Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What is social learning theory?

Answer 1

Regards gender identity and role as a set of behaviours that are learned from the environment

Question 2

What is the main way that gender behaviours are learned?

Answer 2

Through the process of observational learning, children observe the people around them behaving in in various ways

Question 3

What do children do?

Answer 3

They pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their behaviour. They may imitate the behaviour they have observed, they may do this regardless of whether the behaviour is gender appropriate

Question 4

When is the child more likely to imitate these role models?

Answer 4

If they are perceived as similar to themsleves, therefore it is more likely to imitate behaviour modelled by people of the same sex as them

Question 5

How will the people around the child respond to the behaviours?

Answer 5

With either reinforcement or punishment, it is likely that the child will be reinforced for acting in gender appropriate ways and punished or ignored for gender inappropriate behaviour

Question 6

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 6

The child will observe the consequences of other people’s behaviours and will be motivated to imitate the behaviour if it was reinforced and avoid it if punished

Question 7

What do socialising agents do?

Answer 7

Model examples of appropriate and inappropriate behaviour and also the consequences of conforming or not conforming to gender norms

Question 8

What do social learning theorists generally argue?

Answer 8

That gender identity is learned through observation and reinforcement from a number of sources e.g. parents, peers, media, school and culture

Question 9

What are the 4 stages of imitation?

Answer 9

1. Attention
2. Retention
3. Reproduction
4. Motivation

Question 10

What is attention?

Answer 10

The extent to which we notice the observed behaviour

Question 11

What is retention?

Answer 11

Our ability to remember and store a particular behaviour

Question 12

What is reproduction?

Answer 12

Try out the behaviour and needing to believe that you are capable of copying the behaviour

Question 13

What is motivation?

Answer 13

There needs to be a reason to repeat the behaviour, either be wise it’s someone that you admire or because the modelled behaviour was rewarded in some way

Question 14

What is direct reinforcement?

Answer 14

Praise or punishment to you directly

Question 15

What is indirect reinforcement?

Answer 15

Praise or punishment to SOMEONE ELSE indirectly

Question 16

What does the social learning theory believe?

Answer 16

That gender roles are developed because boys and girls are treated differently by their parents, adults are known to treat babies differently depending on if they perceive them to be boys for girls

Question 17

What do parents use to encourage gender appropriate behaviour?

Answer 17

Rewards and punishments, they encourage feminine behaviour in their daughters and masculine behaviour in their sons

Question 18

What did Fagot et al do?

Answer 18

Compared 27 egalitarian families with 42 traditional families in order to measure the effects of parenting style and children’s later gender roles

Question 19

What was Fagot’s procedure?

Answer 19

• Interviewed the parents when their child was 18 months old and then observed them play with the toddler at 28 and 48 months
• When children reached 4 years old they were given a variety of gender labelling tasks

Question 20

What did Fagot find?

Answer 20

Children in traditional families tended to use gender labels earlier and showed more gender role stereotyping

Question 21

What are 3 evaluation points?

Answer 21

• Explains changing gender roles in Western society
• Not a developmental theory
• Age limitations