social learning Flashcards
Social learning theory:
Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded.
Mediational processes:
refer to the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those stimuli.
Vicarious reinforcement:
Learning that is not a result of direct reinforcement of behaviour, but through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour.
Modelling:
A form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual performing that behaviour.
In order for social learning to take place, someone must carry out (or model) the attitude or behaviour to be learned.
Individuals that perform this role are referred to as models.
There are different types of models: a live model might be a parent, a teacher at school or a member of a peer group.
A symbolic model would be someone portrayed in the media, for example a character on TV.
These models provide examples of behaviour that can be observed by the individual and later reproduced by them in a process known as imitation.
Imitation:
The action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour.
Although a certain amount of learning takes place through direct reinforcement, much of what a child learns is acquired through imitation of attitudes and behaviour that are modelled by parents and significant others.
Research on imitation has shown that, unlike the relatively slow learning that takes place with conditioning, when a model is provided, whole patterns of behaviour can be rapidly acquired.
The key determinants of whether a behaviour is imitated are (i) the characteristics of the model, (ii) the observer’s perceived ability to perform that behaviour and (iii) the observed consequences of the behaviour.
Identification
is a form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person or group.
refers to the extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that he or she is similar to that person.
In order to identify with a model, observers must feel that he or she is similar enough to them that they would be likely to experience the same outcomes in that situation.
Research (e.g. Shutts et al., 2010) suggests that children are more likely to identify with, and preferentially learn from, models who are similar to them, particularly same-sex models.
Identification with a model means that the individual is more likely to imitate their behaviour, meaning that social learning is more likely to be effective.
Vicarious reinforcement:
Bandura and Walters (1963) noted that children who observed a model rewarded for aggressive behaviour were much more likely to imitate that behaviour than children who had observed a model punished for the same behaviour.
Bandura called this vicarious reinforcement - i.e. individuals learn about the likely consequences of an action, and then adjust their subsequent behaviour accordingly.
The concept of vicarious reinforcement suggests that individuals do not need to experience rewards or punishments directly in order to learn.
Instead they can observe the consequences experienced by a model and then make judgements as to the likelihood of experiencing these outcomes themselves.
The role of mediational processes:
Social learning differs from other learning approaches in that it places special importance on internal mediational processes.
Bandura (1986) claimed that, in order for social learning to take place, the observer must form mental representations of the behaviour displayed by the model and the probable consequences of that behaviour in terms of expectancies of future outcomes.
When appropriate opportunities arise in the future, the individual might display the learned behaviour provided that the expectation of positive consequences is greater than the expectation of negative consequences.
KEY STUDY: BANDURA ET AL. (1961):
Procedures
Bandura et al. (1961) carried out an experiment involving children who observed aggressive or non-aggressive adult models and were then tested for imitative learning in the absence of the model.
Half the children were exposed to adult models interacting aggressively with a life-sized Bobo doll and half exposed to non-aggressive models.
The aggressive model displayed distinctive physically aggressive acts towards the doll, e.g. striking it with a mallet, accompanied by verbal aggression such as saying ‘POW’.
Following exposure to the model, children were frustrated by being shown attractive toys which they were not allowed to play with.
They were then taken to a room where, among other toys, there was a Bobo doll.
Findings:
Children who observed the aggressive model reproduced a good deal of physically and verbally aggressive behaviour resembling that of the model.
Children who observed the non-aggressive model exhibited virtually no aggression toward the Bobo doll.
About one-third of the children who observed the aggressive model repeated the model’s verbal responses while none of the children who had observed the non-aggressive model made verbally aggressive remarks.
In a follow-up to this study, Bandura and Walters found that children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive acts were more likely to show a high level of aggression in their own play.
EVALUATION/DISCUSSION:
Social learning theory has useful applications:
Research support for identification:
A problem of establishing causality:
Social learning theory has useful applications:
The principles of social learning have been usefully applied to increase our understanding of many areas of human behaviour, including criminal behaviour.
Akers (1998) suggests that the probability of someone engaging in criminal behaviour increases when they are exposed to models who commit criminal behaviour, identify with these models and develop the expectation of positive consequences for their own criminal behaviour.
Ulrich (2003) supports the importance of social learning in this process in a review of the literature, finding that the strongest cause of violent behaviour in adolescence was association with delinquent peer groups, where violence was both modelled and rewarded.
Research support for identification:
According to social learning theory, observing a model similar to the self should lead to more learning than observing a dissimilar model.
Fox and Bailenson (2009) found evidence for this using computer generated ‘virtual’ humans engaging in exercise or merely loitering.
The models looked either similar or dissimilar to the individual participants.
Participants who viewed their virtual model exercising engaged in more exercise in the 24 hours following the experiment than participants who viewed their virtual model merely loitering or a dissimilar model exercising.
They concluded that greater identification with a model leads to more learning because it is easier to visualise the self in the place of the model, so the observer feels as if he or she is having the same experience
A problem of establishing causality:
A major criticism of social learning theory explanations of deviant behaviour relates to its claim that increased associations with deviant peers increases the likelihood that an individual will adopt the same values and behaviours.
Siegel and McCormick (2006) suggest that young people who possess deviant attitudes and values (e.g. low self-control) would seek out peers with similar attitudes and behaviours, as they are more fun to be with than their less reckless counterparts.
The cause of delinquency, therefore, may not be social learning as a result of exposure to deviant role models, but the possession of deviant attitudes prior to contact with deviant peers.
