Bobo doll experiment

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The Bobo doll experiment (or experiments) is the collective name for a series of experiments performed by psychologist Albert Bandura to test his social learning theory. Between 1961 and 1963, he studied children's behaviour after watching an adult model act aggressively towards a Bobo doll.^[1] The most notable variation of the experiment measured the children's behavior after seeing the adult model rewarded, punished, or experience no consequence for physically abusing the Bobo doll.^[2]

The social learning theory proposes that people learn largely through observation, imitation, and modelling. The Bobo doll experiment provides a template for understanding various aspects of human behavioral development.^[3] It demonstrates that people learn not only by being rewarded or punished but they can also learn from watching someone else being rewarded or punished. These studies have practical implications, such as providing evidence of how children can be influenced by watching violent media.^[2]