Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 1

• Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for behaviour.
• This is a key factor in imitation

Question 2

What is the social learning theory?

Answer 2

• A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct & indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors

Question 3

What was the procedure for Albert Bandura’s study?

Answer 3

• 36 girls & 36 boys
• Children were taken from Stanford University Nursery
• Bandura asked nursery staff to rate each childs
  aggression prior to experiment
• Bandura used aggression ratings to devise a matched pairs experimental design none of the conditions would comprise naturally aggressive children
• A male or female model was observed per condition (the models were not known to the children)
• There were three conditions of the independent variable:
  Aggressive model – The model behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll, using pre-determined, standardised behaviours e.g. hitting Bobo with a toy hammer
  Non‐aggressive model – The model behaved in a non-aggressive way
  Control group - No model was present
• The children observed the behaviour of the model for 10 minutes, after this, they were taken down a corridor and to another room
• The children were told that they could not play with the toys in the new room as they were being saved for other children (the aggression arousal phase, to ensure a baseline across conditions)
• The children were then taken to a room containing a Bobo Doll, aggressive toys such as a mallet and dart gun and non-aggressive toys such as farm toys and crayons
• The ppts were observed in the Bobo Doll room using a one-way mirror for a duration of 20 minutes

Question 4

What were the findings of Banduras Study?

Answer 4

• Children who had observed aggressive behaviour were more likely to be aggressive
• Boys were more physically aggressive; girls were more verbally aggressive
• Children were more likely to imitate behaviour of same sex role model (especially boys)

Question 5

What are the strengths & weaknesses of Banduras study?

Answer 5

Strengths:
- Was a controlled observational study with a standardised procedure which means study is replicable & thus could be repeated to test for reliability

Weaknesses:
- Numerous ethical issues with the study:
- Some of children were exposed to an aggressive adult which may have alarmed & distressed them
- The aggression arousal phase may have upset the children
- Experiment only shows short-term effects of observed aggression, making it difficult to see if there are long-term effects too

Question 6

What conclusion can you make about aggression through the SLT?

Answer 6

• Aggression can be learnd through the mechansims of SLT
• Imitation of aggression can occur after only a single exposure to the aggressive act

Question 7

What is imitation?

Answer 7

• Coping the behaviour of others

Question 8

What are mediational processes?

Answer 8

• Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between a stimulus & response

Question 9

What were the 4 mental/ mediational processes identified by Bandura?

Answer 9

• Attention
• Retention
• Motor Reproduction
• Motivation

Question 10

What is attention?

Answer 10

• The extent to which we notice certain behaviours

Question 11

What is retention?

Answer 11

• How well the behaviour is remembered

Question 12

What is motor reproduction?

Answer 12

• The ability of the observer to perform the behaviour

Question 13

What is motivation?

Answer 13

• The will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished

Question 14

What is identification in the SLT?

Answer 14

• People (especially children) are more likely to imitate people they identify with
• The person they identify with is called a role model
• & The process of imitating a role model is called modelling
• A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer

Question 15

Give one strength of the SLT.

Answer 15

• OS is that the approach recongises the importance of cognitive factors in learning
• Neither classical or operant conditioning can offer an adequate account of learning on their own
• Humans & animals store information about the behaviour of others & use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions

This suggests that SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recongising the role of mediational processes

Question 16

What is a counter point of the SLT recongising cognitive factors?

Answer 16

• SLT has been criticised for making too little reference to the influence of biological factors on social learning.
• Although Bandura claimed natural biological differences influenced our learning potential, he thought that learning itself was determined by the environment.
• However recent research suggests that observational learning, of the kind Bandura was talking about may be the result of mirror neurons in the brain, which allow us to empathise with and imitate other people.

This suggests that biological influences on social learning were under-emphasised in SLT

Question 17

Give one disadvantage of the social learning theory?

Answer 17

• SLT does not account for innate and biological factors such as the influence of genes, hormones, brain structures on behaviour which limits its scope
• Using lab-based research to investigate behaviour learned in social contexts lacks ecological validity as it uses artificial tasks in unnatural settings

Suggests that research may tell us little about how children actualy learn aggression in everyday life

Question 18

Give another strength of SLT.

Answer 18

• SLT principles have been applied to a range of real world behaviours
• SLT has advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour
• SLT principles such as modelling, imitation & reinforcement can account for how children learn from others around them including the media- this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies.
• Has proved useful in understanding a range of behaviours such as how children come to understand their gender role

This increases the value of the approach as it can account for real-world behaviour