The Learning Approach - Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What is social learning theory?

Answer 1

Learning through observing others and imitating behaviours that are rewarded.

Question 2

What is imitation?

Answer 2

The action of using someone or something as a model and copying that behaviour.

Question 3

What is identification?

Answer 3

When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like that role model.

Question 4

What is modelling?

Answer 4

From the observers perspective modelling is imitation the behaviour of a role model. From the role model’s perspective, modelling is the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour that may be imitated by an observer.

Question 5

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Answer 5

Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour. This is a key factor in imitation.

Question 6

What are mediational processes?

Answer 6

Cognitive factors (internal mental processes) that influence learning and lie between stimulus and response.

Question 7

What are the key assumptions of the approach?

Answer 7

• we learn through observing other people (observational learning)
• SLT believes that learning occurs directly, through classical and operant conditioning but also indirectly (vicarious conditioning)
• we observe role models and imitate their behaviour (modelling)
• mediating cognitive factors lie between stimulus and response (ARRM)
• only study human learning rather than animal learning
• believe in using scientific, lab based experiments to study behaviour in an objective way

Question 8

Whose behaviour are we more likely to imitate?

Answer 8

Those who we see as role models.

Question 9

What is identification?

Answer 9

Identification is a form of attachment that is made to another person (the model) who has qualities that are seen as rewarding and we wish to acquire.

Question 10

What is modelling?

Answer 10

Modelling refers to the process of copying the behaviours of the chosen person/people. This model acts as an example and models the behaviour.

Question 11

Give the two types of models that we identify with and imitate

Answer 11

• live models - parents, teachers, friends

* symbolic models - anyone in the media

Question 12

What factors may influence whether a person is likely to be selected as a model and imitated?

Answer 12

• age (similar to our own)
• popularity
• similarity
• attractiveness
• gender

Question 13

What is the key difference of social learning theory from behaviourism?

Answer 13

The idea that mental processes (mediating cognitive factors) are involved in learning.

These processes lie between stimulus and response and allow us to be able to think about what we are going to do before we do it.

Question 14

Do behaviourists believe that mediating cognitive factors lie between the stimulus and response?

Answer 14

No

Question 15

Bandura identified 4 meditational processes in learning, what were they?

Answer 15

• Attention
• Retention
• Motor reproduction
• Motivation

Question 16

Define the 4 mediational processes

Answer 16

• attention - in order to learn a behaviour we must first notice pay attention/notice the models behaviour.
• retention - the individual encodes and remembers what they have observed.
• motor reproduction - the observer must know they have the ability to perform the behaviour (self-efficacy = the strength of your belief in your own ability).
• motivation - the individual seeks to demonstrate the behaviour that have observed. Imitation is more likely if the behaviour is reinforced. This can be directly or indirectly (vicarious).

Question 17

What do ‘attention’ and ‘retention’ in the mediational processes relate to in terms of behaviour?

Answer 17

They relate to the learning of behaviour

Question 18

What do ‘motor reproduction’ and ‘motivation’ in the mediational processes relate to in terms of behaviour?

Answer 18

They relate to the performance of behaviour

Question 19

How does the timing of the learning and performance differ to traditional behaviourism?

Answer 19

Unlike traditional behaviourism, the learning and performance need not occur together. Observed behaviours may be stored by the observer and reproduced at a later time.

Question 20

Describe vicarious reinforcement

Answer 20

This is the reinforcement that the observer sees the model receiving, so they do not receive the reward themselves directly but see someone else receive it. Reinforcements such as rewards make behaviour more likely to happen again. With vicarious reinforcement the person learns by observing the consequences of another person’s behaviour, and when the opportunity to perform the learnt behaviour occurs the behaviour will be modelled.

Question 21

How do social learning theorists study human behaviour?

Answer 21

Social learning theory shares with behaviourism a commitment to the scientific method and has mostly employed the laboratory experiment to investigate observational learning.

