Social Learning Theory

Question 1

Stages of SLT

Answer 1

• Attention: The individual needs to pay attention to the behavior and its consequences and form a mental representation of the behavior.
• Retention: Storing the observed behavior in LTM where it can stay for a long period of time. Imitation is not always immediate.
• Reproduction: The individual must be able (have the ability and skills) to reproduce the observed behavior.
• Motivation: Individuals must expect to receive the same positive reinforcements (vicarious reinforcement) for imitating the observed behavior that they have seen the model receiving.

Question 2

Imitation/Vicarious reinforcement

Answer 2

• Imitation is more likely to occur if the model (the person who performs the behavior) is positively reinforced. This is called vicarious reinforcement.
• Imitation is also more likely if we identify with the model. We see them as sharing some characteristics with us i.e. similar age, gender, social status as we identify with them.
• Vicarious reinforcement refers to learning that is not the result of direct reinforcement, but rather through observing someone else being reinforced for that behaviour

Question 3

Bobo doll study - Bandura et al. (1961)

Answer 3

• Lab experiment.
• Sample: American children, 36 boys and 36 girls aged between 3-6 years old .

Question 4

Method

Answer 4

• Group 1: 12 girls and 12 boys were shown a model hitting the doll with a hammer and shouting at the doll.
• Group 2: 12 girls and 12 boys were shown a model shown a non-aggressive model.
• Group 3: 12 girls and 12 boys (control group) were not shown a model.
• Then the children were taken to a room with some attractive toys but were told not to play with the toys (aggression arousal).
• Then the children were taken individually in a room containing a bobo doll, non-aggressive toys like pencils and plastic farm animals and aggressive toys like a hammer and a pistol.

Question 5

Results/Findings

Answer 5

• The children who had observed the aggressive model (group 1) were more aggressive than the children from the other two groups. Group 1 imitated specific aggressive acts that were displayed by the model. Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was no difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.

Question 6

Conclusion

Answer 6

• This supports SLT as it shows that children imitate behavior of role model even if the behavior is aggressive.

Question 7

Bandura and Walters (1963)

Answer 7

• The bobo doll experiment was repeated, but this time the three groups were exposed to an aggressive model and saw different consequences for the model:

Question 8

Method

Answer 8

• Group 1: the model was praised
• Group 2: the model was punished (told off)
• Group 3: no consequences for the aggressive behavior

Question 9

Results/Findings

Answer 9

• When left on their own to play the children in group 1 showed the most aggression followed by group 3. Group 2 was the least aggressive.

Question 10

Conclusion

Answer 10

• This shows that imitation is more likely to occur when the model is positively reinforced, demonstrating the importance of vicarious reinforcement.

Question 11

Applications

Answer 11

• This theory is used to explain the influence of the media on behavior. This has been used in court in the case of Jamie Bulger’s murder(1990).
• The perpetrators, who were themselves children, claimed that they had been influenced by the film Child Play 3. However these children came from a disturbed family where they might have witness real life violence and social deprivation.

Question 12

Evaluation: Weakness

Answer 12

• SLT is supported by research Bandura at al. (1961) and Bandura and Walters (1963) however these were laboratory experiments and the task did not reflect the way the participants behave in their normal life.
• At this young age parents would guide their understanding of the situation and moderate their behavior this was not the case in the studies as the children were on their own. The children were aggressive towards a doll which they know does not feel pain and cannot retaliate; their behavior might be different towards another child.
• Children were in an unfamiliar environment they might have thought that they were expected to behave like the model (demand characteristics).
• Older children and adults might not have imitated the aggressive behavior as they have more developed moral values than younger children

Question 13

Evaluation: Weakness

Answer 13

• The theory does not explain why the boys imitated the physical aggressive behavior more than the girls. Other factors must be involved such as biological factors like testosterone.

Question 14

Evaluation: Strength

Answer 14

• SLT can explain the difference of behavior between different cultures as if a behavior is not displayed it cannot be imitated, this can explain why groups such as the Amish are non-violent.
• SLT can be used to explain the influence of media on aggressive behavior.
• It is a more complete explanation of human behavior than conditioning as it takes into account cognitive factors in learning. However it does not take into account free will and moral values.

Question 15

Issues + debates (Free will Vs Determinism)

Answer 15

• Strong determinism of the behavioral approach as all behavior is learnt from our environment through classical and operant conditioning. We are the sum total of our previous conditioning.
• Softer determinism of the social learning approach theory as it recognises an element of choice as to whether we imitate a behavior or not.

Question 16

Issues + debates (Nature Vs Nurture)

Answer 16

• Behaviorism is very much on the nurture side of the debate as it argues that our behavior is learnt from the environment.
• The social learning theory is also on the nurture side because it argues that we learn our behavior from role models in our environment.
• The behaviorist approach proposes that apart from a few innate reflexes and the capacity for learning, all complex behavior is learned from the environment.

Question 17

Issues + debates (Holism Vs Reductionism)

Answer 17

• The behaviorist approach and social learning are reductionist; they isolate parts of complex behaviors to study.
• The behaviorists take the view that all behavior, no matter how complex, can be broken down into the fundamental processes of conditioning.

Question 18

Issues + debates (Idiographic Vs Nomothetic)

Answer 18

• It is a nomothetic approach as it views all behavior governed by the same laws of conditioning.
• However, it does account for individual differences and explain them in terms of difference of history of conditioning.