Approaches - Social Learning Theory Flashcards
What did Bandura believe?
Bandura believed behaviour patterns learnt by not only experience but observation of your own and peers behaviour.
What did he do in his experiment?
Carried out experiment where children observed aggressive or non aggressive adult models. Half the children exposed to adult aggressively beating, kicking and using weapons(mallet) on a bobo doll(blow up doll) and said aggressive words such as ‘pow’. Following exposure they were left in room with other toys including a Bobo doll.
What were the findings of his study?
Children who observed aggressive model reproduced good deal of physically and verbally aggressive behaviour resembling that of model they watched. 1/3 of children repeated aggresive model’s verbal responses. No children who had observed non- aggressive actions made verbally aggressive remarks
List the 3 different ways of learning proposed by Bandura?
Imitation, Identification and modelling.
What is imitation?
Takes place through direct reinforcement. Much of what child learns is acquired through imitation of behaviour learned from models (parents or significant others).
What is Identification?
Refers to extent the person feels they are similar to the person. In order to identify with model observers need they are similar enough. Research suggests children more likely to identify with similar people, particularly same - sex.
What is modelling?
In order for social learning to occur, someone needs to ‘model’ behaviour to be learnt through observation.
Live model = Parent/teacher at school
Symbolic model = Famous person or media.
What is Vicarious reinforcement and how did Bandura realise this?
Bandura noted children who observed model rewarded for aggressive behaviour were more likely to imitate it than people punished for one. People learn consequences of action and adjust their behaviour subsequently.
