Describe the psychology being investigated in the study by Bandura et al. (aggression).

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2022). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [4] 1 mark for each correct statement. Examples from the study by Bandura et al. can gain credit (max 1).
2. e.g. People pay attention to / observe the behaviour of a role model;
3. They watched a model being aggressive/non-aggressive towards a Bobo Doll (example mark);
4. They then retain that information in their memory;
5. They will the imitate/reproduce the behaviour if they feel capable;
6. If they witnessed the model get rewarded (vicarious) then they are more likely to repeat / try to repeat;
7. The imitation is seen as more probable if the role model is of the same sex (as the observer);
8. Learned behaviour can be displayed in a situation where the model is not present.
9. There are other creditworthy responses.
10. [8] Use the following levels marking for each guideline separately.
11. Confidentiality Any data should not be identifiable as a single participants' responses/ participants' data must not be named as theirs; The identities of the children were not revealed - all we know is that they attended a Nursery at Stanford (and their age range) (not broken).
12. Deception A participant should not be deceived without a strong justification / only if revealing the deception would not cause discomfort; The children were deceived as they never knew they were being watched in the experimental room (broken).
13. Protection from physical harm Participants should leave the study in the same physical state as they entered; The children witnessed and then repeated aggressive behaviours and these were not 'reversed' before leaving the study (broken); The child might have got harmed when hitting the Bobo Doll / playing with other toys like a mallet (broken).
14. Protection from psychological harm Participants should not be potentially distressed/stressed by the procedure of a study; The children may have been scared of watching a model acting aggressively towards the Bobo doll (broken); The children might have had longer term psychological effects of watching aggression/violence (broken).
15. There are other creditworthy responses.