Guided Response: Review several of your colleagues’ posts and respond to at least two of your peers including one response to a classmate in each of the other two groups by 11:59 p.m. on Day 7 of the week. You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful and interactive discourse in this discussion.
Prior to crafting your responses, critically review the required articles that were not assigned to you for your initial post. Acknowledge and evaluate the proposed changes made by your classmate. Did your classmate appropriately identify the specified elements? What elements might you suggest he or she consider that were not present in the initial post? Were there ethical concerns presented in the article your colleague studied that were not addressed in his or her post? Was your colleague’s description of the proposed changes clear and appropriate in terms of the information presented in his or her article? Propose at least one change that your colleague did not consider, and explain why it would be an improvement to the study. Continue to monitor the discussion forum until 5:00 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Day 7 of the week and respond to anyone who replies to your initial post. The article reviewed is “Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation Of Aggressive Models”. The study was conducted including 36 boys and 36 girls that were attending the Stanford University Nursery School. They were divided into eight groups consisting of six subjects each and also a control group with 24 subjects. “Half the experimental subjects were exposed to aggressive models and half were exposed to models that were subdued and nonaggressive in their behavior”. They were rated based on four, five point rating scales by the experimenter and a nursery school teacher.
Experimental manipulation was used in this study which was based on random assignment. Half of the children were in the nonaggressive condition and the other half were in the aggressive condition. They were tested for the amount of imitative learning. All subjects were also subjected to mild aggression arousal. Benefits of the elements could include that understanding could be missed if only a single method was used and the researcher can test a grounded theory. Limitations could include the study being more time consuming, and difficult for a single researcher to carry out themselves. The children were able to be well supervised, however needed to make sure they were not influenced by her behavior.
Having study’s in the Psychology field is relevant to the work done. Using random sampling needs to be efficient. In this particular study could the toys used be classified as acceptable or unacceptable? Socially were the children in the study in the same class or were they strangers to each other? This could also impose bias in the study if the children knew each other or not. Noting that the boys were more aggressive than the girls, could have altered the results of the study.
Ethically we do not know the children’s ethnicity and if that would be a factor to the results. Some biases that could occur is that the experimenter may not take into account all of the variables. A researcher could also encounter bias after the results are analyzed and conclude that the sample was biased based on certain groups, (religion, race, ethnicity, etc.), were not included. The children were in a controlled environment and ethically speaking the models did not interfere or influence the children, but were present. Consent needs to be clear when working with children and understanding how important it is with minors. Children learn by observing other children as well as adults, and children follow by example. This could cause ethical concerns in that the researcher and all involved are responsible for ensuring the study is ethical and to be able to manage the risk of any potential harm to the children. When it comes to this type of study everyone needs to be aware of surroundings and to avoid upsetting the children.
Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 63(3), 575. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.com
How to Be A Wise Consumer of Psychological Research. (2016). Retrieved from http://apa.org/research/action/mer.aspx