A distinguishing feature of the approach is that much of the research has been on people rather than animals. Also a lot of research focuses on aggression in people, especially how children learn to be aggressive.

Question 22

What study researched observational or imitative learning in children?

Answer 22

Bandura’s Bobo doll study

Question 23

Describe the method and findings of Bandura’s experiment

Answer 23

Group A. Children were put into a room, one at a time, with an adult who behaved in an aggressive way towards a bobo doll. The adult hit the doll with a hammer and shouted abuse at it.
Group B. One at a time children were put into a room where an adult behaved in a subdued non-aggressive way towards the doll.

Each child was then put into a playroom which contained toys including a bobo doll and a hammer. The researchers recorded the number of aggressive behaviours each child made toward the doll.

The results were that more aggressive acts were recorded for the children who had observed an adult behave aggressively than children who had not. Boys were generally more aggressive than girls.

We can conclude that exposure to a model behaving aggressively results in observational learning and aggressive behaviour.

Question 24

What are the most commonly used research methods used by social learning theorists?

Answer 24

Laboratory experiments

Question 25

What are the 3 strengths of using laboratory experiments?

Answer 25

• high control of extraneous variables so can establish a cause and effect relationship
• standardised procedures are easy to replicate so are more likely to be reliable
• objective data is measurable and testable

Question 26

What are the 3 limitations of using a laboratory experiment?

Answer 26

• highly artificial tasks/environment so lacks ecological external validity and therefore can’t be generalised
• possibility of demand characteristics which will affect the validity of the results
• problems with ethics - using children and getting them to be aggressive (Bandura)

Question 27

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Outline 3 strengths of social learning theory

Answer 27

• less deterministic than behaviourism
• has real-life applications
• has scientific credibility

Question 28

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Explain why being less deterministic than behaviourism is a strength of social learning theory

Answer 28

Social learning theory is described as being less deterministic than behaviourism as it highlights the importance of cognitive mental processes in human learning. It suggests that a person stores a behaviour that they have seen and chooses when to perform it - allowing for a certain amount of freedom of choice in behaviour.

So argues that there is some free will, a strength of social learning theory.

Question 29

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Explain the strength of social learning theory in that it has real-life application

Answer 29

The principles of social learning theory have been used to increase our understanding of human behaviour e.g. Gender behaviour where gender appropriate behaviour is reinforced in children by same sex models (usually parents) and gender appropriate behaviours are then modelled by children.

Social learning theory also has the advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour. SL principles can explain how children can learn from individuals around them and how and why cultural norms, for example gender behaviour, differs from one society to the next.

Question 30

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

How does SLT have scientific credibility?

Answer 30

By emphasising the importance of scientific processes and their reliance on the scientific method SLT, like behaviourism, gives psychology greater credibility and status as a science.

For example, Bandura used children in controlled lab experiments to investigate learning.

Question 31

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Outline 2 limitations of social learning theory

Answer 31

• it ignores the influence of biological factors

* uses lab experiments

Question 32

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Explain the limitation of SLT in that it ignores the influence of biological factors

Answer 32

Bandura makes little reference to the role of biological factors on social learning. The results of the Bobo doll experiment, where boys were more aggressive than girls, for example may be explained through differences in testosterone- a hormone linked to aggression that is found to be higher in boys.

Question 34

EVALUATION OF SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Explain how using lab experiments is also a weakness of SLT

Answer 34

The tasks are highly artificial and are in an artificial environment so the study lack ecological external validity so we can’t generalise the results. The possibility of demand characteristics is also high in lab studies so this affects the validity of the results.

Question 35

EXTRA EVALUATION

Discuss similarities and differences between social learning theory and behaviourism

Answer 35

Similarities
• both use scientific methods and lab experiments

Differences
• SLT believes that mediating cognitive factors lie between stimulus and response whereas behaviourism doesn’t, making SLT less deterministic

• SLT used predominantly humans in lab experiments whereas behaviourism uses animals