Social Learning Theory Flashcards
Who proposed the social learning theory?
Bandura
Key assumptions of SLT
Bandura agreed that a great deal of our behaviour is learned through what we experience ourselves.
This is called direct learning. But he argued that we also learn via observation and imitation
This is called indirect learning.
In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behaviour is learned from the social environment through the process of observational learning.
Bandura (1977) believes that humans are active information processors and think about the relationship between their behaviour and its consequences. Therefore he does not see learning as a simple stimulus-response reflex. Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work.
Fortunately, most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action”
Mediational processes
• SLT- connects traditional learning theory (behaviourism) & cognitive approach
• It looks at mental factors that are involved in learning
• It considers the factors that mediate between stimulus and response
• These cognitive/mental factors shape (mediate) in the learning process to determine whether a new response is learnt/acquired
What are the 4 mediational processes.
Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation.
Explain attention
The observer must actively pay attention to the model.
E.g. Attention would be drawn to something if it was unusual, funny or a role model.
Explain retention
They must encode and form a memory of the behaviour the model performs.
E.g. A behaviour could be memorable if it was repeated, simple, or funny/unusual.
Explain reproduction
When a person thinks about if they have the ability to reproduce an option. This may require practice or we may not have the ability
E.g. This occurs when the behaviour is an easy action that takes little practice or skill.
Explain motivation
The desire to reproduce the behaviour-we must want to imitate the model
E.g. identification and vicarious reinforcement
Identification
• More likely to imitate behaviour if we identify with a role model. This could include:
• If we feel we are similar to the role model- E.G. friends (same age and gender)
• If we see them as attractive/high status E.G. celebrity
Vicarious reinforcement
• For something to be vicarious, it has to be something that is experienced through another person. For example, many parents want to live vicariously through their children, hence why they may push their children to do the things they never got to do like pursue medical career or travel the world.
• In psychology, reinforcement is a way to recognise and reward desirable behaviour in hopes that it will continue.
• If we put the two words together: vicarious reinforcement is our tendency to repeat or duplicate behaviours for which we observe modles being rewarded.
What is vicarious punishment?
If we see a model being punished, we won’t imitate them
Bobo doll study aim
Aim: To find out if children would show more aggressive behaviour if exposed to an aggressive role model and less aggressive behaviour if exposed to a non-aggressive role model. Also, to see if the sex of the role model and the child made a difference, specifically to see if the children were more likely to imitate a same sex role model and if boys were more aggressive than girls.
Bobo doll study sample
• 36 boys and 36 girls from the Stanford University Nursery School aged between 3 to 6 years old. Opportunity-mainly children of students/lecturers
Bobo doll method
Step 1-
• 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) 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”.
• Another 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) were exposed to a non-aggressive model who played in a quiet and subdued manner for 10 minutes (playing with a tinker toy set and ignoring the bobo-doll).
• The final 24 children (12 boys and 12 girls) were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all
Step 2-
• All the children (including the control group) were subjected to ‘mild aggression arousal’.
• Each child was (separately) taken to a room with relatively attractive toys.
• As soon as the child started to play with the toys the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter’s very best toys and she had decided to reserve them for the other children.
Step 3-
- children put in the next room which had a mixture of toys, including the bobo doll
-Each child was in the room for 20 minutes
-They were observed through a one-way mirror
-They took measurements of behaviour every five seconds
Bobo doll results
-children who observe the aggressive model made more imitative aggressive responses
-Girls in the aggressive model showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was a woman
-Boys were more likely to imitate same sex models than girls
-Boys imitated more physically aggressive than girls
Bobo doll conclusion
• The findings support Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory.
• That is, children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation through watching the behaviour of another person.
• This study has important implications for the effects of media violence on children.
Bandura further research
Bandura (1965) used a similar experimental set up to the one outlined above to test vicarious reinforcement. The experiment had different consequences for the model’s aggression to the three groups of children.
One group saw the model’s aggression being rewarded (being given sweets and a drink for a “championship performance”, another group saw the model being punished for the aggression (scolded), and the third group saw no specific consequences (control condition).
When allowed to enter the playroom, children in the reward and control conditions imitated more of aggressive actions of the model than did the children in the punishment condition.
This shows if we see that a model is punished, we are much less likely to imitate them. This supports the idea of vicarious punishment.
Strength of Bobo doll - cause and effect
All extraneous variables are controlled for example he controlled the models behaviours, time spent in the room, toys in the room, etc. This allows a cause an effect relationship to be established.
Strength of bobo doll- replicability
Study has a standardised procedure so can be replicated. Can check replicability- we know it’s replicable as Bandura repeated it
Weakness- ecological validity
Study lacks mundane realism ( as model is a stranger etc.) and is an artificial setting so children may act unnaturally (DC and SDB) so the findings may not be able to be applied to real life.
Weakness- population validity
All children from America with similar backgrounds so findings may not be able to be applied to groups not represented in the study e.g. Older people.
