As we learned today in discussion, Albert Bandura tested observational learning and reaction to the violence one of his experimenters displayed towards a Bobo clown doll. Not surprisingly, after throwing, kicking, and abusing with a mallet, the kids followed suit by beating up the doll in similar ways, as well as pretending to shoot the doll with a gun, stab it with a fake knife, and many other things. Also, the experimenters used words like 'pow' when they were beating up the poor Bobo doll, which also resulted in the children using words to describe the violent actions. One thing that I thought was particularly interesting about this study is that even the children that were put into rooms with other appealing toys (i.e. firetrucks, dolls, etc.) still chose to beat up the doll. To me, this makes me wonder if subconsciously we are violent, uncaring people that just want to be violent and claim our spot as the alpha of a group of people, or if as children we just mimic these actions that appeal to us, whether we think they are just cool to copy (like pretending to beat up baddies like Power Rangers). As one final point, I would like to say that IF by chance the Bobo doll were to come to life, it would most likely be violent towards the experimenters and children in return (i.e. Stephen King's IT...coincidence? I think not...)
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1567717/Bobo-doll-experiment
