PSYCHOLOGY PRACTICAL
Aim: To study Social Learning theory
Hypothesis: All factors remaining constant, the number of aggressive words identified after
the first video will be more than the second video.
Learning Theory
Learning theory seeks to explain how individuals acquire new behaviors, knowledge, skills,
and attitudes through experience and interaction with the environment. Key approaches
include:
1. Behaviorism – Emphasizes observable behaviors and the ways they're learned through
interactions with the environment. Key figures include:
Ivan Pavlov: Classical conditioning – learning through association.
B.F. Skinner: Operant conditioning – learning through reinforcement and punishment.
2. Cognitive Theories – Focus on internal mental processes. Learners actively process
information and construct knowledge.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory: Introduced the concept of observational learning,
emphasizing the role of modeling and self-efficacy.
3. Constructivist Theories – Suggest that learners build new knowledge upon their existing
knowledge base.
Jean Piaget: Proposed stages of cognitive development.
Lev Vygotsky: Emphasized social interaction and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
4. Humanistic Approaches – Emphasize personal growth, motivation, and the individual’s
subjective experience.
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow contributed to this approach, stressing the importance of
self-actualization in learning.
Social Learning Theory
Social Learning Theory was developed primarily by Albert Bandura, and it emphasizes that
people can learn new behaviors and information through observing others. Unlike traditional
behaviorism, which focuses only on direct reinforcement or punishment, social learning
theory adds a cognitive component: attention, memory, and motivation all play roles in how
we learn from others.
Key Principles of Social Learning Theory:
1. Observational Learning (Modeling):
Learning occurs by watching the behavior of a model (e.g., parents, teachers, peers) and the
consequences of that behavior.
2. Vicarious Reinforcement:
Observing someone being rewarded or punished affects the likelihood of the observer
imitating the behavior.
3. Attention and Retention:
The learner must first pay attention to the model and then remember the behavior to
reproduce it later.
4. Reproduction and Motivation:
The learner must be physically and mentally capable of reproducing the behavior and must
be motivated to do so.
5. Self-efficacy:
One’s belief in their own ability to succeed affects their motivation and likelihood of
performing the behavior.
Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment (1961)
Albert Bandura conducted the Bobo Doll Experiment to explore how children learn
aggression through observation. The study involved 72 children (36 boys and 36 girls) aged
3 to 6 years. They were divided into three groups:
1. Aggressive Model Group: Children observed an adult aggressively hitting and shouting at
a Bobo doll.
2. Non-Aggressive Model Group: Children observed an adult playing calmly, ignoring the
Bobo doll.
3. Control Group: Children saw no model.
After exposure, children were placed in a room with toys, including the Bobo doll. Those who
observed the aggressive model were significantly more likely to imitate aggressive behaviors
toward the doll, demonstrating observational learning.This experiment supported Bandura’s
Social Learning Theory, which posits that people can learn new behaviors by watching
others, especially role models.
The Little Albert experiment
conducted by John B. Watson and Rosalie Rayner in 1920, demonstrated that emotional
responses such as fear could be learned through classical conditioning. In the study, a
9-month-old infant known as "Little Albert" was initially made a loud, startling noise by
striking a metal bar behind him. After several pairings, Albert began to cry and show fear at
the sight of the rat alone, even when no noise occurred. This indicated that the fear
response had been conditioned. Furthermore, Albert’s fear generalized to other furry objects,
such as a rabbit, a dog, and even a Santa Claus mask. The study concluded that phobias
could be learned through environmental experiences. However, it has been heavily criticized
for ethical reasons, including the distress caused to the child and the failure to reverse the
conditioning. The Little Albert experiment remains a controversial but influential piece of
psychological research.
Review of literature:-
•‘Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior” by Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B.
J. (2001) Is Research on exposure to television and movie violence suggests that playing
violent video games will increase aggressive behavior. A meta-analytic review of the
video-game research literature reveals that violent video games increase aggressive
behavior in children and young adults. Experimental and nonexperimental studies with males
and females in laboratory and field settings support this conclusion. Analyses also reveal
that exposure to violent video games increases physiological arousal and aggression-related
thoughts and feelings. Playing violent video games also decreases prosocial behavior.
• “Observational learning of violent behavior: Social and biosocial processes” by
L Rowell Huesmann (1997) describes that habitual aggressive and violent behaviors seldom
develop in children unless there is a convergence of multiple predisposing and precipitating
biosocial and contextual factors, there is compelling evidence that early observation of
aggression and violence in the child's environment or in the mass media contributes
substantially to the development of aggressive habits.The empirical evidence concerning the
importance of observational learning has been accumulating for decades but has been given
added relevance by the emergence of social/cognitive process models to explain individual
differences in aggression.
•“Media violence and judgments of offensiveness: A quantitative and qualitative analysis” by
Coyne, S. M., Callister, M. A., Gentile, D. A., & Howard, E. (2016) Is research on whether
media violence is offensive to viewers and whether feelings of offense mediate the
relationship between viewing media violence and aggressive behavior. Participants
consisted of 1,429 emerging adults from 2 different Universities in the United States. Results
revealed that compared with other content in the media, media violence is perceived as
relatively inoffensive. Certain situational (context, genre, and type of violence) and viewer
characteristics (gender and religiosity) influenced feelings of offensiveness for media
violence. Finally, qualitative analyses revealed a host of reasons why viewers are offended
or not by media violence. Results are discussed in the context of the General Aggression
Model.
METHOD
Experimental Design:
Independent Dependent Variable Controlled Variable Method of Control
Variable
Type of Video Participants' 1)List of Words 1) Both lists
(Aggressive or Kind) recognition of consisted of 10
presented words incomplete words
with equal ambiguity
(can form non
aggressive or
aggressive words)
2) Duration of 2) The duration of
videos both videos is 2-3
minutes.
3)the difficulty level
3)words list difficulty of both the list was
kept same
Materials Required:
•Two short video clips (one depicting aggressive behavior, one depicting neutral behavior)
•2 list of words with 10 partially blank words
•Pens/pencils
•Paper
•Consent form
PROCEDURE
Participant preliminaries:-
Age:- 18 years
Gender:- Female
Education:- Graduation (HISTORY hons.)
Rapport formation:
The Participant was welcomed warmly, called and made to sit comfortably, a conversation
was held to make her feel comfortable,reduce hesitation and to build trust with her.
Participant was assured that there was no right or wrong answer and her identity and
responses would remain confidential.The results will not be discussed to anyone. A brief
overview of the experiment was provided without revealing the true hypothesis to prevent
response bias. instructions were given and all doubts she had were cleared.She was asked
if she was ready to begin and upon her answer the experiment was started.
Instructions:
•I will be showing you two videos, each about 2 to 3 minutes long. After watching each
video, you will be given a task.
•The task will consist of a list of 10 words with missing letters, and your job is to fill in the
blanks to complete each word.
•There is no time limit to complete the task, but please try to do it as quickly as possible. If
you have any doubts or questions, feel free to ask.
conduction:
Participant signed a consent form and was seated comfortably in a distraction-free
environment. the instructions given and checked that participant understood them.
Video 1 (Aggressive) was played. Participant was asked to watch attentively.After the video,
participant was handed the first word completion task. She was given as much time as
needed but encouraged to respond instinctively.
Once completed, Video 2 (kind) was shown.
The second word completion task was given, following the same procedure.
After both tasks, participant was asked to write an introspective report describing how each
video made her feel, what thoughts came up, and if she noticed any changes in her own
mood or reactions.
Participant was thanked, debriefed and asked if she had any questions or emotional
discomfort.
Precautions observed:-
•Extraneous variables are to be controlled during the experiment
•It was made sure that there was no background noise to avoid unwanted
distractions.
•The participant was made to sit quietly and comfortably.
•It was confirmed whether the subject had understood the instructions correctly or not.
•no feedback was given to the subject regarding her performance.
•Videos were pre-tested for content sensitivity.
•Tasks were explained clearly.
•Emotional well-being monitored post-video.
•Participant was debriefed thoroughly.
DATA/RESULT
Total aggressive words Total non-aggressive words
List A 8 2
List B 6 4
Result analysis:
The difference was statistically significant, confirming that participant was more likely to think
aggressively after viewing aggressive content. This supports the hypothesis “All factors
remaining constant, the number of aggressive words identified after the first video will be
more than the second video”
and aligns with Bandura’s findings in the Bobo doll experiment.
Discussion:
The findings support the hypothesis and align with Bandura’s Social Learning Theory,
indicating that observation of aggression increases the likelihood of aggressive cognitive
associations. The aggressive video temporarily heightened participants' readiness to
interpret ambiguous stimuli in an aggressive manner.
