Approaches: Social learning theory

Question 1

What’s identification?

Answer 1

a form of influence when an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour in order to be associated with a person/group

Question 2

What’s imitation?

Answer 2

The action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour

Question 3

What are mediational processes?

Answer 3

the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by the individual to those stimuli

Question 4

What’s modelling?

Answer 4

individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual preforming that behaviour

Question 5

What’s vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 5

learning through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour

Question 6

Who’s the key researcher for SLT?

Answer 6

Bandura 1986

Question 7

What is SLT?

Answer 7

Explaining behaviour through both direct and indirect reinforcement —> combines learning theory with the role of cognitive factors

Question 8

What are the key assumptions of SLT?

Answer 8

-Much behaviour is learned through experience
-People learn through imitation of others in a social context
-Learning occurs both indirectly and directly through classical and operant conditioning

Question 9

What’s needed in order for social learning to take place?
(mediational processes)

Answer 9

the observer must form mental representations of the behaviour displayed by the model and the probable consequences of that behaviour.

Question 10

What’s the consequence of forming these mental representations of behaviour?

Answer 10

When the appropriate opportunities arise in the future the individual may display the learned behaviour provided that the chance of positive outweigh negative outcomes.

Question 11

How many mediational processes are there?

Answer 11

4

Question 12

What are the 4 mediational process?

Answer 12

1) Attention – the extent of which a person pays attention to someone else’s behaviour
2) Retention – remembering the behaviour they have observed
3) Motivation – giving a reason for repeating the behaviour
4) Reproduction – the ability to carry out the behaviour

Question 13

What’s the role of modelling in SLT?

Answer 13

When attention is given to the model, the individual ay retains the behaviour they’ve observed and is reproduced through imitation.
The model can either be live (e.g., parent, teacher) or symbolic (e.g., tv character).

Question 14

What are the key characteristics needed for imitation of the model to take place?

Answer 14

-They’re similar to the —> same sex
-They’re likeable and attractive
-They’re high status/ famous

Question 15

How does SLT differ from the behaviourist approach?

Answer 15

The behaviourist approach stated we learn through direct experience whereas, SLT allows for observation + cognitive processes (indirect + direct experiences).

Question 16

What is the key study that accompanies SLT?

Answer 16

Bandura’s et al. Bobo Doll (1961)

Question 17

What was the aim of Bandura’s Bobo Doll?

Answer 17

To observe whether social behaviours (in the case of aggression) can be learned through observation + imitation

Question 18

What was the procedure of Bandura’s Bobo Doll?

Answer 18

72 children aged 3-5 boys and girls from Stanford University were split into 2 groups of 36.

½ of the children were exposed to adult models interacting aggressively with a life-sized Bobo doll and the other half were exposed to non-aggressive models.

The aggressive model displayed physically aggressive acts, striking the doll with a mallet + using verbal aggression such as using the word POW.

After observing the models, the children were put in the same room with the same toys.

Question 19

What were the findings of Bandura’s Bobo Doll?

Answer 19

While boys generally responded more violently than girls, the children who observed the aggressive role model were more likely to imitate these behaviours. This was less likely for the children who observed the non-aggressive role model.

Question 20

What was the conclusion of Bandura’s Bobo Doll?

Answer 20

Children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observable learning.

Question 21

What are the 4 AO3 points for SLT?

Answer 21

+Emphasis on observational learning and practical applications.
+Recognition of cognitive factors
-Oversimplified
-Ecological/external validity

Question 22

(+AO3) Why is the emphasis on observational learning and practical applications a strength?

(Treatment of phobias - practical application)

Answer 22

A strength of SLT is its emphasis on the role of observational learning in shaping behaviour.

This has practical applications, such as the treatment of phobias as a client can watch a similar person (who doesn’t have the phobia) interact with the phobic object. This provides the patient with vicarious reinforcement as the model is interacting the phobic object with positive consequences.

Through repeated exposure to modelling the client will learn how to interact with the phobic object in a non-anxious way. This is a key example of how modelling positive behaviours can help to encourage desirable outcomes.

Question 23

(+AO3) Why is the recognition of cognitive factors a strength of SLT?

Answer 23

A strength of SLT is its recognition of the importance of cognitive factors in learning.

SLT highlights the role of attention, retention and motivation in determining whether individuals will learn through observing others.

Research like Bandura’s Bobo doll provides strong evidence for the importance of cognitive factors in learning and suggests that SLT can be a valuable framework for understanding how individuals acquire new behaviours and skills.

Overall, SLT’s emphasis on cognitive factors is a valuable contribution to our understanding of how individuals learn and develop and has practical applications in a wide range of real-world settings.

Question 24

(-AO3) How can SLT be regarded as an oversimplification?

Accounts for cognitive + environmental and but not biological)

Answer 24

A limitation of SLT is its oversimplified understanding of the role of biological factors in explaining behaviour and doesn’t account for the ways that these factors can influence behaviour.

SLT places a strong emphasis on the role of environmental factors in determining behaviour and does not fully account for the ways in which genetic and biological factors can influence behaviour.

While SLT has been supported by a wealth of empirical research, its oversimplified view of human behaviours may limit its ability to fully explain complex behaviours and phenomena.

Therefore, while SLT has made valuable contributions to our understanding of how individuals learn and develop, its oversimplification may limit its applicability to more complex human behaviours.

Question 25

(-AO3) How does SLT lack external and ecological validity?

(Lab)

Answer 25

The Bobo the doll experiments were conducted in an unfamiliar (laboratory) setting.

Because of this new situation, the children might simply have been behaving in the way they thought they were expected to in this situation (copying the model).

Further, the children would have known the doll was just a doll and so it is unclear whether the children would model aggressive behaviour towards, for example, other children in a real-life scenario. so may have just acted how they thought they were meant to.