Dorothea Mary Ross (December 24, 1923 – May 7, 2019) was a Canadian-American psychologist and pioneer in the field of pediatric psychology. Ross is best known for her work on social learning at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in the early 1960s where, together with

Albert Bandura Albert Bandura (; December 4, 1925 – July 26, 2021) was a Canadian-American psychologist who was the David Starr Jordan Professor in Psychology at Stanford University. Bandura was responsible for contributions to the field of education and to ...

and her sister, Sheila Ross, she demonstrated that children learn aggressive behavior through modeling and imitation.Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S.A. (1961). Transmission of aggression through imitation of aggressive models. ''Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63''(3), 575–582. Ross was also one of the founders of the Society of Pediatric Psychology.Roberts, M.C. (2020)
The passing of a pediatric psychology pioneer; Dorothea M. Ross
''Progress Notes, 44''(3).

Early life and education

Ross was born to John and Mildred Ross in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

, Canada on December 24, 1923.Kuchenbecker, S.Y. (2020)
Dorothea Mary Ross (1923-2019)
''American Psychologist, 75''(8), 1179. She received her B.A. from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in 1956 and her M.A. in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1958. Ross received her Ph.D. in Psychology from

in 1962.

Research

The study that Ross is most well known for is the

Bobo doll experiment 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 behavior after watching an ad ...

conducted while a Ph.D. student at Stanford University with her professor and mentor,

, and her sister, Sheila Ross, who was then also a Ph.D. student at Stanford University. Children (mean age 52 months) enrolled in the Stanford University Nursery School were divided into aggressive model experimental groups and non-aggressive model groups. The children in the aggressive model groups saw an adult model aggressive behavior by hitting a Bobo doll (a 5 foot tall inflatable doll) with their fists and with a rubber mallet, kicking the doll, and throwing it, while verbally making aggressive comments such as “kick him.” The children in the non-aggressive model groups saw an adult model quiet play behavior and ignore the Bobo doll. Each experimental group was then taken into a room in another building, as was a control group that had not seen an adult model any behavior. Each group was allowed to play with toys, and then a mild aggression arousal event occurred when the experimenter told the group these were special toys for other children but they could play with any of the toys in the next room. The children moved to another room that had a Bobo doll and other toys in it. The results showed that children in the aggressive model experimental groups demonstrated significantly more physical and verbal aggressive behavior than the children in the non-aggressive model and control groups who displayed almost no aggressive behavior. This confirmed the hypothesis that exposure to aggressive behavior increases the likelihood of engaging in aggressive behavior. Ross continued to conduct research and write, often with her sister, for many years. She held academic and teaching positions at

Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford University School of Medicine is the medical school of Stanford University and is located in Stanford, California. It traces its roots to the Medical Department of the University of the Pacific, founded in San Francisco in 1858. This ...

and University of California-San Francisco School of Medicine. Her research interests included

social learning theory Social learning is a theory of learning process social behavior which proposes that new behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur p ...

, hyperactivity, childhood bullying, and educating mentally disabled children. Ross was instrumental in starting the Bing Nursery School at Stanford University in 1966, which not only provided an education for young children, but also provided a laboratory for research on young children by Stanford University graduate and undergraduate students. The Bing Nursery School is still operating.

Society of Pediatric Psychology

In the mid-1960s, Ross together with

Logan Wright Logan Wright Jr. (6 December 1933 – 18 December 1999) was an American pediatric psychologist and former president of the American Psychological Association (APA). He coined the term ''pediatric psychology'', co-founded the Society of Pediatr ...

and

Lee Salk Lee Salk (December 22, 1926–May 2, 1992) was a child psychologist and author who is credited with discovering the calming effect the sound of a heartbeat has on infants.

contacted all medical schools in the United States to gauge interest in starting a special interest group with a focus on children in the American Psychological Association. This group became the Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) in 1969, with Wright serving as its first president and Salk as its second president. Despite her role in founding the SPP, Ross never acted as its president,Society of Pediatric Psychology (n.d.). ''Past presidents''. https://societyofpediatricpsychology.org/past_presidents with Ross reporting that the feeling early on in the creation of the SPP was that a female president could alienate potential members who at that time were primarily male.Society of Pediatric Psychology. (n.d.). ''Wright Ross Salk Award for Distinguished Service in Pediatric Psychology''. https://societyofpediatricpsychology.org/node/226

Awards

In 1979 Ross was awarded the Society of Pediatric Psychology Distinguished Contributions Award for her efforts in founding the Society of Pediatric Psychology. This award is now named the Wright Ross Salk Award for Distinguished Service in Pediatric Psychology in recognition of the contributions of the pioneering efforts of Logan Wright, Dorothea Ross, and Lee Salk in establishing the field of pediatric psychology.

Later life

Ross and her sister, Sheila Ross, moved to Bainbridge Island, Washington in 1989, and she died there at the age of 95.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Dorothea M. 1923 births 2019 deaths American women psychologists Canadian women psychologists 20th-century American psychologists People from Victoria, British Columbia Stanford University alumni University of British Columbia alumni Canadian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American women