Learning Approaches: Social Learning Theory

• Define 'social learning theory'

  A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with cognitive factors.
• Define 'imitation'

  Copying the behaviour of others.
• Define 'identification'

  A desire to be associated with a particular person or group often because the person/group possesses desirable characteristics.
• Define 'modelling'

  From an observer's perspective, modelling is imitating the behaviour of a role model. From the role model's perspective, modelling is the precise demonstration of a specific behaviour that may then be imitated by an observer.
• Define 'vicarious reinforcement'

  Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour.
• Define 'mediational processes'

  Cognitive factors that influence learning and come between stimulus and response.
• Assumptions of the social learning theory

  - Bandura agreed with behaviourists in that behaviour is learned from experience. However, the SLT proposed a different way in which people learn; via observation and imitation of role models.

  - The SLT suggests that learning occurs directly, through operant and classical conditioning, but also indirectly.
• Vicarious reinforcement

  - In order for indirect learning to take place, an individual must observe the behaviour of others.

  - The learner may then imitate this behaviour, but imitation usually takes place if the behaviour is seen to be rewarded rather than punished.

  - Therefore, the learner observes a behaviour but most importantly, also observes the consequences of behaviour.
• The role of mediational processes


  - The SLT is often described as the bridge between the behaviourist and cognitive approaches. This is because it focuses on how cognitive factors are involved in learning.

  - These cognitive factors mediate in the learning process to determine whether a new response is required.

  - Bandura identified 4 mediational processes: attention, retention, motor reproduction, motivation.

  - Attention: the extent to which we notice certain behaviours.

  - Retention: how well the behaviour is remembered.

  - Motor reproduction: the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour.

  - Motivation: the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.

  - Attention and retention refer to the learning of behaviour and motor reproduction and motivation refer to the performance of behaviour. Unlike traditional behaviourism, the learning and performance of behaviour need not occur together. Observed behaviours may be stored by the observer and reproduced at a later time.
• Identification

  - People, especially children, are more likely to imitate people they identify with via identification. This person that they identify with is their role model, and the process of imitating a role model is called modelling.

  - A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have a high status.

  - Role models may not necessarily be physically present in the environment, and this has important implications for the influence of the media on behaviour.
• Bandura et al. (1961)

  - Study A: Bandura et al. (1961) recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult behave in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll. The adult hit the Bobo doll with a hammer and shouted abuse at it. When these children were later observed playing with various toys including a Bobo doll, they behaved much more aggressively towards the doll and the other toys than those who observed a non-aggressive adult.

  - Study B: Bandura and Walters (1963) showed videos to children where an adult behaved aggressively towards a Bobo doll. One group of children saw the adult praised for their behaviour by being told 'well done'. A second group saw the adult punished for their aggression towards the doll, by being told off. The third group (control) saw the aggression without any consequence. When given their own Bobo doll to play with, the first group showed much more aggression, followed by the third and then second groups.
• Evaluating social learning theory: Cognitive factors (with counterpoint)

  - A strength of the social learning approach is that it recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning.

  - Neither classical nor operant conditioning can offer an adequate account of learning on their own. Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions.

  - Bandura (1977) said: 'From observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this serves as a guide to action.

  - This suggests that SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediational processes.

  
  

  - Counterpoint: Despite this, SLT has been criticised for making too little reference to the influence of biological factors on social learning. Although Bandura claimed natural biological differences influenced our learning potential, he thought that learning itself was determined by the environment.

  - However, recent research suggests that observational learning may be the result of mirror neurons in the brain, which allows us to empathise with and imitate other people.

  - This suggests that biological influences on social learning are under-emphasised in the social learning theory.
• Evaluating social learning theory: Contrived laboratory studies


  - A limitation of the theory is that the evidence on which it is based was gathered via lab studies.

  - Many of Bandura's ideas were developed through observation of young children's behaviour in the lab. Lab studies are often criticised for their contrived nature where participants may respond to demand characteristics.

  - In relation to the Bandura et al. (1961), it has been suggested that as the main purpose of the doll was to strike it, the children were simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected.

  - This suggests that the research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.
• Evaluating social learning theory: Real-world application


  - Another strength is that SLT principles have been applied to a range of real-world behaviours.

  - Social learning theory has the advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour. SLT principles can account for how children learn from others around them, including the media, and this can explain how social/cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies.

  - This has proved useful in understanding a range of behaviours, such as how children come to understand their gender role.

  - This increases the value of the approach as it can account for real-world behaviour.
• Evaluating social learning theory: Reciprocal determinism

  - Bandura emphasised reciprocal determinism, in the sense that we are not merely influenced by our external environment, but we also exert an influence upon it, through the behaviours we choose to perform.

  - This element of choice suggests that there is some free will in the way we behave.

  - This contrasts with the behaviourist approach which rejects the possibility of free will.