Transcript Evaluation of bandura - Beauchamp Psychology

Strength
Further support:
 Patterson et al (1989) demonstrated that
role models are important in the
development of aggression in boys and
girls. Questionnaires found that very
aggressive children were raised in homes
of high aggression and little affection.
 This supports the idea that role models are
important in determining aggressive
behaviour
Strength
Reliability:
 Bandura’s research was a laboratory
experiment
 Therefore there was complete control
over the IV (whether there was positive
or negative reinforcement) and the DV
(behaviour shown by the child).
 As a result, the findings have been
replicated suggesting that the SLT is a
reliable explanation of aggression
Strength
Cross-Cultural Evidence:
 Mead (1935) investigated aggression in the
Arapesh tribe in New Guinea.
 The tribe did not like aggression and therefore
there were no aggressive behaviours for
individuals to model
 The Mundugmor tribe were opposite and felt
that aggression determined status
 The Mundugmor tribe was more aggressive
 This demonstrates that SLT can be applied
universally
Weakness
Lacks ecological validity:
 Although the children hit a bobo doll does not
mean they will hit a real person
 It could be that the artificial research design may
have led to aggression
 Therefore findings from this research cannot be
applied to real life situations
Weakness
Lacks internal validity:
 The research design may have led to aggression
 This is because bobo dolls are designed to be hit,
therefore it is not surprising that the children
behaved this way
 Therefore it can be questioned as to whether the
children are actually displaying aggressive
behaviour
 As a result, there are methodological flaws with
the research and this limits the extent to which it
provides valid support for SLT
Weakness
Ethical Issues:
 Bandura’s research can be criticised for causing
the children involved psychological harm as they
were being encouraged to be aggressive and
rewarded for this behaviour
 If the principles of SLT are correct then this
experiment is essentially causing individuals to
behave aggressively
 Therefore research that supports SLT can be
criticised for valuing psychological knowledge
more than individual participants involved