The social learning theory. Flashcards
Introduction? What is aggression? Social learning theory?
Aggression is a hostile behaviour which is usually inhibited by social norms.
The social learning theory (SLT) proposes that aggressive behaviour can be learnt.
Bandura believed that the social learning theory was developed by combining the social and cognitive perspectives with the social and environmental factors.
You learn the aggressive behaviour through vicarious learning or direct reinforcement.
To learn the aggressive behaviour it goes through stages: observation, mental representation and learning through direct reinforcement.
Observation? Skinner + operant conditioning? Reinforced or punished? Apply to real world?
It is said that children learn their aggressive behaviour through observation, they then imitate that behaviour (aggression)
Skinner and his theory with operant conditioning claims that learning takes place through direct reinforcement.
Children are thought to also learn the consequences of aggressive behaviour by watching others being reinforced or punished and this is vicarious learning.
Gradually, children learn what behaviour is appropriate and when to apply it in real life situations.
Overall, they learn what behaviours are worth repeating.
Mental representation? Social environment? Represent rewards and punishments?
Bandura said that in order for the social learning theory to take place, the child forming the aggressive behaviour must form a mental representation of events in their social environment.
Children must also represent possible rewards and punishments for their aggressive behaviour in terms of expectancies and future outcomes.
So, when an appropriate time arises; the child will display the aggressive and learnt behaviour as long as the reward is larger than the punishment.
Maintenance through direct experience? Self efficacy?
If a child is rewarded for a particular behaviour, they are more likely to repeat the behaviour in similar situations in the future.
A child with a successful past of bullying will become attached to the value of aggression which causes them to use it in the future.
Self-efficacy is also a part of this and this is when people develop the confidence to carry out aggressive actions in real life situations.
The children who have carried out aggressive behaviours in the past but was not very good at it were found to have a lower self-efficacy (confidence) when it comes to resolving conflicts.
Therefore, the person will turn to different means.
Evaluation. Ethical issues? Protection from harm? Scientific credibility?
There are ethical issues with the social learning theory and the research that comes from it.
When it is tested it is difficult to protect the participants from harm.
This is because the studies involve exposing the children to aggressive behaviours with the knowledge that children can learn and use the behaviour in real life situations.
This means that studies such as the bobo doll study cannot be used as research support because you cannot establish the scientific credibility by the researches means.
Evaluation. Cultural differences explained? Kung san?
The social learning theory can provide an explanation for culture differences which means that the theory involves the issue of being culturally biased.
The ‘Kung San’ culture shows that aggression is fairly rare within their culture and this can be explained through their childrearing practices.
Firstly, it was discovered that when the children were acting in any aggressive manner with each other the parents would split them up and distract them with other things.
The parents would not reward or punish them for their aggressive behaviour and would not use aggressive postures and this is frowned upon in the society as a whole.
From this, there is an absence in direct reinforcement which leads little room for the children to learn the aggressive behaviour and apply it to real life situations.
Evaluation. Phillips? Boxing + the USA?
Phillips provided support as he found that in the USA, after boxing matches the daily homicides always increased after a week of the boxing match being on television.
This shows that the aggressive behaviour that was shown on the TV was learnt and people imitated the behaviour in real life because the people who were boxing got a positive reward at the end.
This shows that not only does the social learning theory apply to children, but to adults as well.
Overall, it supports the social learning theory as an explanation for aggressive behaviours.
Evaluation. Bandura’s study? Demand Characteristics? Noble? Bandura’s comeback with live clown?
it is possible that Bandura’s study suffers from demand characteristics because they children might have already known what they were supposed to do in the study when it came to the bobo doll.
Noble claimed that one child came in to do the study and said ‘Look, Mummy! That is the doll we are supposed to hit.’ Which supports the idea that the study suffered demand characteristics.
It is also thought that the study suffered from individual differences as the study only focused on the doll rather that real life situations, the laboratory settings also make it lack ecological validity and realism.
However, Bandura had a comeback to these claims by doing another study where he got children to watch a film of a women beating up a live clown, then the children were sent to a different room where there was the same live clown.
The children were shown to show the same kind of aggressive behaviour towards the clown which shows how they learnt the behaviour which supports the social learning theory and gives it real life settings.
