SLT Flashcards
Observation
Watching and paying close attention to other people’s behaviour
Eg- a young boy watches his dad play football
Imitation
Copying other people’s behaviour
Eg- after observing his dad, he starts to play football
Role models
Someone we look up to and identify with
Eg- the dad acts as a role model to the young boy
Identification
When an observer associates themselves with the model and wants to be like the role model
Eg- the young boy can see himself in his dad, as they’re the same gender
Modelling
When the role model performs the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour
Eg- the dad models how to play football to the young boy
Vicarious reinforcement
Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour
Eg- the young boy sees his dad get told by his friends that he’s really good at football, which makes him want to play football
Mediational processes
Attention
Retention
Motor production
Motivation
Attention
The behaviour of the role model must be watched and noticed
Retention
The behaviour that has been observed must be remembered in order to perform it
Motor reproduction
The previously observed behaviour is imitated by the observer
Motivation
We need the desire to imitate the behaviour we have observed from the role model. Rewards and punishments that follow a behaviour will be considered by the observer.
Bobo Doll - experiment one
Children watched either an adult behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll or an adult behaviour non-aggressively towards a Bobo doll
When given their own doll to play with the children who had seen aggression were more aggressive towards the doll
This is evidence for imitation
Bobo doll study - experiment two
Children saw an adult who was either rewarded, punished and had no consequence for behaving aggressively
When given their own doll, the children who saw the aggression rewarded were much more aggressive themselves.
This is evidence for vicarious reinforcement
Weakness - over relies on the research from the lab studies, such as the Bobo doll experiment
The participants may have been acting in aggression as they’re thought that’s what was expected (demand characteristics)
It was conducted in a lab meaning it can’t tell us about how children learn aggression in everyday life (low external validity)
This research tells us very little about how children learn aggression in real life
Weakness - underestimates the influence of biological factors
One consistent finding in the Bobo doll study was that boys were more aggressive than girls. This could be explained by boys having naturally higher levels of testosterone.
This means that SLT ignores an important influence on behaviour and is too simplistic.
Strength - acknowledges cognitions
For example a key assumption of SLT is the role of mediational processes.
Therefore it provides a more comprehensive explanation.
Strength - RWA
The Bobo doll study showed us that children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the processes of observational learning. Therefore this study has important implications for the effects of media violence on children.
This has led to policies such as ofcoms 9pm watershed and age restrictions on films. This shows the value of the theory.
