Social learning Theory

Question 1

Strength of SLT

Answer 1

Research support
Smith and Lloyd dressed babies in boys/girls slothing.
-Found that when babies were dressed as boys they were more likely to be given hammers and encouraged to be active whilst girls were praised for passivity and called pretty
-Show that differential reinforcement helps to frame gender behaviour

Question 2

What is a limitation of SLT

Answer 2

Differential reinforcement may not be the cause of differnces in gender development.
-Innate differences e.g boys are naturally more active may mean they are more encouraged to be active as it fits with their temperament due to hormonal differences

Question 3

What is another strength of SLT

Answer 3

Cultural changes
-Can explain differences in gender behaviour over time.
-Different behaviours are now reinforced e.g girls now rewarded for being independent leading to more girls taking on masculine traits
-Can explain cultural changes in gender traits

Question 4

What is another limitation of SLT

Answer 4

No developmental sequence
-Doesnt tell us the sequence of how learning progresses with age
-The gender development/imitation nd observation that a 2 year old does would be less complex than that of a 6 year old but SLT doesn’t explain this
-Other explanations e.g Kohlberg that gives sequence may be better