Social learning theory

• Who developed the social learning theory?

  Albert Bandura
• When was the social learning theory developed?

  1960s
• What approaches is the social learning theory a 'bridge' between?

  Behaviourism and cognitive approach
• What is a brief outline of the social learning theory?

  We learn through observations of people around us in the environment and are influenced to imitate them
• What does social learning theorists believe?

  There are things that take place within the organism that mediate between a stimulus and a response
• What are a person's mental processes known as?

  Mediational processes - internal cognitive factors
• What ideas are in the social learning theory?

  • Behaviourist learning theories such as classical conditioning and operant conditioning
  • Mediating processes between stimuli and response
  • Observational learning
• Vicarious reinforcement

  When someone's behaviour is reinforced because they observe how another person is rewarded for the same behaviour (indirect reinforcement)
• How does social learning theory differ to classical and operant conditioning?

  • SLT explains how we learn behaviour through observing others, learning indirectly as well as directly through our own experiences
  • SLT considers mental processes between a stimulus and a response, which were ignored by behaviourists
• What are two forms of models within the social learning theory?

  • Live
  • Symbolic
• Live models

  People present in our environment (e.g. teachers, parents, siblings)
• Symbolic models

  People present in the media (e.g. celebrities)
• What regulations are put in place to ensure symbolic models are shown to the right age groups?

  Age guidelines, parental warnings etc.
• Identification (cognitive)

  When an individual adopts an attitude or behaviour in line with their role model
• What is the mediational processes shown in the social learning theory

  Attention - a person pays attention to someone else's behaviour ( the model)

  Retention - they memorise the behaviour the have observed, encoding it

  Imitation - they practice the behaviour themselves

  Motor reproduction - they ensure behaviour is physically possible

  Motivation - given a reason, they may use it (based on vicarious reinforcement)

  A) Attention

  B) Retention

  C) Motor reproduction

  D) Motivation

  E) Encode

  F) Practice

  G) Reinforce

  
• Bandura 'bobo doll' study (1963)

  • One group of children watched an adult model perform certain aggressive acts with an inflatable 'bobo doll' (e.g. throwing it, hitting with a hammer, punching it whilst saying violent words)
  • Children were left in a playroom, they imitated the same acts of aggression (control group showed none of the behaviours)
• Bandura follow-up 'bobo doll' study (1965)

  • There were different consequences shown for the model's aggressions to three groups of children
  • Reward / punished / no consequence
  • Reward - children showed high levels of imitation
  • Punished - children showed less imitative aggression due to negative consequences
• What were Bandura's ideas about aggression within the social learning theory?

  • Aggression is learnt from the environment (parents, peers, media characters) through reinforcement and modelling
  • Observational learning through models, leading to imitation when the behaviour leads to desirable consequences
• What did Bandura distinguish between in terms of behaviour?

  The learning of behaviour and the performance of it -> likelihood of imitation depends on the perceived consequences of the model's actions
• What is a methodological issue with the 'bobo doll' study?

  • Some accused the bobo doll experiment as overly artificial as a 'bobo doll' is not the same as inflicting aggression on a real person
  • Some said there were induced demand characteristics as the children may believe they were meant to act aggressively
  • However, other experimental studies demonstrated children are more likely to hurt other children after viewing violent behaviour (Liebert and Baron 1972)
• What is a theoretical issue with the 'bobo doll' study?

  • It neglects the role of innate factors in behaviour like aggression
  • However, it is a credible explanation as it explores more concepts than the behaviourist view of learning (cognitive + psychoanalytic), investigating types of models and behaviours more likely to be imitated
• What are some implications of controlling / reducing aggression?

  • Aggression frequently occurs in society nowadays, it is important to reduce that so that aggression is not reinforced and we are aware of negative consequences that follow
  • However direct punishment of aggression is an issue as the aggressive act of punishment itself may seem socially acceptable, which may lead to imitation
  • Media violence should be dramatically reduced
• What was Munroe & Munroe (1975)'s research on punishment in childhood?

  They found cross-culturally that childhood aggression is highest in societies whose families highly punish their children for showing aggression