Uploaded April 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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What do you think? Can we learn only through direct experience, or also from studying others? To prove that children can learn by mere observation, american-canadian psychologist Albert Bandura came up with the Bobo Doll Experiments - a set of controversial studies, which involved preschool children, adult models and a stand-up punch doll. What did he find out?

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COLLABORATORS
Script: Jonas Koblin
Artist: Pascal Gaggelli
Voice: Mithril
Coloring: Nalin
Editing: Peera Lertsukittipongsa
Head of Partnership Programme: Selina Bador
Production: Bianka
Proofreading: Susan
Sound Design: Miguel Ojeda

SOUNDTRACKS
Nice Toys - Studio Le Bus
Toys Are Alive - Studio Le Bus
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DIG DEEPER with these top videos, games and resources:
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory in education-implications for teaching and learning
teacherofsci.com/social-learning-theory
Summary of comments and criticisms - by verwellmind.com
verywellmind.com/bobo-doll-experiment-2794993#:~:text=Some%20critics%20argue%20that%20the,might%20suffer%20from%20selection%20bias.
The Perils of Flawed Experimentation - criticism of the Bobo Doll experiment
https://ctlsites.uga.edu/metainquisition/the-perils-of-flawed-experimentation/

SOURCES
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bandura
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_learning_theory
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment
verywellmind.com/social-learning-theory-2795074

CLASSROOM EXERCISE
Experiment! Choose two or more activities that your class will be doing together (best would be simple physical actions like summersaults or yoga poses). For each activity select a different style of demonstration (one demonstrate yourself, one let a student demonstrate, and one will only be described to the students). Make sure everyone executes each pose or activity once. Which learning style do your students prefer? Could they do it better? Encourage each of your students to demonstrate their own activity or pose and explain it in a way they think their classmates will get it. Vary the level of detail of explanation for more interesting results!

Chapters
00:00 Bandura's Hypothesis
00:07 The Bobo Doll Experiment
02:39 Bandura's impact
03:06 Tenets of Social Learning Theory
03:44 Conclusion