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Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment: Complete Procedure and Results

Bobo Doll Experiment

I am pretty sure that you have seen a bobo doll or something like this in your life. But have you ever heard about the Bobo doll experiment? If you know about Bobo doll or Bobo doll experiment then it’s pretty good but if not then don’t worry.

The experiment is one of the most aspiring experiments in the field of psychology, behavioral psychology, and behaviorism.

Around 60% of people are describing the dark side or bad results of the Bobo doll experiment but is it true that the doll experiment was dark?

Well, to correct your all misconceptions, we are here with a complete study of Albert Bandura’s experiment.

What is Exactly a Bobo Doll?

Bobo Doll Experiment
Image taken from blogpsychology.wordpress.com

A bobo doll is a Tumbler toy that cannot get down. If you push or kick these toys, they will stand back up themselves. These kinds of toys are also known as Roly-poly toys. These toys are designed in such a way that their whole mass lies at the bottom. If you tilt or kick a Tumbler toy, it will stand back up by itself.

Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment:

Bobo Doll experiment was conducted in 1961 in California with 72 children (including both boys and girls). The experiment was categorized into 3 different groups:

  • Aggressive
  • Non-Aggressive
  • Control Group

24 children (boys and girls) were kept in each group to determine the Bobo doll experiment’s strengths and weaknesses. There were some toys and pictures for children to play with. In each group, the situation was created differently to study the behavioral psychology of children.

There were different types of toys in these rooms. The aggressive group included Bobo dolls, dart guns, etc. The non-Aggressive group includes general toys like animals, paper, balls, etc.

Group 1; Aggressive:

In this room, 24 children were kept with some toys. A female and male model started kicking and beating a bobo doll aggressively. They behaved roughly and abusively to the Bobo Doll.

The models used hammers to beat the bobo doll and also used to fly the doll in the air badly.

Group 2; Non-Aggressive:

In this room, 24 children were kept with some toys and two models. The models played with the toys normally and acted quiet overall for 10 minutes. The children showed friendly behavior.

Group 3; Control Group:

This group did not include a model. In this model, 24 children were kept in a controlled environment with neither abusive nor friendly behavior for 10 minutes.

What were the results of Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment?

The children who were kept in an aggressive environment acted aggressive and abusive. They observed aggressive behavior from male and female models towards bobo doll and other toys and then acted aggressively.

The situations of the three groups were different. After exposing children to an aggressive, non-aggressive, and controlled environment, they were kept in a room for 20 minutes to observe the effect of the model’s behavior on them. The bobo doll experiment results were very clear and easy to understand.

The girls who were exposed to aggressive behavior showed more physical aggression than non-aggressive boys.

What did psychologists learn from the Bobo Doll Experiment?

The scientists and experiment conductors succeeded in their experiment. They got what they expected. Psychologists learned that the environment has a great effect on human behavior. Aggressive behavior can be transmitted in a person by exposing him to an aggressive and abusive environment.

What was the conclusion of the Bobo doll experiment?

As we know that our media is exposing our children to aggressive and abusive material through brutal movies and TV shows. The abusive material in movies and cartoons is injecting aggression into our minds.

The same theory was explained in Bobo doll experiment. The children who were exposed to aggressive behavior showed more physical aggression than the children who were exposed to the non-exposed and controlled groups.

Bobo Doll Experiment Video:

There is no actual footage of the experiment but here you can see a short documentary about Albert Bandura’s experiment:

You should read Little Albert Experiment which was based on conditioning.

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