Evaluation of Social Learning Theory Flashcards
Limitations of bandura
*Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment ignores the biological differences between boys and girls- boys showed more aggressive behaviour, possibly due to them having higher levels of testosterone linking to increased aggressiveness.
*Demand characteristics- as it took place in a lab, participants may have imitated behaviour they think the researcher wants.
*Lacks mundane realism as it doesn’t represent how children would be aggressive in day-to-day situations, decreases the external validity.
Outline a strength of SLT
P- one strength is that it has real-world application.
E- for example, SLT has the advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour. Social learning principles such as modelling, imitation and reinforcement can account for how children learn from others around them, including the media, this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies.
E+L- this is a strength because it allows parents to understand how the media or influencers can influence their children and only provide their children with positive role models. Therefore, this is an increase in external validity.
Outline another strength of SLT
P- one strength is that it recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning.
E- for example, neither operant or classical 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’s appropriate to perform certain actions.
E+L- this is a strength as it can explain why we conduct certain behaviours from a much more realistic point of view.
CA+L- this means SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediation as process.
Outline a limitation of SLT
P- a limitation of social learning theory is that the evidence on which it is based on was gathered through lab studies.
E- for example, Bandura’s ideas were developed through observation of young children’s behaviour in a lab. Lab studies are often criticised for their contrived nature where participants may response to demand characteristics.
E+L- this is a limitation because the child will imitate the behaviour that they think the researcher will want: demand characteristics. This means the research will be invalid and overall decrease the external validity as they haven’t actually measured what they intended to.
