Social learning theory Flashcards
Who investigated SLT + what is the study called?
Bandura
Bandura’s Bobo doll
What is SLT?
Learning through observing others + imitating behaviours that are rewarded
What is modelling in SLT?
A form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual performing that behaviour.
How does modelling fit into SLT?
In order for SLT to take place someone must carry out or model the attitude/behaviour in order to be learned.
Individuals that perform the role are models.
How many types of model are there?
What are they called?
Give examples of them
2
Live models - teacher, parent, peer etc.
Symbolic models - someone portrayed in the media or a character of a TV show.
What is imitation in SLT?
The action of using someone or something as a model + copying their behaviour.
What are the 3 key determinants of whether a behaviour is imitated?
1) the characteristics of the model.
2) the observer’s perceived ability to perform that behaviour.
3) the observed consequences of that behaviour.
What is identification in SLT?
A form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person.
How does identification fit into SLT?
For SLT to take place the individual relates to a model + feels that they’re similar to that person.
In order to relate to the model the individual must feel that they’re similar enough to them that they’d be likely to experience the same outcomes in that situation.
Research suggests that children are more likely to identify with models who are the same sex as them.
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Learning through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour as shown in Bandura’s study
E.g. washing the dishes after watching a sibling being praised for the same action.
What are mediational processes?
The internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli + the response made by an individual to those stimuli.
What is the role of mediational processes in SLT?
In order for SLT to take place the observer must form a mental representations of the behaviour displayed by the model + the probable consequences of that behaviour in terms of expectancies of future outcomes.
An individual is more likely to display the learned behaviour if the expectation of positive consequences is greater than the expectation of negative consequences.
What was the procedure of Bandura’s bobo doll study?
Participants: 36 boys and 36 girls, ranging in age from 3 to 6 years old.
The children were pre-tested for their level of aggression by observing them in a playroom setting.
The children were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a group that observed a non-aggressive adult model, and a group that observed an aggressive adult model.
The children were taken to a room with toys and were observed through a one-way mirror. In the aggressive model condition, an adult model would enter the room and begin to play with toys, but then become aggressive towards a Bobo doll, hitting it, kicking it, and throwing it around the room.
In the non-aggressive model condition, the adult model would play with the toys without showing any aggression towards the Bobo doll.
After exposure to the models, the children were taken to another room with toys, including a Bobo doll. Their behaviour was observed to see if they imitated the behaviour of the adult model they had observed.
What were the findings of Bandura’s bobo doll study?
The study found that children who observed the aggressive adult model were more likely to engage in aggressive behaviour towards the Bobo doll than children in the control or non-aggressive model groups.
The study concluded that children learn aggressive behaviour through observation and imitation of adult models, and that this learning can occur quickly and without direct reinforcement.
AO3: Lack of generalisability
Weakness
The study used a small, homogenous sample of children, which limits the generalizability of the findings to other populations, such as children from different cultural backgrounds or with different levels of prior exposure to media violence.
