AO1

• Bandura proposed gender results from observation and imitation of gender role models eg boy may imitate father’s behaviour
• Vicarious reinforcement - praised for gender-appropriate behaviour so are likely to repeat the behaviour and punished for opposite-gender behaviour and are unlikely to repeat this behaviour
• The process of learning includes modelling, identification, imitation and reinforcement
• Modelling - where someone provides an example of a certain type of behaviour you wish to imitate
• Identification - attachment to a specific model possessing qualities you see as rewarding. The motivation to identify with a particular model is that they have qualities which you would like to possess.
• Imitation - where a behaviour is copied. The imitation will continue if the reinforcement is approval, and if disapproval it will stop
• Reinforcement - where a response is recieved from someone else for displaying the behaviour. Approval = more likely to repeat behaviour, disapproval = unlikely to do it again. People are likely to behave in a way that gains approval.
• Social learning theorists also suggested four mediational pocesses that are central to the learning of gender behaviour: attention, retention, motivation and motor reproduction.
• There is plenty of evidence to suggest that society treats boys and girls differently - this includes the influence of parents and peers.
• influence of parents

  When children imitate gender appropriate behaviour they are reinforced with praise and affection. Parents also give boys and girls different toys, speak to and handle them differently and decorate their bedrooms differently.
• influence of peers

  Peers act as role models for gender-role stereotypes, with children more likely to imitate same-sex models.
• influence of peers

  Gender differences develop in social ituations like peer settings, more than in individual settings, with children soon displaying preferences for same-gender playmates and dividing themselves into mainly same-gender groups, where they resist attempts to interact with the opposite gender.