Implications of the Bobo Doll Study
What are the implications of the Bobo Doll study? Bandura concluded that we watch and learn, and that this learning can have both prosocial and antisocial effects.
Prosocial (positive) models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behavior.
Prosocial modeling occurs when observing someone leads to positive, socially beneficial behaviors. Bandura argued that caregivers, teachers, coaches, and leaders should take this seriously: children tend to imitate what adults do, not just what they say.
If you want a child to:
- read more, then let them see you reading, talk about books, visit libraries
- eat healthy, then model balanced meals and active living
- be kind, then treat others with patience and respect
- be honest, then demonstrate honesty even when it’s difficult
In other words, “Do as I say, not as I do” is not an effective teaching strategy. Children internalize their caregivers’ actions—including moral behavior. Beyond the home, public figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi serve as prosocial models who have inspired large-scale social change.
Think of someone in your own life who has modeled prosocial qualities. What specific behaviors did you learn from them?
Antisocial Modeling
Observational learning can also have harmful consequences. Children who witness violence, aggression, or dishonesty may learn to repeat those same patterns.
Research shows:
- About 30% of abused children later become abusive parents (U.S. DHHS, 2013).
- Exposure to aggression at home teaches children that aggression is an acceptable response to conflict (Murrell, Christoff, & Henning, 2007).
This doesn’t mean the cycle of abuse is inevitable, but it highlights how powerful observational learning can be—both for better and for worse.
Violent Media and Aggression
Does exposure to violent media—including television, films, and video games—cause aggressive behavior? This question has generated decades of research and considerable controversy in psychology.
Albert Bandura’s pioneering studies suggested that television violence could increase aggression in children. Some recent research has continued to find correlations between violent media exposure and aggressive thoughts and behaviors.
However, the relationship between media violence and real-world aggression appears more complex than initially thought.[1] Contemporary research reveals several important considerations:
- Multiple risk factors: Aggression typically results from combinations of influences rather than single causes. Family dynamics, mental health conditions, peer relationships, and socioeconomic factors all contribute to aggressive behavior.
- Effect sizes: Recent meta-analyses suggest that while statistical correlations exist, the actual effect sizes are often quite small. Some studies show effects explaining around 1% or less of the variance in aggression.
- Methodological concerns: A 2020 longitudinal meta-analysis found that correlations between aggressive game content and youth aggression appeared better explained by methodological weaknesses and researcher expectancy effects than true real-world effects (Drummond et al., 2020).[2] The researchers noted that higher-quality studies tended to show smaller or null effects.
- Individual differences: Not all individuals respond to violent media in the same way. Personal characteristics, social context, and existing psychological vulnerabilities moderate how media content affects behavior.
A 2020 study examining long-term effects of media violence exposure on youngsters found that prolonged exposure to violent media was associated with increased anger and rumination (repetitive negative thinking), though the mechanisms remain debated (Han et al., 2020).[3] Meanwhile, research examining social network effects found no evidence that aggression spreads within peer groups based on violent media exposure (published in Journal of Social Psychology, 2021).
The debate continues as researchers work to identify which individuals might be most susceptible to media effects and under what conditions violent content might influence behavior.
- Ferguson, C. J., Copenhaver, A., & Markey, P. (2020). Reexamining the findings of the American Psychological Association's 2015 Task Force on Violent Media: A meta-analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15(6), 1423-1443. ↵
- Drummond, A., Sauer, J. D., & Ferguson, C. J. (2020). Do longitudinal studies support long-term relationships between aggressive game play and youth aggressive behaviour? A meta-analytic examination. Royal Society Open Science, 7(7), 200373. ↵
- Han, L., Xiao, M., Jou, M., Hu, L., Sun, R., & Zhou, Z. (2020). The long-term effect of media violence exposure on aggression of youngsters. Computers in Human Behavior, 106, 106257. ↵