Social learning theory

• Key assumptions:

  • Environment impacts behaviour
  • mental processing is part of the learning process for SLT theorists but not behaviourists
• Bandura (1986) :

  • Modelling- someone must carry out the attitude / behaviour to be learned .These are live models & systematic models. It is initially observed and later on reproduced by them in a process known as imitation
• Bandura (1986) :

  • Imitation- imitations of attitudes and behaviours that are modelled by parents. When a model is provided, whole patterns of behaviour can be rapidly accquired.
• Bandura (1986):

  • Identification- Extent to which an individual relates to a model& feels that they are similar to them. e.g. same- sex models
• Vicarious reinforcement: children who observed models who were rewarded for aggressive behaviour were much more likely to imitate that behaviour than those who observed the model bbeing punished. They don't need to experience rewards/ punishments directly to learn from them.
• Mediational processes: Observer, must form mental representations of the behaviour displayed by the model & the probable consequences of that behaviour in terms of expectations of future outcomes
• Mediational processes:

  1. Attention- the extent to which we notice certain behaviour
  2. Retention- how well the behaviour is remembered\
• Mediational processes:

  1. Attention- the extent to which we notice certain behaviour
  2. Retention- how well the behaviour is remembered
  3. Motor reproduction- the ability of the obsever to perform the behaviour
  4. Motivation- the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.
• Bandura's Bobo doll experiment:

  • Matched pairs and a controlled group
  • boys more aggressive
  • copy more closely if model was the same gender as them
  • children who observed the model reproduced a good deal of physically and verbally aggressive behaviour.
  • children who observed non-aggressive model ,exhibited virtually no aggression to the doll
  • unethical- no follow-ups with the children
• AO3:

  • Strength- research support for the concepts. E.G Bandura's research using the bobo dol shows that when the model was aggressive so were the children. They imitated the models behaviour.
• A03:

  • Limitation- over reliance from lab studies. SLT is based on lab experiments conducted by Bandura and a criticism of such a study was that the setting is artificial and as a result, the pp's may have displayed demand characteristics. The data isn't valid.
• AO3:

  • Limitation- underestimates the role of biological factors. Bandura found that girls were consistently less aggressive than boys in the bobo doll experiment. This could be explained due to the differing levels in testosterone , which is a biological factor yet the theory doesn't acknowledge the role of these factors. The girls also had a male model so maybe they couldn't imitate like the boys because they could not identify with them. Therefore, it's not a universal study that can apply to everyone.