Ap - Social learning theory Flashcards
What did Albert Bandura believe?
That new patterns of behaviour could be acquired not only through direct experience, but also by observing one’s own behaviour and the behaviour of others.
He also believed that reinforcement could also serve an informative function for the individual.
What is the social learning theory?
When people learn by observing their own and others behaviour and develop hypotheses on the basis of this feedback, about the types of behaviour most likely to succeed in a given situation. These hypotheses then serve as guides for their future behaviour.
What are the 4 mediational processes?
modelling
imitation
identification
vicarious reinforcement
What was Bandura’s study?
Children observed aggressive or non-aggressive adult models and were then tested for imitative learning in the absence of the model. Half of the children were exposed to models interacting aggressively with the life-size Bobo doll and half exposed to non-aggressive models.
What is modelling in the mediational processes?
Someone must carry out the attitude or behaviour to be learned. Models. These models provide examples of behaviour that can be observed by the individual and later reproduced by them in process known as imitation.
What are the different types of models?
live - for example a parent, teacher, a member of a peer group.
symbolic - someone portrayed in the media for example a character on TV.
What is imitation in the mediational processes?
Most children learn behaviour and attitudes modelled by parents and significant others. When a model is provided, whole patterns of behaviour can be rapidly acquired.
The key determinants of whether a behaviour is imitated are:
- the characteristics of the model
- the observer’s perceived ability to perform that behaviour
- the observed consequences of the behaviour
What were Bandura’s finding from his Bobo doll experiment?
Children who observed the aggressive model reproduced a good deal of physically and verbally aggressive behaviour resembling that of the model. Children who observed the non-aggressive model exhibited virtually no aggression toward the Bobo doll.
About one third of the children who observed the aggressive model repeated the model’s verbal responses while none of the children who had observed the non-aggressive model made verbally aggressive remarks.
What did Bandura and Walters find in a follow up to the Bobo doll study?
Children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive acts were more likely to show a high level of aggression in their own play.
What are the strengths of social learning theory?
Has many useful applications.
There is research support for identification.
What are the weaknesses of social learning theory?
There is a problem of establishing causality.
There is a problem of complexity.
Define identification.
A form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person or group.
Define imitation.
The action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour.
What are mediational processes?
Refer to the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those stimuli.
What is modelling?
A form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual performing that behaviour.
