Social Learning Theory

• Assumptions

  • behaviour is learned from the environment, therefore it does not regard genetics as having an influence
  • learnt from others and the reinforcement or punishment they receive
• Bandura's research

  • basic idea was that we learn from behaviour by observing the positive and negative consequences of someone else's behaviour
• The Bobo Doll experiment Aims

  • examine the effect of the continual influence of the model
  • examine if the sex of the model influenced the same-sex and opposite sex participants to a differing degree
• Bobo doll procedure

  • 36 male, 36 female, mean age was just over 4 years
  • 8 experimental groups ( 6 participants in each)
  • 1/2 groups saw aggressive role model, 1/2 saw non - aggressive, groups were divided by gender
  • In the room there was a bobo doll, hammer and other toys, model would shout and be violent
  • witness behaviour for 10 minutes, participants taken into a room and told the couldn't play with any toys until they were moved to a different room
  • new room contained bobo doll and participants were left there
• Bobo doll results

  • children who witnessed aggressive behaviour acted more aggressively
  • boys were more aggressive than girls
  • greater level of imitation if the role model was the same gender as the child
• Bobo doll Conclusion

  • there is a behavioural effect from observing aggressive behaviour, this continues after a delay
• Bobo doll Evaluation

  • - difficult to see if there are any long term effects
  • - most people would hit a bobo doll as it is designed for this purpose - affect the validity of the experiment
• Imitation

  • when an individual observes a behaviour from a role model and copies it
• Identification

  • when an individual is influenced by another because they are un some way similar or wish to be like them
  • factors eg. gender/age may affect this
• Modelling

  • When an individual imitates someones behaviour
• Vicarious reinforcement

  • describes the reinforcement the observer sees the model receiving
• The role of the mediating processes

  • the process between observing and imitating behaviour
• Mediation process

  Attention - observing a behaviour on a daily basis

  Retention - the behaviour may be noticed, but not always remembered

  Reproduction - reproducing the behaviour which has now been stored in our memory

  Motivation - the rewards and punishments that follow a behaviour will be considered by the observer
• Evaluation of the mediation process

  + takes though processes into account and acknowledges the role that they play in deciding if a behaviour is to be imitated or not

  + can provide a successful explanation of why someone may imitate a behaviour eg. smoking

  • - uses a variety of research methods (criticised for not being specific)