Social Learning Theory Flashcards
What did Bandura find in his research?
He found that when children observed a model acting aggressively towards a Bobo Doll, they were more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour. Whereas, 70% of children who observed a non-aggressive model or no model showed zero ratings of aggression
How does Bandura’s research link to SLT?
It evidences how observation of behaviour can lead to imitative learning and the importance of a role model
What is a strength of SLT?
It uses scientific methods
Why does SLT have scientific methods?
It is based on objective and empirical techniques such as Bandura’s experiment, which has a high control over extraneous variables - uses same role model in each condition
What does scientific methods increase?
It increases the overall internal validity of SLT, therefore raising Psychology’s scientific status.
What is a further strength of SLT?
It has practical applications
What practical applications does SLT have?
The principles, that behaviour is caused by observing and imitating a model, has been used by the government to control how the media portray certain behaviours e.g. restricted advertisements of cigarettes and alcohol to reduce this negative behaviour
What is SLT an important part of?
It is an important part of applied psychology as it helps to promote positive behaviours in the real world
What can SLT be praised for?
It can be praised for going beyond the behaviourist approach and considers that humans have an element of free will in their learning (soft determinism)
What does SLT state that all human behaviour is a result of?
It is a result of external causes, yet, as individuals, we also have the ability to make conscious decisions about whether or not to imitate a behaviour and who we choose to model behaviour from. - could be considered superior to approaches that take a hard determinism stance
What is an alternative explanation?
The biological explanation
What is the bio explanation?
It would suggest that human behaviour is due to genes or hormones rather than learning through observation.
What does SLT underestimates?
It underestimates the role of hormones in Bandura’s research as one consistent finding was that boys were often more aggressive than girls regardless of the situation and this could be explained by the levels of testosterone between them - showing its not the only explanation to be considered
