APPS 05 - Social Learning Theory Flashcards
What is the social learning theory?
A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors
What is imitation?
Copying the behaviour of others
What is identification?
When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model
What is modelling?
- From the observer’s perspective, modelling is imitating the behaviour of a role model
- From the role model’s perspective, modelling is the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour that may be imitated by an observer
What is vicarious reinforcement?
- Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else (role model) being reinforced (receiving the consequences) for a behaviour
- This is a key factor in imitation
What is the mediational process?
Cognitive factors (i.e. thinking) that influence learning and come between stimulus and response
How does a person become a role model?
- A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have high status
- Role models may not necessarily be physically present in the environment, and this has important implications for the influence of the media on behaviour
What are the assumptions of the social learning theory?
- Behaviour is learned from experience
- Albert Bandura’s social learning theory proposed a different way in which people learn - people learn when they observe others
- Learning occurs through observation and imitation
- SLT suggested learning occurs directly through classical and operant conditioning but also indirectly through vicarious reinforcement
- It can be seen as a bridge between the behaviourist approach and the cognitive approach
What are the stages of the mediational process? And what are their meanings?
- Attention => the extent to which we notice certain behaviours
- Retention => how well the behaviour is remembered
- Motor reproduction => the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
- Motivation => the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished
What occurs in the ‘attention’ stage of the mediational process?
- The individual needs to pay attention to the behaviour and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behaviour
- For a behaviour to be imitated, it has to grab our attention. We observe many behaviours daily, and many of these are not noteworthy.
- Attention is therefore extremely important in whether a behaviour influences others imitating it.
What occurs in the ‘retention’ stage of the mediational process?
- The behaviour may be noticed but is it not always remembered which obviously prevents imitation.
- It is important therefore that a memory of the behaviour is formed to be performed later by the observer.
- Much of social learning is not immediate, so this process is especially vital in those cases.
- Even if the behaviour is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to refer to.
What occurs in the ‘motor reproduction’ stage of the mediational process?
- We see a lot of behaviour daily that we would like to be able to imitate but that this not always possible.
- We are limited by our physical ability and for that reason, even if we wish to reproduce the behaviour, we cannot.
- This influences our decisions whether to try and imitate it or not.
What occurs in the ‘motivation’ stage of the mediational process?
- The rewards and punishment that follow a behaviour will be considered by the observer.
- If the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs (if there are any), then the behaviour will be more likely to be imitated by the observer.
- If the vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the observer, then they will not imitate the behaviour.
Who conducted research on the social learning theory?
Bandura et al (1961)
What are the procedures of the studies conducted by Bandura on the social learning theory?
Study A:
- Bandura et al. (1961) recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult behave in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll
- The adult hit the doll with a hammer and shouted abuse at it
- When these children were later observed playing with various toys, including a Bobo doll, they behaved much more aggressively towards the doll and the other toys than those who had observed a non-aggressive adult
Study B:
- Bandura, together with Richard Walters (Bandura and Walters 1963), showed videos to children where an adult behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll
- One group of children saw the adult praised for their behaviour (being told ‘Well done’)
- A second group saw the adult punished for their aggression towards the doll, by being told off
- The third group (control group) saw the aggression without any consequence
- When given their own Bobo doll to play with, the first group showed much more aggression, followed by the third group, and then the second
What are the strengths of the social learning theory?
- Recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning
- Has real world applications
How does the SLT recognise the importance of cognitive factors in learning?
- One strength of the social learning theory approach is that it recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning
- Neither classical nor operant conditioning can offer an adequate account of learning on their own
- Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions
- As Bandura observed: ‘Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what they do. From observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide to action’ (Bandura 1977)
- This suggests that SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human
- learning by recognising the role of mediational processes.
How does the SLT have real world applications?
- Another strength is that SLT principles have been applied to a range of real-world behaviours
- Social learning theory has the advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour
- SLT principles, such as modelling, imitation and reinforcement, can account for how children learn from others around them, including the media, and this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies
- This has proved useful in understanding a range of behaviours, such as how children come to understand their gender role
- This increases the value of the approach as it can account for real-world behaviour.
What are the limitations of the social learning theory?
- The evidence that it is based on was gathered through lab studies
- It makes too little reference to the influence of biological factors on social learning
How was evidence for the SLT gathered through lab studies?
- One limitation of social learning theory is that the evidence on which it is based was gathered through lab studies
- Many of Bandura’s ideas were developed through observation of young children’s behaviour in the lab
- Lab studies are often criticised for their contrived nature where participants may respond to demand characteristics
- It has been suggested, in relation to the Bobo doll research, because the main purpose of the doll is to strike it, the children were simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected.
- This suggests that the research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.
How does the SLT make too little reference to the influence of biological factors?
- Despite this, SLT has been criticised for making too little reference to the influence of biological factors on social learning.
- Although Bandura claimed natural biological differences influenced our learning potential, he thought that learning itself was determined by the environment
- However, recent research suggests that observational learning, of the kind Bandura was talking about, may be the result of mirror neurons in the brain, which allow us to empathise with and imitate other people.
- This suggests that biological influences on social learning were under-emphasised in SLT.
