment?

In fact, the experiment was only done with 1-meter inflatable dolls.

Investigators used physical and verbal abuse on dolls painted as clowns called Bobo Babies in front of the children. Participants in the study were 36 girls and 36 boys, ages 3 to 6, who attended Stanford Kindergarten. The researchers divided the children into three equal groups; One group of 24 people observed adult aggressive behavior and the other group of 24 not agressive while observing adult behavior, the last group of 24 did not observe any behavior.

Albert Bandura

These three groups were then further divided into six subgroups based on their gender. Half of these groups followed the behavior patterns of people of the same sex and the other half followed the behavior patterns of the opposite sex. An aggressive role model, first woman, was shown to 6 girls and 6 boys in the first group. In the other group consisting of 6 boys and 6 girls, boys an aggressive role model was shown.

The findings in the first phase of the experiment were quite interesting.

Real photos taken during the experiment

The children sat individually at a table in the experiment room. The investigators then dropped a hammer, table, chair, various toys and Bobo Dolls, which they had previously abused, in front of them. Then the experts gave the children these materials. that they can play told. Children naturally got up to play right away, but this was not an easy game they always played.

Children in the group that observed the violent behavior pattern gave Bobo Baby both physical and verbal showed an aggressive attitude. The children hit the doll with hammers and threw it here and there.

Likewise, researchers also verbally to violence they were encouraging. In fact, the reason they did this was to understand if the children were adopting the aggressive attitude they had shown in the first place. The only thing that caught the attention of those in the non-aggressive behavior group was the toys next to the baby, so they didn’t care. After observing the children for 10 minutes, the researchers took them outside. What happens after this stage is quite surprising.

Then the children were taken to separate rooms with different toys. Guess what happened then?

The children started playing with the toys, and then one of the researchers entered each room and told the children not to play with the toys. Psychologists said that toy was one of their favorites, and they left it there for another child to play with. In fact, we can say that this attitude of psychologists was to see if the impulse of aggression would occur in children. On the other hand, the experts took the kids to another room, this time with tea sets, plush teddy bears, crayons and animal figures. positive connotation abandoned toys.

There was also a hammer, toy gun and beaten wood in the room. Of course also the Bobo Babies. There was also a one-sided mirror in the room so the researchers could see the children. Children’s behavior was observed for 20 minutes and according to the result, children were exposed to aggressive behavior patterns compared to those in the other group. Lake showed aggression. In fact, this was a hypothesis that psychologists had been waiting to confirm from the start. So it wasn’t that surprising, it was something else that was surprising.

The interesting detail: girls watch violent behavior; The reason was that they used more physical abuse on the male baby and more verbal abuse on the female baby.

In fact, the results of the study were similar for both sexes, but boys imitated physical violence more often than girls. In fact, it was concluded that men internalize what male role models do more. Another notable detail is that both girls and boys are more concerned about physical aggression. male role models was an example.

In terms of verbal aggression, each gender tended to imitate the attitudes of their fellows more. In fact, the standout situation here is that a common acceptance that physical violence is unique to masculinity is learned and internalized at a young age. Therefore, men in both sexes show physical violence He was not inclined to ask questions. Therefore, we can say that both girls and boys could easily imitate this example.

We can say that the results of this study support Bandura’s social learning theory, which states that behavior can be learned socially by observing others. So what do you think violence really is? social Is it a learned condition or can it be influenced by genetic factors? You can share your thoughts with us in the comments.

• Sources: Britannica, YouTube
• Image Sources: Shaktivrat Khanvilkar, Longevity, NPR