A Level Psychology OCR Practice Exam

What was the key action performed by the model in the aggressive group during Phase 1?

1. Building with blocks

2. Reading a book

3. Punching the Bobo doll

4. Singing a song

The correct answer is: Punching the Bobo doll

The key action performed by the model in the aggressive group during Phase 1 was indeed punching the Bobo doll. This scenario is based on Albert Bandura's famous Bobo doll experiment, which studied observational learning and aggression. In this experiment, children observed an adult model interacting with a Bobo doll in a manner that was either aggressive or non-aggressive. The adult in the aggressive group exhibited clearly aggressive behaviors, including physically attacking the Bobo doll by punching, kicking, and demonstrating other violent actions. This behavior was crucial because it was intended to provide the children with a vivid example of aggression, which they could later imitate. By showing aggressive actions towards the Bobo doll, the model was demonstrating behaviors that the researchers were interested in observing in the child's subsequent playtime behaviors. This aggressive role model had a profound impact on children, as they were more likely to replicate the observed aggressive behavior during the experiment's later phases. The other options, such as building with blocks, reading a book, or singing a song, do not align with the aggressive modeling intended in that specific group and would not facilitate the same outcome of inducing aggressive behavior in the children.