Social Learning Theory (SLT)

Question 1

How did Albert Bandura believe new patterns of behaviour could be aquired?

Answer 1

not only through direct experience, but also by observing one’s own behaviour and the behaviour of others.

Question 2

What did Bandura believe the role of reinforcement was?

Answer 2

act as an informative function for the individual

Question 3

Who is SLT attributed to?

Answer 3

Albert Bandura

Question 4

Define identification

Answer 4

is a form of influence where an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour because they want to be associated with a particular person or group

Question 5

Define imitation

Answer 5

the action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour

Question 6

Define mediational processes

Answer 6

refer to the internal mental processes that exist between environmental stimuli and the response made by an individual to those stimuli

Question 7

Define modelling

Answer 7

a form of learning where individuals learn a particular behaviour by observing another individual performing that same behaviour

Question 8

Define SLT

Answer 8

learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded

Question 9

Define vicarious reinforcement

Answer 9

when an individual observes another person (a model) behave in a certain way and experience a consequence perceived as desirable by the observer, and as a result, the observer behaves as the model did.

Question 10

What factors influence whether social learning will take place?

Answer 10

1. modelling
2. imitation
3. identification
4. vicarious reinforcement

Question 11

Give an example of a ‘live model’

Answer 11

parent

Question 12

Give an example of a ‘symbolic model’

Answer 12

someone portrayed in the media - e.g. TV character

Question 13

How do models influence whether social learning will take place?

Answer 13

models provide examples of behaviour that can be observed by the individual and later reproduced by them

Question 14

What has research on imitation shown?

Answer 14

unlike the relatively slow learning that takes place with conditioning, when a model is provided, whole patterns of behaviour can be rapidly acquired

Question 15

What are the key determinants of whether a behaviour will be imitated?

Answer 15

1. the characteristics of the model
2. the observer’s perceived ability to perform that behaviour
3. the observed consequences of the behaviour

Question 16

What is the effect of observers identifying with the model?

Answer 16

they believe they are likely to experience the same outcome in that situation (as they are similar to them)

Question 17

What research suggests that children are more likely to identify with and preferentially learn from, models who are similar to them, particularly same-sex models?

Answer 17

Shutts et al., 2010

Question 18

What did Shutts et al., 2010 research suggest?

Answer 18

that children are more likely to identify with and preferentially learn from, models who are similar to them, particularly same-sex models

Question 19

What does identification with a model mean for an individual?

Answer 19

they are more likely to imitate their behaviour, meaning that social learning is more likely to be effective

Question 20

Who noted that children who observed a model rewarded for aggressive behaviour were much more likely to imitate that behaviour than children who had observed a model punished for the same behaviour?

Answer 20

Bandura and Walters (1963)

Question 21

What does the concept of vicarious reinforcement suggest?

Answer 21

that individuals do not need to experience rewards or punishments directly to learn. Instead they can observe the consequences experienced by a model and then make judgements as to the likelihood of experiencing these outcomes themselves

Question 22

How does SLT (mainly) differ from other approaches in psychology?

Answer 22

it places special importance on internal mediational processes

Question 23

What are the 4 mediational processes proposed by Bandura?

Answer 23

1. attention
2. retention
3. reproduction
4. motivation

Question 24

What is the mediational process ‘attention’ and how does it effect our ability to imitate a model?

Answer 24

The individual needs to pay attention to the behaviour and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behaviour. For a behaviour to be imitated, it has to grab our attention.

Question 25

What is the mediational process ‘retention’ and how does it effect our ability to imitate a model?

Answer 25

How well the behaviour is remembered. The behaviour may be noticed but is it not always remembered which obviously prevents imitation. It is important therefore that a memory of the behaviour is formed to be performed later by the observer.

Question 26

What is the mediational process ‘reproduction’ and how does it effect our ability to imitate a model?

Answer 26

This is the ability to perform the behaviour that the model has just demonstrated. We see much behaviour on a daily basis that we would like to be able to imitate but that this not always possible. We are limited by our physical ability and for that reason, even if we wish to reproduce the behaviour, we cannot.

Question 27

What is the mediational process ‘motivation’ and how does it effect our ability to imitate a model?

Answer 27

The will to perform the behaviour. The rewards and punishment that follow a behaviour will be considered by the observer. If the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs (if there are any), then the behaviour will be more likely to be imitated by the observer. If the vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the observer, then they will not imitate the behaviour.

Question 28

What was the aim of the BOBO DOLL experiment?

Answer 28

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

Question 29

What was the sample Bandura used during the BOBO DOLL experiment?

Answer 29

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

Question 30

What did the researchers do prior to the BOBO DOLL experiment?

