The learning approach: Social learning theory

• who is the main person associated with SLT?

  Albert bandura
• bandura agreed with the behaviourist approach that learning occurs through experience. however, he also proposed that learning takes place in a social context through observation and imitation of others' behaviour.
• vicarious reinforcement

  children (and adults) observe other peoples behaviour and take not of its consequences. behaviour that is seen to be rewarded (reinforced) is much more likely to be copied than behaviour that is punished.
• what are the four meditational processes in learning (in order)

  attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation.

  the first two relate to the learning of behaviour, the last two to the performance of behaviour.
• attention

  whether behaviour is noticed.
• retention

  whether behaviour is remembered
• motor reproduction

  being able to do it.
• motivation

  the will to perform the behaviour
• the role of identification

  children are more likely to imitate the behaviour of people with whom they identify. such role models tend to be similar to the observer, attractive and have high status.
• bandura's first research

  children watched either an adult behaving aggressively towards a bobo doll or an adult behaving non-aggressively towards a bobo doll.

  when given their own doll to play with, the children who had seen the aggression were much more aggressive towards the bobo doll.
• bandora's second research

  children saw an adult who was either punished, rewarded or there was no consequence. when given their own doll, the children who saw the aggression rewarded were much more aggressive themselves.
• what do the bobo doll studies suggest?

  the bobo doll studied suggest children are likely to imitate acts of violence if they observe these in an adult role model.

  it is also the case that modelling aggressive behaviour is more likely if such behaviour is seen to be rewarded (vicarious reinforcement).
• limitation of SLT: relies too heavily on evidence from lab controlled studies

  many of bandora's ideas were developed through observation of children's behaviour in lab settings and this raises the problem of demand characteristics. the main purpose of a bobo doll is to hit it. so the children in those studies may have been behaving as they thought was expected. thus the research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.
• limitation of SLT: underestimates biological factors

  a consistent finding in the bobo doll experiments was that boys showed more aggression than girls regardless of the specifics of the experimental condition. this may be explained by the differences in the levels of testosterone, which is present in greater quantities in boys and is linked to aggression. this means bandura may have underplayed the important influence of biological factors on social learning.
• strength of SLT: can account for cultural differences in behaviour

  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 how children come to understand their gender roles by imitating role models. in contrast, the biological approach can only explain universal behaviours because human biological processes don't change with culture.