Social Learning Theory

Question 1

Who came up with the social learning theory?

Answer 1

Bandura

Question 2

What are the assumptions of this approach?

Answer 2

• combines principles from behaviourist and cognitive approaches
• behaviour is learned from experience
• learning is through observation
• concerned with humans not animals

Question 3

What is observational learning?

Answer 3

Describes the process of learning through watching others,retaining the information then replicating it

Question 4

What is modelling?

Answer 4

Can occur when an observer imitates a role model or when a person produces a specific behaviour that then may be imitated

Question 5

What is identification?

Answer 5

Associating with a role model and adopting their behaviour because you want to be like them

Question 6

What is imitation?

Answer 6

Describes the way in which an individual copies the behaviour of a role model

Question 7

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 7

Involves learning through observation of the consequences of others

Question 8

What are mediational processes?

Answer 8

Four mental processes that must happen for you to copy someone’s actions

Question 9

What are the four mediational processes?

Answer 9

• Motivation
• Attention
• Retention
• Motor retention

Question 10

What is motivation?

Answer 10

We have to want to copy someone and you will be motivated to copy someone you admire and identify with

Question 11

What is attention?

Answer 11

Our attention has to be drawn to what they are doing.If we do not notice what they are doing and interested by it then we will not copy it.

Question 12

What is retention?

Answer 12

How well the behaviour is remembered. You have to have the memory of it to repeat it

Question 13

What is motor reproduction?

Answer 13

The ability to perform the behaviour that the model had just demonstrated

Question 14

What was the aim of the Bobo Doll?

Answer 14

To see if children we were witnesses to an aggressive display to see if they’d imitate it.

Question 15

What happened in the first stage of the Bobo doll experiment?

Answer 15

• children where brought into experiments room. The room was set out for play. One corner was arranged for play and the other was a potato print and stickers.
• placed a Bobo doll on a small table
• aggressive condition was aggressive to the doll and the non aggressive condition, the model ignored the Bobo doll

Question 16

What happened in stage two of the Bobo doll experiment?

Answer 16

• child was told it could play with any of the toys in there, there was aggressive and non aggressive toys.
• their behaviour was observed.

Question 17

What were the findings of this Bobo Doll experiment?

Answer 17

The ones who were in the aggressive condition were made more aggressive

Question 18

What was the conclusion in the Bobo Doll experiment?

Answer 18

Support Banduras Social learning Theory

Question 19

What are the strengths of the social learning theory?

Answer 19

• real life application
• experimental evidence
• carried out on humans

Question 20

what are the weaknesses of the Social Learning Theory?

Answer 20

lack of ecological validity

Can’t explain individual differences