Answer 30

1. The researchers pre-tested the children for how aggressive they were by observing the children in the nursery and judged their aggressive behaviour on four 5-point rating scales.
2. It was then possible to match the children in each group so that they had similar levels of aggression in their everyday behaviour. The experiment is, therefore, an example of a matched pairs design.
3. To test the inter-rater reliability of the observers, 51 of the children were rated by two observers independently and their ratings compared. These ratings showed a very high reliability correlation (r = 0.89), which suggested that the observers had a good agreement about the behaviour of the children.

Question 31

Outline the procedure of the BOBO DOLL experiment

Answer 31

1. Half the children were exposed to adult models interacting aggressively with a life-sized Bobo doll and half exposed to non-aggressive models.
2. The aggressive model displayed physically aggressive acts towards the doll, e.g. striking it with a mallet, accompanied by verbal aggression such as saying ‘POW’.
3. Following exposure to the model, children were frustrated by being shown attractive toys which they were not allowed to play with.
4. They were then taken to a room where, among other toys, there was a Bobo doll

Question 32

What were the findings of the BOBO DOLL experiment?

Answer 32

• about 1/3 of the children who observed the aggressive model repeated the model’s verbal responses while none of the children who had observed the non-aggressive model made verbally aggressive remarks

Question 33

What were the findings in the follow-up study of the BOBO DOLL experiment?

Answer 33

Bandura and Walters found that children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive acts were more likely to show a high level of aggression in their own play

Question 34

What was the conclusion drawn to for the BOBO DOLL experiment?

Answer 34

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

Question 35

What are the 5 PEEL evaluation points for Social Learning Theory (SLT)?

Answer 35

1. social learning theory has useful applications
2. research support for identification
3. a problem of establishing causality
4. a problem of complexity
5. the importance of identification in social learning

Question 36

What is the PEEL paragraph for the SLT evaluation point; social learning theory has useful applications

Answer 36

P - the principles of social learning have been usefully applied to increase our understanding of many areas of human behaviour, including human behaviour
E - Akers (1998) suggests that the probability of someone engaging in criminal behaviour increases when they are exposed to models who commit criminal behaviours, identify with these models and develop the expectation of positive consequences of their own criminal behaviour
L - Ulrich (2003) supports the importance of social learning in this process in a review of the literature, finding that the strongest cause of violent behaviour in adolescence was association with delinquent peer groups, where violence was both modelled and rewarded

Question 37

What is the PEEL paragraph for the SLT evaluation point; research support for identification

Answer 37

P - according to social learning theory, observing a model similar to the self should lead to more learning than observing a dissimilar model
E - Fox and Bailenson (2009) found evidence for this using computer generated ‘virtual’ human engaging in exercise or merely loitering. The models looked either similar or dissimilar to the individual participants.
E - participants who viewed their virtual model exercising engaged in more exercise in the 24 hours following the experiment than participants who viewed their virtual model merely loitering or a dissimilar model exercising
L - they concluded that greater identification with a model leads to more learning because it is easier to visualise the self in the place of the model, so the observer feels as if he or she is having the same experience

Question 38

What is the PEEL paragraph for the SLT evaluation point; a problem of establishing causality

Answer 38

P - a major criticism of SLT explanations of deviant behaviour relates to its claim that increased associations with deviant peers increases the likelihood that an individual will adopt the same values and behaviours
E - Siegel and McCormick (2006) suggest that young people who possess deviant attitudes and values (e.g. low self-control) would seek out peers with similar attitudes and behaviours, as they are more fun to be with than their less reckless counterparts
L - The cause of delinquency, therefore, may not be social learning as a result of exposure to deviant role models

Question 39

What is the PEEL paragraph for the SLT evaluation point; a problem of complexity

Answer 39

P - in focusing exclusively on the processes of social learning, advocates of this approach disregard other potential influences on behaviour
E - for example, in explaining the development of gender role behaviour, social learning theorists would emphasise the importance of gender-specific modelling.
E - in real life, however, a child is exposed to many different influences, all of them interacting in complex ways. These include genetic predispositions, media portrayals, locus of control and so on
L - this presents a serious problem for social learning researchers. If virtually anything can have an influence on a specific behaviour, it becomes difficult to show that one particular thing (social learning) is the main causal influence

Question 40

What is the PEEL paragraph for the SLT evaluation point; the importance of identification in social learning

Answer 40

P - media attempts to change health-related behaviours have shown that models similar to the target audience are more likely to bring about identification and greater social learning
E - to achieve this, health campaigns have tried to match characters that model the desired behaviour with the target audience in terms of physical characteristics, attitudes and behaviours
E - greater identification with the model is then expected to influence modelling behaviour. Andsager et al., (2006) found that perceived similarity to a model in anti-alcohol advertisement was positively related to the message’s effectiveness
L - based on this finding, the researchers suggest that some of a message’s potency may be lost if the individual finds it difficult to identify with a given model