Social Learning Theory

Question 1

Define “observation”.

Answer 1

We watch behaviour occurring around us all the time. Individuals in our environment are constantly modelling (showing) different behaviours.

Question 2

Define “identification”.

Answer 2

Some individuals are selected as our role models (people we admire, have power, are often slightly older and of the same gender as us.)

Question 3

Define “imitation”.

Answer 3

Copying the behaviours we see our role models perform.

Question 4

Define “reinforcement”.

Answer 4

If the behaviour we have is reinforced, it is internalized. It can also be vicarious. We can learn through observing our role model being reinforced for a behaviour. The vicarious reinforcement leads to us internalising the behaviour we saw be reinforced.

Question 5

What is SLT?

Answer 5

• It is concerned with how people learn when they observe others.
• It emphasises the importance of environment and reinforcement in learning, but it also acknowledges the important role that mental processes play in interpreting the environment and planning new actions even though it does not study them in detail.

Question 6

What are the 4 Mediating Cognitive Factors?

Answer 6

Attention
Retention/memory
Reproduction/ self-efficacy
Motivation

Question 7

What type of experiment is commonly used?

Answer 7

Lab

Question 8

Name a research method and a strength/weakness of it.

Answer 8

• Laboratory experiments on children.
• It allows strict control of variables and cause-and-effect can be seen clearly.
• Affects such as demand characteristics can happen and as these experiments take place in a lab they aren’t naturally occurring so there’s less ecological validity.

Question 9

What are Mediating Cognitive Factors?

Answer 9

They are internal meant processes that lie between the stimulus and response. In SLT these are factors which affect whether learners identify with models, imitate them and how they respond to reinforcement.

Question 10

What took place in Bandura’s experiment?(Bobo Dolls)

Answer 10

He conducted acontrolled experimentstudy to investigate if social behaviours (i.e., aggression) can be acquired by observation and imitation.

Question 11

How did the children react in each scenario?

Answer 11

• All the children experienced the same rooms and same toys, the effect of the different models was clear.
• The scenarios used in the experiment is artificial.
• 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.

-Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.

Question 12

What are the advantages of Bandura’s study?

Answer 12

• It allows for precise control of variables. -Manyvariableswere controlled, such as the gender of the model, the time the children observed the model, the behaviour of the model and so on.
• Experiments can be replicated. Standardized procedures and instructions were used, allowing for replicability.
• Experiments are the only means by which cause and effect can be established. Thus, it could be demonstrated that the model did have an effect on the child’s subsequent behavior because all variables other than the independent variable are controlled.

Question 13

What are the disadvantages of Bandura’s study?

Answer 13

• Many psychologists are very critical of laboratory studies of imitation - in particular because they tend to have low ecological validity.
• It is possible to argue that the experiment was unethical. For example, there is the problem of whether or not the children suffered any long-term consequences as a result of the study.
• A further criticism of the study is that the demonstrations are measured almost immediately. With such snap shot studies, we cannot discover if such a single exposure can have long-term effects.

Question 14

What are the strengths of SLT?

Answer 14

• It uses scientific methods such as observation (observed children in controlled conditions), replicable experiments.
• High control- can establish a cause and effect.
• Qualitative and Quantitative data can be collected.
• Replicable- similar result of consistently found.

Question 15

What are the weaknesses of SLT?

Answer 15

• Low ecological validity as it was carried out in a lab (false environment).
• Demand characteristics
• Ethical issues and morally wrong on the kids behalf.
• Is it actual aggression or just harmless play? -The children were encouraged to act aggressively.

Question 16

What are the criticisms of SLT?

Answer 16

Some criticisms of social learning theory arise from their commitment to the environment as the chief influence on behaviour. For example, there are several gender differences that appear to be universal, such as preferences for particular characteristics in a potential heterosexual partner (men prioritise youth and fertility, women prioritise status and resources) and differences in the gender thinking of boys and girls (boys tend to be more rigid) that social learning theory cannot account for.
It may be that differences like these reflect genetic influences on behaviour that social learning theory takes no account of.