Social learning theory

• SLT- Bandura agreed with behaviourist approach that learning occurs through experience - however, he also proposed that learning takes place in a social context through observation and imitation of others' behaviour
• learning related to behaviour - vicarious reinforcement: children and adults observe people's behaviour and take note of its consequences - behaviour that is seen to be rewarded (reinforced) is more likely to be copied = vicarious reinforcement
• 4 mediational processes in learning:

  1. attention: whether behaviour is noticed
  2. retention: whether behaviour is remembered
  3. motor reproduction: being able to do it
  4. motivation: the will to perform the behaviour

  first 2 relate to learning, last 2 relate to performance
• identification with role models is important: people r more likely imitate behaviour of those with whom they identify - such role models are similar to the observer, attractive and have high status
• Bandura et al - children watched either:

  • an adult behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll
  • an adult behaving non-aggressively towards a Bobo doll

  when given their own doll to play with, the children who had seen aggression were much more aggressive towards the doll
• Bandura and Walters: children saw adult who was

  • rewarded
  • punished
  • no consequence

  when given their own doll, the children who saw the aggression rewarded, were much more aggressive themselves
• conclusions of Bandura's research w Bobo doll: the Bobo doll studies suggest that children are likely to imitate (model) acts of violence if they observe these in an adult role model

  it is also the case that modelling aggressive behaviour is more likely if such behaviour is seen to be rewarded (vicarious reinforcement)
• strength: SLT emphasises importance of cognitive factors - neither classical conditioning/operant conditioning can offer a comprehensive account of human learning on their own because cognitive factors are omitted - humans and animals store info about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when its appropriate to perform certain functions - this shows that SLT provides a more complete explanation of human learning than the behaviourist approach by recognising the role of mediational processes
• one limitation is SLT relies too heavily on evidence from lab studies - many of Bandura's ideas were developed through observation of children's behaviour in lab settings and this raises the problem of demand characteristics - the main purpose of a bobo doll is to hit it, so the children in those studies may have been behaving as they thought was expected - thus, the research may tell us little about how children acc learn aggression in everyday life
• SLT has limited applicability outside the lab setting - there is no direct evidence that vicarious reinforcement occurs in real world situations - we cannot know whether or not children will behave aggressively simply because they see adults doing so - therefore, SLT does not explain why some children become violent while others do not
• another strength is SLT has real-world application: social learning principles can account for how children learn from other people around them, as well as through the media, and how this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted - this has provided useful in understanding a range of behaviours such as how children come to understand their gender role by imitating role models in the media - this increases the value of SLT as it can account for real-world behaviour