Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What are the main assumptions of Social Learning Theory?

Answer 1

• Behaviour is learned from environment but there is an interaction between environment, behaviour, and cognitive processes
• Behaviour can be learned from observing and imitating the behaviour of a role model e.g. parents, peers, celebrities
• There are 4 meditational processes: Attention, Retention, Reproduction, and Motivation (ARRM)

Question 2

What is modelling?

Answer 2

Role model = someone who can demonstrate behaviour observed by others

People are more likely to imitate those who they perceive to be role models
1. Role models demonstrate behaviour
2. Behaviour is observed
3. Observation + Imitation = Modelling

There are 2 stages of modelling: Identification and Vicarious Reinforcement

Question 3

What is identification?

Answer 3

Identification = when we associate with and want to be like them

People (especially children) are more likely to imitate the behaviour of people they identify with
Especially if Role Model:
- has similar characteristics to us e.g. gender, age, ethnicity
- are seen to be attractive or having high status
If you identify with the role model you are more likely to imitate them

Question 4

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 4

Indirect reinforcement that happens through observing others’ behaviour

• Role model is positively reinforced for their behaviour = more likely to be imitated (want to get same reward)
• Role model is punished for their behaviour = less likely to be imitated (avoid same punishment)

Question 5

What are the stages of the meditational processes?

Answer 5

Cognitive meditational processes = mental processes that occur between model displaying behaviour and observer imitating the behaviour
This is a linear sequence.
According to Bandura:
- Attention: When we first see new behaviour we need to pay attention to it first
- Retention: When we first form a mental representation of the behaviour attended to (could also be accessing an existing representation)
- Reproduction: When we ascertain if we have the capacity to physically reproduce the behaviour ourselves
- Motivation: Drive to recreate an observed behaviour. If driven more likely to reproduce an observer behaviour (vicarious reinforcement can contribute to this)

Question 6

What was Bandura’s experiment?

Answer 6

Bandura’s Bobo doll experiment:
METHOD:
72 children with an average age of 4yrs of observed an adult behaving either aggressive or non-aggressively to the bobo doll
- After a delay they were allowed into a room with toys: a bobo doll, toy guns, farm sets, etc

FINDINGS
- Children who witnessed a role model being aggressive to the doll were more likely to be aggressive to the doll themselves
- Boys displayed more physical aggression whereas girls more verbal
- Level of imitation was greater for same-sex role models rather than opposite sex models

Question 7

What is a strength of Social Learning theory in comparison to the behaviourist approach?

Answer 7

• One strength of SLT is that it is more holistic than the BA
• The SLT considers the combination of learning from environment and cognitions and is therefore not reductionist (unlike traditional behaviourism which focused on the influence of environment)
• Also using meditational processes to explain behaviour means people are seen as having freewill over their behaviour
• This makes the SLT less deterministic than BA which claims behaviour is completely out of our control and purely due to environment
• This is a strength because it provides broader understanding of behaviour compared to other approaches
• It also gives a positive outlook as it considers humans as in control of their own behaviour
• This validates the SLT

Question 8

How do practical applications support Social Learning Theory?

Answer 8

• One strength of SLT is that there are practical applications
• E.g. sports coaches use concepts such as observational learning to demonstrate behaviour they want their students to imitate and learn
• They also use vicarious reinforcement by rewarding pupils who show the right technique to ensure that others model their behaviour to gain the same reward
• This is a strength because instead of being purely theoretical SLT is applicable to everyday life, training people and improving lives
• Therefore the principles of SLT are a valuable contribution to society

Question 9

How does Bandura support Social Learning theory?

Answer 9

• One strength of SLT is that there is supporting evidence from Bandura
• E.g. Bandura found that children are more likely to demonstrate aggression is they observe a role model demonstrating the behaviour compared to if they observed a non-aggressive role model
• Also he found that children are more likely to imitate same sex role models
• This supports SLT because it suggests that behaviour (aggression) is learnt through observation and imitation (modelling)
• Also it supports the concept of identification as it shows imitation is more likely to when there are shared characteristics (sex)
• Therefore Bandura’s findings validate the SLT as an explanation of the acquirement of behaviour

Question 10

What is a weakness of Social Learning Theory?

Answer 10

• A weakness of SLT is that it has a limited explanatory scope of how we acquire complex behaviours that are not observed
• E.g. auditory hallucinations
• As they show behaviour never observed before this shows observation and imitation is not the only explanation of behaviour
• This decreases the validity of SLT