social learning theory

• What do social learning theorists believe?

  Agreed with behaviourism principles but argued understanding human behaviour required recognising learning as a cognitive process which happens in a social context.
• Vicarious reinforcement


  Observing others serves as a template for our actions. When we see someone rewarded for a behaviour, we are more likely to mimic it, a process social learning theorists call 'vicarious reinforcement'. Witnessing someone punished for an action makes us less likely to adopt that behaviour, known as 'vicarious reinforcement'.
• Modelling


  Individuals we observe and emulate are referred to as models; live models include parents, friends, and family members. We can also learn from symbolic models, such as characters from movies and books.
• Identification


  Not all models have the same likelihood of being imitated. We are more likely to imitate models with similar characteristics such as gender and age or people perceived to be attractive or high status.
• Mediational factors description


  Social lerning theorists argued that human behaviour couldn't be fully understood without including the role of cognitive processes that happen between stimuli and responses.
• Mediational Processes

  - Attention

  - Retention

  - Reproduction

  - Motivation

  Must happen between observing a model perform a behaviour (stimuli) and imitating that behaviour (reponse).

  These processes explain why individuals do not automatically mimic every behaviour they observe. If any of these four mediational processes are missing, then behaviour won't be imitated.
• Attention


  In order to learn from a model, individuals must pay attention to the model by focusing on specific behaviours.
• Retention


  The ability to remember the observed behaviours. This involved encoding the observed behaviour into memory so it can be retrieved later.
• Reproduction


  The individual's belief in their ability to replicate the behaviour that the model demonstrated. This depends on the individual's physical capabilities as well as the remembered details of the behaviour.
• Motivation


  The willingness to perform the behaviour, which is influenced by the expected outcomes, such as rewards or punishments, based on observing the consequences of behaviours in others.
• Bandura's Bobo Doll study


  To test the SLT concepts of modelling and imitation, Bandura (1961) conducted an experiment to see if children would copy aggressive behaviour demonstrated by an adult towards an inflatable toy known as a Bobo doll.
• Bandura's Bobo doll study - Procedure

  36 girls and 36 boys from Stanford University (aged between 3 and 6) were divided into three groups.

  The first group observed aggressive adult behaviour models.

  The second group observed nonaggressive behaviour models and the third group was not exposed to any behaviour models.

  An experimenter observed and recorded the children's physical and verbal aggression from behind a one-way mirror.
• Bandura's Bobo doll Study - Findings

  Children who observed an adult model attack a Bobo doll displayed nearly twice as much aggressive behaviour as children who watched a nonaggressive model or no model at all.

  Highlights the role of identification, particularly among boys, who were more likely to mimic aggression after observing a male model compared to those who saw an aggressive female model.
• + Practical applications - TV watershed


  E - The TV watershed was introduced in 1964 which was based on the idea of observation and imitation - government was concerned children would observe and imitate violent behaviour displayed by role models on TV.

  E - The theories of observation and imitation have been applied effectively to shape society, suggesting it has high validity.

  L - However, this does not rule out the possibility of children observing violent content from other platforms so observation and imitation may still occur.
• - Unrepresentative sample


  E - Bandura's research used 36 boys and 36 girls from the Stanford University aged between 3 and 6.

  E - This is an unrepresentative sample as it only uses children from a certain privileged area.

  L - Therefore, the research lacks population validity and the results cannot be applied to the wider population.
• - Ignores biological factors


  E - SLT suggests that aggressive behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation of models in our environment. This ignores the influence of nature such as hormones like testosterone. (Archer found that high testosterone was correlated with aggressive behaviour.)

  E - Suggests biological factors could play a part in behaviour.

  L - Therefore, SLT can be seen as an incomplete explanation for human behaviour.
• + Supporting evidence


  E - Fox and Bailenson found that people were more likely to exercise if they had observed a virtual model which looked like them exercise compared to those who had seen the same model loitering or a model which didn't look like them exercising.

  E - This supports Bandura's findings that identifying with a role model can lead to imitation.

  L - This increases the validity of SLT as it allows us to see how people can model and imitate healthy behaviours.