social learning theory A01

• Social learning theory was developed by bandura in 1986 he believed that new patterns of behaviour could be acquired not only through direct experience but also by observing one’s own behaviour and the behaviour of others.
• -          Social learning theory suggests that learning occurs both through classical and operant conditioning and also indirectly through vicarious reinforcement.
• -          we also do not imitate all behaviour that we observe but to decide whether or not we will there are a number of mediation processes to go through including
• the role of mediational processes -mediational processes refer to the internal metal processes that occur between viewing the behaviour and imitating it or deciding not to. bandura proposed that there are 4 mediational processes
• mediational processes

  1)attention – this is the extent to which we notice a behaviour, in order to imitate a behaviour, it would have had to grasp our attention first
• mediational processes

  2) retention – refers to how well the behaviour we observed is remembered, we will not remember all behaviours we pay attention to so if we do not retain it, we will not imitate it at a later date
• mediational processes

  3) motor reproduction – refers to the ability of ana observer to physically carry out the behaviour observed – for some behaviours even if we wanted to imitate them sometime are bodies wont physically allow us to, in order to imitate something, we also need to have confidence in our ability to do so too
• mediational processes

  4) motivation- before we imitate a behaviour, we need to be motivated to carry out this behaviour and this is more likely to happen if vicarious reinforcement happens during the modelling – if we see someone else being rewarded for something we also want that reward so will imitate that behaviour which got them rewarded
• The first 2 mediational processes are involved with observation and understanding of behaviour while the final 2 are involved in actual imitation of the behaviour and this separation means that observed behaviours do not always need to be reproduced at the same time
• there are different stages we must go through to learn a behaviour
• stages= 1

  -          an observer who identifies themselves with a desirable model since a model is vital for social learning theory to take place as an individual needs to learn an attitude or behaviour form somebody. The individual performing this role is referred to as a model.
• stages=1

  there are different types of models including a live model which may be a parent, teacher r member of a peer group

  symbolic model – is someone who is portrayed in the media like a character from a tv show
• stages = 1

  All these models have the ability to provide examples of behaviour to others that can be observed by individuals and later reproduced by them in a process called imitation.
• stage 2 =   imitation - though a certain amount of learning takes place through direct reinforcement much of what a child learns is also required though imitation of attitudes and behaviour that are modelled by parents and significant others
• stage 2 =   imitation- research on imitation has shown that unlike the relatively slow learning that takes place during conditioning when a model is provided whole patterns of behaviour can be rapidly acquired much faster than they would do through conditioning
• stage 2 =   imitation - there are also some key thing which will determine weather or not a behaviour will be imitated including the characteristics of he model , the observers perceived ability to perform that behaviour and the observed consequences of that behaviour too.
• stage 3       Identification - identification refers to the extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that he or she is similar to that person
• stage 3       Identificationin order to identify with a model observers must feel like they are similar enough that they would consequent because of this be likely to receive / experience the same outcomes in a situation as they would
• stage 3       Identificationresearch by Shutts et al in 2010 suggested that children are more likely to identify with and learn from models who are similar to them particular same sex models
• stage 3       Identificationidentification with a model means that individuals are more likely to imitate their behaviour meaning that social learning theory is more likely to be effective
• stage 4 =      Vicarious reinforcement

  Bandura and Walters in 1963 noted that children who observed a model who was rewarded for aggressive behaviour were more likely to imitate that behaviour then those children who observed a model being punished for that same aggressive behaviour and bandura called this vicarious reinforcement
• stage 4 =      Vicarious reinforcement

  individuals can learn the likely consequences of a behaviour by observing others and they adjust their subsequent behaviour accordingly depending on the nature of consequence.
• stage 4 =      Vicarious reinforcement

  vicarious reinforcement therefore suggest that an individual does not need to experience rewards or punishments directly in order to learn instead they can observe the consequences experience by other models and then make judgments as to the likelihood of experiencing these same outcomes themselves to determine weather they do or do not imitate a model’s actions / behaviour.
• Key study by bandura et al in 1961

  Procedures

  1)-          Some children (36 boys and 36 girls) observed aggressive and no aggressive adult models who were either the same sex or opposite sex to them and were then tested for imitative learning in the absence of the models.

  -          Half of the children were exposed to models interacting aggressively with a life-sized bobo doll and the other half were exposed to non-aggressive models.
• Key study by bandura et al in 1961

  Procedures

  2) -          The aggressive models displayed distinctive physical aggression (physical acts towards the doll like hitting with a mallet and verbal aggression saying things like POW

  3) -          Following exposure to the models’ children were found to be frustrated by being shown attractive toys which they were not allowed to play with

  The children were then taken to a room where amongst the toys was a bobo doll
• banduras Finding

  -          Children who observed the aggressive model reproduced a good deal of physical and verbal aggression resembling that of the model the observed.
• banduras Finding

  -          Children who observed the non-aggressive model exhibited virtual no aggression towards the bobo doll.
• banduras Finding

  -          About 1/3 of children who observed the aggressive models repeated the models’ verbal responses while none of the children who has observed the non-aggressive models made any overlay aggressive remarks
• banduras Finding

  -          In a follow up to this study bandura and Walters found that children who saw the model being rewarded for aggressive acts were more likely to show a high level of aggression in their own paly
• banduras Finding

  -          They also found that boys were more aggressive than girls and that there were greater levels of imitation if the role model was the same gender as the child.