LAB EXPERIMENTSSociocultural Level Of Analysis

WHAT IS AN EXPERIMENT?

Scientific procedure used to:

• Make a discovery,

• Test a hypothesis,

• Provide evidence for a known fact.

• Quantitative research method- Often allows qualitative data to be collected.

3 TYPES

• Laboratory Experiment

• Field Experiment

• Natural Experiment

PURPOSE OF EXPERIMENTS?

• Determine cause and effect relationship between 2 variables

1. The independent

2. The dependant

WHY USE EXPERIMENTS?

• Allows a cause and effect relationship to be made

• Considered as the most scientific method when conducting research.

LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS

• Takes place in a controlled environment

• Used at the SLOA- Bandura( 1961& 1963)

BANDURA ( 1961 &1963)BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT

BANDURA (1961& 1963)LEARNING AGGRESSION FROM A MODEL

In Banduras experiment, the main aim was to demonstrate that if children would imitate aggressive behaviour when given the opportunity, if they witnessed an aggressive display by an adult.

AIM:

- 36 Boys

- 36 Girls

- Aged 4 – 6 years old

- Stanford University Nursery School

- 1 male & 1 female role mode

Participants:

- Lab experiment - 3 conditions; Aggressive, non- aggressive and controlled.- 24 children in each condition

- Aggressive and non aggressive were divided further

METHOD:

This resulted in three independent variables:

1. The condition the children were exposed to

2. The sex of the role model

3. The sex of the child

Stage 1- Modelling Stage

- Each child was taken into a room individually

- The room contained materials to make pictures

- In a corner there was a 5Ft, inflatable doll

- Aggressive condition, Model went to the doll, and was aggressive towards it, and said things such as “Pow”

- The doll was ignored by the model in the non-aggressive behaviour.

Stages of the experiment

Stage 2- Aggression arousal

- Took the child to a room with good looking toys

- When the child started playing with the toys, the model took it away

- Told the child, that she was keeping them for other children.

WHY?!

To provoke the child

Stages of the experiment

Stage 3- Test for delayed imitation

- Child was taken to a third room

- There were aggressive and non aggressive toys

- The child was kept in the room for 20 minutes, and behaviour was observed at 5 second intervals.

Stages of the experiment

- More imitative responses were made to the children who observed an aggressive model in comparison to those in the non aggressive and controlled condition.

Gender results:

Girls in the aggressive condition

- If model was male, more physical aggression was shown

- If model was female, more verbal aggression was shown

RESULTS…….

- Boys imitated more physically aggressive act than girls - Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models.

RESULTS…….

Results from the experiment support the Social Learning Theory, which is a behaviourist theory.

“Children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation learning - through watching the behaviour of another person.”

CONCLUSION

• Allowed a cause and effect relationship to be made.

- Was found that the behaviour of the model does affect the behaviour of the child.

• Allowed variables to be controlled

- Gender of the model, behaviour of the model, gender of children.

• Lab experiments can be replicated

- Allows researchers to replicate study, due to standardized instructions.

STRENGTHS OF LAB EXPERIMENT

• Low ecological validity

- Child and model are strangers, therefore child is not familiar and will not act naturally.

- Experiment does not take place in a natural setting

LIMITATIONS OF LAB EXPERIMENT

THE END

REFERENCES

AS Psychology . (). The Bandura Page. Available: http://www.holah.karoo.net/bandura.htm. Last accessed 29/10/2013.

McLeod,S. (2011). Bobo Doll Experiment. Available: http://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html. Last accessed 29/10/2013.

Unknown Author. (2013). Bobo Doll Experiment. Available: http://psychology.about.com/od/classicpsychologystudies/a/bobo-doll-experiment.htm. Last accessed 29/10/2013.

Crane J., Hannibal J.. (2012). Sociocultural level of analysis- Social and cultural norms. In: - Psychology Course Companinon. Great Britain: Oxford University Press. p113-114.