214 CHAPTER 5
what the model in the film did, each child duplicated the model’s actions. Both groups
had learned from watching the model, but only the children watching the successful
(rewarded) model imitated the aggression with no prompting (Bandura, 1965). Appar-
ently, consequences do matter in motivating a child (or an adult) to imitate a particular
model. The tendency for some movies and television programs to make “heroes” out
of violent, aggressive “bad guys” is particularly disturbing in light of these findings. In
fact, Bandura began this research to investigate possible links between children’s expo-
sure to violence on television and aggressive behavior toward others.
In one nationwide study of youth in the United States, it was found that young peo-
ple ages 8 to 18 spend on average almost 7.5 hours per day involved in media consump-
tion (television, computers, video games, music, cell phones, print, and movies), 7 days
a week. Furthermore, given the prevalence of media multitasking (using more than one
media device at a time), they are packing in approximately 10 hours and 45 minutes of
media during those 7.5 hours (Rideout et al., 2010)! While not all media consumption is
of violent media, it is quite easy to imagine that some of that media is of a violent nature.
Hundreds of studies stretching over nearly three decades and involving hundreds
of thousands of participants strongly indicate that a link exists between viewing violent
media and an increased level of aggression in children and young adults (Anderson
et al., 2015; Bushman & Huesmann, 2001; Huesmann & Eron, 1986). to Learn-
ing Objective 1.7. While some of these studies involved correlations, and correlations
do not prove that viewing violence on various media is the cause of increased violence,
one cannot help but be concerned, especially given the continuing rise of media con-
sumption in young people, coupled with the multiple ways young people interact with
media. Although still a topic of debate for some (Boxer et al., 2015; Ferguson, 2015; Gen-
tile, 2015; Rothstein & Bushman, 2015), there appears to be a strong body of evidence
that exposure to media violence does have immediate and long-term effects, increasing
the likelihood of aggressive verbal and physical behavior and aggressive thoughts and
Figure 5.12 Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment
In Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo doll experiment, the doll was used to demonstrate the impact of observ-
ing an adult model performing aggressive behavior on the later aggressive behavior of children.
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