social learning theory (approaches)

• OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING


  learning from watching others and then imitating their actions
• MODELLING A ROLE MODEL


  imitating the behaviour and attitudes of a role model. can be real people or symbolic figures
• IDENTIFICATION


  the desire to be associated with a particular person who you feel a connection to or are similar
• INTERNALISATION


  internalising the behaviour of a model so then it becomes your own. individuals adopt and integrate beliefs into own value system
• IMITATION


  copying the behaviour of others by closely observing them
• MEDIATIONAL PROCESSES 


  Take place between a stimulus and response, refers to the internal cognitive processes that occur between observing a models behaviour
• VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT 


  Reinforcement not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour, and the consequences of their actions
• SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY


  A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors.
• slt vs behaviourism


  there are important mental processes that mediate between stimulus and response
• SLT


  behaviour is learnt through observation (reinforcement or punishment that they receive
• meditational processes 


  mental cognitive factors that intervene in the learning process to determine whether a new behaviour is acquired or not. takes place between stimulus and response
• attention 


  whether we notice the behaviour and paid attention. is it interesting?
• retention 


  whether we remember the behaviour, if too complex won't retain
• reproduction


  whether we are able to physically perform the behaviour, skilled enough
• motivation 


  whether the perceived award outweighs the perceived costs. are we influenced

  seeing a behaviour and making a decision to imitate it
• Limitations


  The study was conducted in a controlled laboratory setting and only included a small sample of children, limiting its generalizability.
• study A bandura and the bobo doll


  recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult play aggressively towards a doll, hitting it with a hammer and shouting abuse
• Study A findings


  children later observed abusing the toys played much more aggressively than those who observed a calm adult
• bandura study B


  showed videos to the children of an adult aggressively playing

  GROUP 1: saw the adult praised for the behaviour ('well done')

  GROUP 2: saw the adult punished for aggression (told off)

  GROUP 3: control group saw aggression with no consequence
• study B findings 


  when given their own doll the 1st group showed much more aggression followed by the 3rd and then the 2nd
• closest imitation


  watching same-sex adult (identification)
• vicarious reinforcement of bobo doll


  if praised for behaviour more likely to carry it out
• aggression measured before the study 


  "mild aggression arousal" being placed in a room with toys they couldn't play with
• experimental design 


  matched pairs
• procedure 


  72 3-5 year olds male and female adult attack or control group
• BANDURAS BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT LIMITATIONS


  The experiment lacks generalisability, has an artificial setting, children may act in a certain way if being watched (demand characteristics)
• evaluation: demand characteristics

  • Bandura’s study may lack internal validity, due to not entirely investigating the effect of aggressive role models because the Bobo doll is specifically designed to be hit.
  • may also lack mundane realism because it doesn't represent or measure how children would be aggressive in everyday situations, towards objects or people that are not meant to be struck.
  • Therefore, participants may have deliberately acted more aggressively towards the doll in order to please the experimenter (the ‘Please-U effect’). This reduces the generalisability of the findings.
• evaluation: real life applications

  • can account for how children learn from other people around them, as well as through the media and this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted
  • this has proved useful in understanding a range of behaviours, such as children coming to understand their gender role by imitating role models in the media
  • bandura's research was seminal in the introduction of film and TV classification age rating
  • therefore, increasing the value of the SLT