Social Learning Theory

• The assumption of social learning theory is that it agrees with behaviourism that behaviour is learnt through experience, however, they suggest observation and imitation within a social context also enables learning
• Modelling is observing others on the idea of how new behaviours are performed and this serves as a guide for action
• Imitation is copying the behaviour of someone observed
• Identification is when someone has taken on the he behaviours, attitudes and beliefs of the person they’re identifying
• Vicarious reinforcement is learning through observation of the consequences of adapting for other people
• Meditational processes are cognitive processes that occur between the observation of behaviour and the imitation of behaviour
• Factors that influence if a person pays attention to a role model. Includes interpretation of the role model‘s power and attractiveness
• Retention is when a learner identifies with a role model and remembers the behaviours of the role models. Includes the appropriateness of the behaviour of the role model
• Reproduction is when a learner believes they should imitate the behaviour they have acquired-physical ability as well as self-esteem and self-efficacy
• Motivation is how a learner responds to reinforcement. Involving responses to past experience and expectations about future benefits
• Bandura (1961) aimed to investigate whether children learn aggressive behaviour by observing a model
• Ps were aged 3 to 5 were shown a video of an adult interacting with a bobo doll. Half of the ps saw adults acting aggressively towards it and the other half saw non-aggressive behaviour
• Children were taken to another room and shown tempting toys which they couldn't play with, learning to them being frustrated. They were taken to a further room with a bobo doll in amongst other toys and their play in this room was observed via camera
• Children in the aggressive condition produced both physical and verbal aggressive behaviour, which reflects the models
• 1/3 of children in the aggressive condition reproduced the verbal aggression
• Boys demonstrated more physical aggression than girls
• Children who hadn’t witnessed aggression demonstrated almost no aggression towards the doll
• Bandura concluded that children are able to learn specific aggressive behaviours through observing a model
• Bandura and Walters (1963) aimed to investigate the role of expected reward on vicarious learning of aggression
• 66 nursery school children were split into three groups. They all watched a film where an adult model was aggressive toward the bobo doll, but there were three different endings
• Condition 1: adult model was rewarded

  Condition 2: adult model was told off

  Condition 3: no reward or punishment
• Children who saw condition 1 acted most aggressively and the least aggressive were those in condition 2
• Even though those in condition 2 didn’t perform the aggressive behaviour straight away, they still learnt through observing the model, which was evidenced when the children in condition 2 were offered a reward and they performed as many aggressive acts as those in condition 1
• Bandura and Walters (1963) concluded that children can learn through observing models, and they learn through vicarious reinforcement as behaviour is only produced is there’s an expectation of a reward
• Nature vs Nurture: behaviour is caused by mostly external influences through processes of observation and vicarious reinforcement
• Free will vs Determinism: SLT acknowledges the role of environmental forces but suggests that humans have personal responsibility and have some free choice
• Scientific: SLT utilises scientific methods of investigation, which researcher can replicate. However, SLT also considers meditational processes which researchers are unable to directly observe
• Real World Application: SLT is able to explain many psychological disorders including- the learning of aggressive behaviours through the media and has led to positive change
• There are real life applications to SLT, which can be used to explain a number of aspects of behaviour. For instance, Akers (1998) suggests that people who show criminal behaviour are more likely to demonstrate it after being exposed to models who act criminally, who get rewards for their behaviour and if the observer identifies with the model
• Fox and Bailenson (2009) demonstrated that positive behaviour could also be encouraged through SLT. They found that if a person identifies with a virtual exercise character, they’re more likely to engage in exercise over the next 24 hours
• Due to the wide range of possible influences on behaviour, it’s difficult to demonstrate that SLT could be the main one
• Despite the fact that SLT can be used to explain a wide range of behaviours, it doesn’t account for all behaviour, for instance some people may develop behaviours despite the fact they have never had them modelled. This would suggest that SLT, although useful, is still limited in how far it can explain human behaviour