assumptions of SLT

Question 1

supporting evidence for SLT from Bandura’s study

Answer 1

• explain study
• suggests that SLT is a valid explanation of behaviour as the children imitated the behaviour of the role models (adults) that they identified (same gender) with as a result of vicarious reinforcement (the adults appeared to have fun).

Question 2

real world application of SLT

Answer 2

• Social Learning Theory (SLT) has wide applications in psychology.
• Modelling helps treat anxiety by creating positive associations with feared objects.
• In forensics, it’s used in social skills training for offenders.
• In gender development, behaviours are learned through reinforcement, modelling, and imitation.
• Aggression can be learned by observing and imitating rewarded aggressive behaviour.
• all support external validity

Question 3

strength of SLT from controlled conditions

Answer 3

• SLT mostly relies on the experimental method, using controlled conditions e.g. the use of the playroom in Bandura et al.’s study. He was able to manipulate the independent variable to accurately measure the effects on the dependent variable.
• therefore researchers can establish cause and effect between observed consequences and future behaviour, supporting internal validity.
• Its focus on observable behaviour in controlled settings promotes replication and objectivity.
• This has helped boost psychology’s scientific credibility and status

Question 4

weakness of SLT from Bandura’s lab experiment

Answer 4

• Bandura’s research used lab studies, which may lack realism due to demand characteristics.
• Children may have acted as expected (e.g. hitting the Bobo doll), not naturally.
• This limits how well the findings reflect real-life learning of aggression, reducing the validity of SLT

Question 5

weakness of SLT from Bandura’s study

Answer 5

• SLT overlooks biological factors, focusing mainly on external behaviour.
• In the Bobo doll studies, boys showed more aggression, possibly due to testosterone.
• This suggests SLT is incomplete, as it ignores biological influences on behaviour

Question 6

weakness of SLT from everyone being different

Answer 6

• SLT can’t explain individual differences—why people respond differently to the same role models or vicarious reinforcement.
• It also fails to account for behaviour that occurs without observation, like becoming a criminal without exposure to criminal models.
• This limits its validity as a complete explanation of behaviour.