social learning theory Flashcards
what do social learning theorists believe?
they believe that things take place within the organism that take place between stimulus and response (the brain) they say you need to know about the persons mental processes.
what is the key experiment used to show social learning theory?
albert banduras bobo doll experiment
what happened in the bobo doll experiment?
-there was 36 girls and 36 boys aged form 37 to 69 months.
-there were 2 adults. one male and one female
-the 2 gender groups were split into thirds.
-one third was to watch an aggressive adult, one third watched a non aggressive model and one third was a control group.
what was the aim of the bobo doll experiment?
to examine the effect of the continual influence of the model. also to examine if the sex of the model influenced same sex or opposite sex to a differing degree.
what were the results from the bobo doll experiment?
- children who observed an aggressive adult were more aggressive when observed
-boys were more aggressive - greater level of imitation if the model and child were the same gender
what was the conclusion from the bobo doll experiment?
there is a behavioural effect from observing aggressive behaviour and that this behaviour continues after a delay
what was the evaluation of the bobo doll experiment?
-effects of social learning are short term
-difficult to see if there are any long term effects
-validity is unreliable
-issues with interpreting data.
what are the 3 key assumptions of the SLT theory?
1) behaviour is learnt from the environment and genetics have no influence
2) learning occurs in a social context we learn through observing and imitating others and the reinforcement or punishment they receive.
3) mediating cognitive processes lie between stimulus and response and effect the likelihood of a behaviour being imitated
what are the mediating cognitive processes and what do they mean?
1) attention = we must observe a behaviour that gets our attention
2) retention = we must remember the behaviour we have seen
3) reproduction = we need to believe we are physically able to reproduce the behaviour
4) motivation = we have to want to/have a reason to imitate the behaviour.
what is a model?
an individual who displays a behaviour that could be imitated
what does modelling mean?
a model displays a behaviour that is then later imitated by someone.
what is identification?
when someone feels a connection between someone and see a resemblance because they wish to be like them.
what is imitation?
when someone copies someone else’s behaviour through observation
what is vicarious reinforcement?
learning indirectly through observation, reinforcement or punishment.
what are the positives of the SLT approach?
-has useful applications (practical and economic)
-takes the cognitive processes in leaning into account
-uses both experimental and non-experimental methods
