Social Learning Theory

• Assumptions

  • Behaviours are learned from experience

  
  

  • We learn not only from consequences of our own behaviour, but by observing and imitating other people's behaviour
• Bandura (1961) Bobo Doll


  Aim-To investigate whether children will imitate the behaviours of a role model

  
  

  Method- Lab experiment with independent groups design. 36 boys and 36 girls aged between 3-6 yrs old were individually put in a room with inflatable doll and observed an adult role model interact with doll for 10 mins. The subjects had been separated into 3 groups with different independent variables:

  
  

  1.aggresive-role model hits the doll with a hammer and shouts abuse at is

  2.non aggressive- role model doesn't hit doll or shout at it

  3.control-no role model

  
  

  After observing the role model for 10 mins, the ppts were taken to a room with toys and left to play with them for 20 mins

  
  

  Results- Children who had observed an aggressive role model acted more aggressively than children who had observed a non-aggressive role model
• Conclusions drawn from bobo doll study

  • According to SLT, people imitate behaviours of role models they identify with. This was demonstrated in Banduras' study by the fact that the children were more likely to imitate the behaviour of the role model if the role model was the same gender as them
• Vicarious Reinforcement


  Where behaviours are reinforced by observing others
• Bandura and Walters (1963)


  In this variation of the bobo experiment, the role model was either praised or punished for acting aggressively towards the doll. Children who observed the model praised for their aggression toward the doll were more likely to imitate this aggressive behaviour but less likely to imitate it if the role model was punished. Shows support for vicarious reinforcement
• Mediational processes (in between observing a behaviour and imitating it)


  Attention-the behaviour has to be significant so as to grab our attention

  
  

  Retention-the observed behaviour has to be retained. If you don't remember a behaviour, then you can't imitate it

  
  

  Motor reproduction-our abilities may influence our decision to physically reproduce the behaviour.

  
  

  Motivation- if we think a potential behaviour will be positively rewarded, this motivates us to imitate the behaviour.
• AO3-More holistic

  whereas behaviourism is limited to stimulus responses only, SLT allows for cognitive processes in explaining behaviour such as thoughts, beliefs and abilities. This can explain why two people might act differently in response to the same stimulus
• AO3-Explanatory power

  SLT can explain why, for example someone might take up smoking: they observe their friends smoking and imitate them
• AO3-Reductionist

  Although more holistic than behaviourism, SLT still explains all behaviour as learned from experience while ignoring other factors. However even Banduras own studies suggest other factors e.g. boys showed more aggression than girls towards dolls which suggest that biological factors such as aggression also play a role in explaining behaviour and therefore SLT is not complete.