This study shows that individuals, especially young adults, are influenced by observed
behavior even in short-term and low-stakes settings. The aggressive video served as a
social model, implicitly teaching or activating aggressive schemas that were later reflected in
the word completion task. This effect is congruent with Bandura’s Social Learning Theory,
particularly the concept of modeling and vicarious reinforcement.
Interestingly, introspective data indicated that participant noticed emotional shifts,
highlighting the subtle cognitive influence of observed aggression.
The study also suggests implications for media exposure and youth behavior—regular
consumption of aggressive content may have cumulative effects on cognitive associations
and behavior.
“Media violence and the American
public: Scientific facts versus media misinformation” by Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. Α.
(2001) discusses how violent
media exposure can prime aggressive thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, especially
immediately following exposure.It supports the idea that initial exposure to violent media (like
a first video) leads to heightened aggression-related cognition.
“Violent video game effects on salivary cortisol, arousal, and aggressive thoughts in children”
by Douglas A Gentile, Patrick K Bender, Craig A Anderson (2017)
An experiment investigated the effects of violent content in video games on two physiological
indicators of the fight-or-flight response (cortisol and cardiovascular changes) and on
accessibility of aggressive thoughts in children. Participants played a randomly assigned
violent or nonviolent video game, rated the game on several dimensions, and did a word
completion task. Results showed that the violent video game increased cortisol and (for
boys) cardiovascular arousal (relative to baseline) more than did the equally exciting
nonviolent game. The violent game also increased the accessibility of aggressive thoughts.
The cortisol findings in particular suggest that playing a violent video game may activate the
sympathetic nervous system and elicit a fight-or-flight type response in children.
Conclusion:
The experiment provides empirical support for Social Learning Theory, showing that
short-term exposure to aggressive behavior can increase aggressive cognition. Participant
demonstrated more aggressive word completions after watching an aggressive video than
after a kind one, consistent with Bandura’s model of observational learning. This
underscores the impact of media and modeled behavior on immediate cognitive processes
and supports interventions that encourage positive modeling in educational and media
environments.
REFERENCES
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2001).
Effects of violent video games on aggressive behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive
affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific
literature. Psychological Science, 12(5), 353–359. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9280.00366
Bandura,A. (1977). Social learning theory. Prentice-hall.
Bandura,A.,Ross,D. & Ross,S.A.(1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of
aggressive models. Journal of abnormal and social psychology, 63(3),575-582
Bushman, B. J., & Anderson, C. A. (2001). Media violence and the American public:
Scientific facts versus media misinformation. American Psychologist, 56(6–7), 477–489.
https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.6-7.477
Coyne, S. M., Callister, M. A., Gentile, D. A., & Howard, E. (2016). Media violence and
judgments of offensiveness: A quantitative and qualitative analysis. Psychology of Popular
Media Culture, 5(4), 372–387. https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000073
Gentile, D. A., Bender, P. K., & Anderson, C. A. (2017). Violent video game effects on
salivary cortisol, arousal, and aggressive thoughts in children. Computers in Human
Behavior, 70, 39–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.12.044
Huesmann, L. R. (1997).
Observational learning of violent behavior: Social and biosocial processes. In Biosocial
bases of violence (pp. 69–88). Springer.
Ormrod,J.E. (2020). Human learning. Pearson.
Watson,J.B., & Rayner,R.(1920). Conditioned emotional reaction journal of experimental
psychology
APPENDIX
Consent form:-
Introspective Report:-
reaction after the aggressive video:
“I felt uneasy and a little angry.The aggression was unexpected and a bit disturbing.I noticed
I was a bit on edge after watching it.”
reaction after the kind video:
“It was relaxing and didn’t provoke much thought.I felt calm and happy.There wasn’t much
emotional reaction.”
Behavioural Observational Report:-
The primary behavioral measure was the number of aggressive word completions. Words
with ambiguous blanks served as indicators. Participants' tendencies toward aggressive
completions were higher after the aggressive video.
After the kind video, participants chose more neutral or positive completions:
These results reflect how observed behavior can shape immediate thought patterns,
consistent with social learning principles. indicate that the aggressive content affected their
internal emotional states, supporting the theory that observed behavior can impact cognition
and affect.
