Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What is the SLT a bridge between ?

Answer 1

The behaviourist and the cognitive approach.

Question 2

What happens between stimuli and response ?

Answer 2

Meditational processes

Question 3

How is behaviour learnt (excluding classical and operant conditioning)?

Answer 3

Behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

Question 4

What is the role of mediational processes ?

Answer 4

take place within the individual to determine if a new response is required.
Observational learning could not occur unless these mediational process mediate. - prior to imitation.

Question 5

Who is the main theorist for the SLT?

Answer 5

Bandura

Question 6

What are the 4 mediational processes ?

Answer 6

• Attention
• Retention
• Motor Reproduction
• Motivation

Question 7

What is attention ?

Answer 7

The individual needs to pay attention to the behavior and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behavior.

Question 8

What is retention ?

Answer 8

where individuals symbolically store a model’s behavior in their minds.

Question 9

What is motor reproduction ?

Answer 9

This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just demonstrated. We see much behavior daily that we would like to be able to imitate, but this is not always possible.

Question 10

What is motivation ?

Answer 10

The will to perform the behavior.

Question 11

What is observational learning ?

Answer 11

Observational learning is a key aspect of social learning theory, where individuals learn and adopt behaviors by observing others.

Question 12

What is a model ? How do they impact behaviour ?

Answer 12

Individuals that are observed are called models.

These models provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate

Children pay attention to some of these people and encode their behavior. At a later time, they may imitate the behavior they have observed.

Question 13

What are the influences on observational learning ?

Answer 13

factors enhance the likelihood of a behavior being imitated.

Question 14

What are the attentional processes that allow for behaviour to be imitated

Answer 14

. Similarity of the model - We are more likely to model our behaviors after individuals who are similar to us. This is because we are more likely to identify with these individuals, making their behaviors seem more relevant and attainable.
. Identification with the model - taking on (or adopting) observed behaviors, values, beliefs, and attitudes of the person you identify with. The motivation to identify with a particular model is that they have a quality that the individual would like to possess.

Question 15

What are the motivational processes that increase likelihood of behaviour being imitated ?

Answer 15

Rewarded behaviours -Individuals who see that a model is rewarded for their behaviors are likelier to imitate them, while behavior resulting in negative outcomes is less likely to be copied.
Status of model - We are likelier to imitate individuals who hold high-status positions, such as leaders, celebrities, or successful people in our field of interest.

Question 16

What was the aim of the bobo doll study ?

Answer 16

Bandura (1961) conducted a controlled experiment study to investigate if social behaviors (i.e., aggression) can be acquired by observation and imitation

Question 17

What is the sample “” ?

Answer 17

tested 36 boys and 36 girls from the Stanford University Nursery School aged between 3 to 6 years old.

judged their aggressive behavior on four 5-point rating scales.

Matched pairs design

Question 18

Method ?

Answer 18

A lab experiment was used, in which the independent variable (the type of model) was manipulated in three conditions:
- Aggressive model is shown to 24 children watched a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a “Bobo doll”. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner – they used a hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted “Pow, Boom.”

• Non-aggressive model is shown to 24 children were exposed to a non-aggressive model who played in a quiet and subdued manner for 10 minutes
• No model is shown (control condition) – 24 children - control group

-The next room contained some aggressive toys and some non-aggressive toys. Including bobo doll.

Question 19

Results ?

Answer 19

-Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.
-Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same-sex models is not strong.
-Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was little difference in verbal aggression between boys and girls.

Question 20

Conclusion

Answer 20

Bobo doll experiment demonstrated that children are able to learn social behavior such as aggression through the process of observation learning, through watching the behavior of another person. The findings support Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory.