Social Learning Theory Flashcards
What is Albert Bandura’s social learning theory?
Believed that new patterns of behaviour could be acquired by observing one’s own behaviour and the behaviour of others, we develop hypotheses about the types of behaviour most likely to succeed in a situation which guides future behaviour
What is modelling and what are the 2 types?
Someone must model the attitude or behaviour for it to be learned
Live model – parent/teacher/older sibling/friend
Symbolic model – someone portrayed in the media
What are the 3 key determinants of whether a behaviour is imitated?
- The characteristics of the model
- The observer’s perceived ability to perform that behaviour
- The observed consequences of that behaviour
What is identification?
Refers to the extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that they are similar to that person
Shutts et al (2010) suggests that children are more likely to identify with and learn from someone they are similar to (same sex)
What is vicarious reinforcement?
Individuals learn about the likely consequences of an action, and then adjust their subsequent behaviour accordingly
What did Bandura and Walters (1963) find out about vicarious reinforcement?
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
Who was involved in the Boba Doll Experiment?
36 girls and 36 boys who were pre-tested for aggression levels by observing them in nursery - all similar aggression levels
What were the 3 stages in the Boba Doll Experiment?
Modelling, aggression arousal, test for delayed imitation
What happened in the modelling stage?
- 24 children watched a model behaving aggressively towards the bobo doll
- Another 24 children watched a non-aggressive model who played in a quiet manner, ignoring the bobo doll
- Final 24 children were used as a control group and weren’t shown any model
What happened in the aggression arousal stage?
Each child was taken separately to a room with attractive toys - when the child started playing with the toys, the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter’s best toys and had reserved them for other children
What happened in the test for delayed imitation?
Next room contained some aggressive toys (including the bobo doll) and non-aggressive toys - each child was in the room for 20 minutes and their behaviour was observed through a one-way mirror
What were the results of the Boba Doll Experiment?
- Those who observed the aggressive model made more imitative aggressive responses
- Was partial and non-imitative aggression among those children who had observed aggressive behaviour
- Boys were more likely to imitate same sex models than girls
- Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls
- Children are able to learn social behaviour through the process of observation learning by watching the behaviour of someone else
