For this investigation we conducted a study on aggression in playground behaviour to support Boultons work on peer aggression in the playground. My aim is to investigate how aggression differs between children aged 2-4 and 11-12. Introduction: Boulton and Smith used a systematic observation in 1990 to investigate the importance of peers in the playground to study schoolyard bullying. Carvhalo, Smith, Hunter and Constabile in 1990, Humphreys and Smith in 1987 and Pellegrini in 1988 have also used the same concept to study schoolyard bullying.
The advantages of an observation are that we can observe people or animals in their natural setting, so the behaviour recorded is more realistic than a laboratory setting. Also the variables can’t be manipulated as they are out of an observations control. The disadvantages of an observation is that if the people know that they are being watched then they may begin to show demand characteristics and behave how they think we expect them to.
The hypothesis that Smith and Boulton developed was that children’s aggression develops with age. The process it follows is physical aggression (hitting, kicking) to direct aggression (verbal threats) to indirect aggression (name calling behind someone’s back). The results showed that boys were more physical with bullying than girls, who were more indirect in their methods. This links closely to the Social Learning Theory, and may explain the results collected. The SLT states that children learn how to behave through observation, imitation and reinforcement from the people around them. Also many parents have a critical view on how their child behaves and try to teach them the ‘correct’ way to play, in boys rewarding active play and punishing femininity and in girls rewarding cleverness and prettiness and punishing active play.
The methodological considerations of an observation are that children act aggressively in a more open environment when no adult is present, so the presence of the observers may affect the rate of aggression and the results collected may be less than what actually happens without authority figures present. In this study, I aim to observe the gender differences in aggressive playground behaviour and see if boys act more aggressively than girls. Also I am studying the age of the subjects, to see if this has a difference on the levels of aggression.
Hypotheses and Research Aims: My aim in this observation is to find out if children aged 11-12 show higher levels of aggression than children aged 2-4. My hypothesis is that 11-12 year old boys will display more aggressive behaviour than all of the other categories. I have made this prediction based on Albert Bandura’s famous Bobo Doll Experiment. As there are no variables which I can control or manipulate one cannot affect the other. Method: Design: The type of design I have chosen is a naturalistic observation, where I observe children in a natural environment, so a more accurate level of behaviour is shown.
There were no measurable or controllable variables as in observation psychologists are not allowed to interfere with the participants once they have begun their activity. Participants: The type of sampling chosen was completely random although we did observe a year 7 dance class and children from the Chuckle’s playgroup for our investigation. The advantage of random sampling is that you get a wide range of people. The disadvantage is that some participants may not want to be observed or may feel uneasy and display demand characteristics.