Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What is Social Learning Theory (SLT)?

Answer 1

• suggests that people learn through observing others and imitating their behaviours, attitudes, and emotional reactions.
• emphasises the role of modelling, imitation, and vicarious reinforcement.

Question 2

What are the key components of Social Learning Theory?

Answer 2

Attention – pay attention to a behaviour in order to learn it.
Retention – be able to remember the behaviour later.
Reproduction – have the ability to reproduce the behaviour.
Motivation – we are motivated to perform the behaviour based on whether it was reinforced or punished when observed.

Question 3

What is a “model” in Social Learning Theory?

Answer 3

• A model is a person or character who is observed and whose behaviour is imitated by others.
• Models can be live (e.g., parents, peers) or symbolic (e.g., characters in media).
• We are more likely to imitate behaviours modelled by those we see as similar or authoritative.

Question 4

What is vicarious reinforcement in Social Learning Theory?

Answer 4

• Vicarious reinforcement occurs when an individual observes someone else being rewarded or punished for a behaviour and uses this information to decide whether to imitate the behaviour.
• It shows how indirect reinforcement can influence learning.

Question 5

Vicarious Punishment

Answer 5

• Tendency to engage in a behaviour is weakened after observing negative consequences for it occurring.

Question 6

Vicarious Punishment

Answer 6

• Noticed that the person who has been observed engaging in the behaviour is no longer rewarder and so the behaviour imitated stops.

Question 7

Evidence

Answer 7

P- Strong evidence , Bandura
E- Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment (1961) demonstrated that children imitated aggressive behavior after observing an adult model behaving aggressively, especially when the model was rewarded.
E- Proving that SLT is a valid theory for raising how society and models have an effect on children and society as a whole.

Question 8

Applications

Answer 8

P- High apps
E- In the UK , a “watershed” on TV occurs which means that programmes with violence, sexual content, and obscene language are only shown after 9pm. Done w the intent to assume after 9pm kids will have to be asleep or w a parental figure which can choose to turn off the TV.
E- This is based on SLT’s idea of children observing antisocial or inappropriate content, they might imitate.

Question 9

Comparison

Answer 9

P- Theory can appear reductionist in its explanation for how we learn
E- Focuses on observation when other factors like biological, so can be seen as narrow explanation for how we learn, ignores genetic.
E- Therefore, reduces its overall credibility as it simplifies human processes.

Question 10

How good is the research

Answer 10

P- Banduras study only shows short term effects
E- Only focuses on initial first-hand learning and imitating of the behaviour. IRL there is often a time lapse between retention and reproduction, meaning we don’t always imitate immediately.
E- Therefore, SLT studied in a lab to represent SLT IRL is hard to test/measure. Making it overall not that applicable to real-world.