Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment

Observational learning is one of the main ways people learn. As discussed in a previous blog post, one of the big things behind observational learning is modeling. In modeling, an observer will see a behavior being performed by someone. Afterwards, the observer will imitate the model’s behavior. Modeling this behavior is oftentimes not a one time occurrence. The observer can continue to imitate this behavior throughout their life, if the model’s behavior is reinforced enough.

Dr. Albert Bandura was a professor of psychology at Stanford University during the years he performed his experiment: The Bobo Doll Experiment. From 1961 to 1963, Bandura was able to demonstrate that children learn, observe, and imitate the behaviors that they see in adults. The Bobo doll was a five foot inflatable doll. It was called “Bobo” because the doll depicted a clown wearing a name tag that said “Bobo”.

Bandura worked with kids in preschool, approximately of the ages three to five years old. This age group was chosen because of their limited social conditioning. Before kids were placed in a room with Bobo alone, they were placed in a room with a woman who hit, threw, and verbally tormented the Bobo doll. Other kids were shown an adult ignoring or nurturing the doll. After the adults left the room, the kid was left with different toys. As toys were taken away, the Bobo doll became the only toy left.

Kids who had seen aggressive behavior displayed similar behavior towards the Bobo doll. Not only did they imitate what they had seen, but they also went a step further by inventing new ways to be aggressive. Children who had been modeled passive behavior were kind towards Bobo. What Bandura accomplishes through this experiment is called social-cognitive learning.

Because the children Bandura used in the experiment had limited social conditioning, seeing others, especially a superior like an adult, was enough to condition a child. Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment also highlights how important a child’s environment is. Their stimuli, both negative and positive, have such an imperative role to how they develop and learn. Observational learning starts very early. What we learn as a child is not easily displaced when we are an adult, so we should us this to both our advantage and to understand our vice.

By Ariana