Individual differences and development (LT)

Question 1

Individual differences - social learning theory

Answer 1

• The principles of social learning theory show how different behaviours are learned by someone’s environment and their role models. Role models are people we observe because their showing desirable traits and someone we can identify with, what to emulate. We are more likely to identify with role model if have similarities to us (e.g. same-sex, interests, appearance, etc). Role models observed, unique to you, therefore learned behaviour = individually different.
• Behaviour example: Individual differences in phobia acquisition could be learned through observation if individuals role model displays fear response to particular stimulus (e.g. spider) individual likely to imitate them.
• Bandura found those in aggressive groups behaved more aggressively, children more likely to imitate aggressive model if model was same sex showing, children showed more levels of imitation if role model was similar. Supports Bandura’s claims, as behaviour acquired by observation plus imitation, showing how aggressive behaviour can have individual differences based on role model, child observed to learn behaviour.

Question 2

Individual differences - operant conditiong

Answer 2

• The principles of operant conditioning show how different behaviours are learned through reward and punishment. Shaping behaviour done through combination of reinforcement, (reward + punishment). Behaviour differs depending on punishments and rewards, personal experiences, hence behaviour learning has individual differences.
• Skinner found, rat learn to push certain levers response to light, earn reward (food pellet) plus avoid electrocution. Firm evidence supporting existence of operant conditioning (punishment and reinforcement) in animal learning can lead to differences in behaviour.
• However, individual differences in aggressiveness may be explained by genetic factors, that there may be a gene linked to aggressive behaviour.

Question 3

developmental psychology - role of development through patterns of reward and punishment on human behaviour.

Answer 3

• Individuals learn how to behave within the education system as disruptive and lazy behaviour is punished while good grades and puncturality has been rewarded allowing for a distinction in what is good and bad, diverting our behaviour to act in favour of either being rewarded or punished
• The method of successive approximations explains how complex behaviours are learnt by breaking them down into a series of simple behaviours, such as the steps to learning how to write. Schedules of partial reinforcement can explain why someone might become addicted to gambling as gambling games use variable ratio schedule (behaviour reinforced after an unpredictable number of times which creates a high rate of responding.
• Skinner found that learning does occur through reward and punishment, as the rat learnt to press the lever after receiving a food pellet every time it performed this action (positive reinforcement).
• However, operant conditioning cannot explain the development of all behaviours, just how existing behaviours are strengthened or weakened. Operant conditioning does not account for the learning of new behaviours that animals have never performed before (e.g a rat learning to pull). This shows that operant conditioning is not a full explanation for the development of behaviour.

Question 4

developmental psychology - development is through observation of others

Answer 4

• Aggression and mental health disorders could develop as a result of observing models in the environment. Phobia by watching a role model have a fear, e.g. spiders, and evidently present that they avoid + fear it, individual tries to emulate that behaviour as they look up to them
• According to Bandura, children develop aggressive behaviour through the mechanisms of social learning. As the children identify with the role model through similar charcteristics and try to emulate their behaviour to act more like them us the children look up to them
• Bandura found that children in his experiments would imitate the adults hitting the bobo doll when given the opportunity to whilst those who observed the adult building a toy showed lower levels of aggression, therefore showing how different role models lead children to develop different aggressive behaviours based on behaviour they had modelled
• However, there is evidence that genetic factors are also important in terms of learning. Research by Kendler et al (2015) found that identical twins had higher concordance rates in their aggression than non-identical twins.