Social learning theory (app) Flashcards
(18 cards)
Who developed SLT?
Albert Bandura
What does SLT suggest?
That behaviour is learned from experience, but in a social context
How may someone learn to throw a rugby ball like Marcus Smith
Marcus Smith is the role model as he is the person we look up to. He is a symbolic model because he is an international rugby player on TV who is not present in our physical environment. We identify with Marcus because he’s better at rugby than us and we would like to be better. Marcus models how to throw a good rugby pass which we watch and learn how to do via observational learning. When Marcus throws the rugby pass, the crowd cheers, which acts as vicarious reinforcement for us. Therefore we are more likely to imitate Marcus and try to throw the rugby ball like he did.
What is the first stage in SLT?
Role model:
Someone who carries out an attitude of behaviour to be learned. They become this when they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer or if they’re attractive or of a higher status
What are either of the 2 second stages in SLT?
Symbolic models:
A type of role model who are present in the media e.g. celebrities
Live models:
A type of role model who is actually present in our environment e.g. teachers, parents or siblings etc
What is the 3rd stage in SLT?
Identification:
The extent to which an individual relates to a role model and feels that they are similar to them, so want to be like the role model
What is the 4th stage in SLT?
Modelling (and observational learning):
This is when a role model precisely demonstrates a specific behaviour so that it can be imitated by an observer
And watching what the role model models and learning how to do it.
What is the 5th stage in SLT?
Vicarious reinforcement:
Reinforcement which is not directly experienced, but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour
Vicarious punishment can happen too – you see a role model being punished so are less likely to imitate them.
What is the 6th stage in SLT?
Imitation:
Using someone as a model and copying their behaviour. It is sometimes called modelling.
Procedure of Bandura et al.’s study
Wanted to see whether watching violence reduces aggression
3-5 age
Adult in room with child and BOBO doll and other toys
Adult: Hitting, screaming, kicking, punching doll they were also verbally aggressive e.g. ‘pow’ - for 10 mins or play gently
Kid then left on own
Results in Bandura et al.’s study
Kid doing the exact same
Every child copies
Closes when child observed adult with the same sex
1/3 of children imitated the verbal aggression
Another group who watched the adult play gently, showed no sign of aggression
What are mediational processes?
There are cognitive processes occur between stimulus and response that affect whether the learned behaviour is produced.
What are the mediational processes?
Motivation – the will or desire to perform the behaviour (usually linked to vicarious reinforcement).
Attention – noticing and paying attention to the behaviour of the person they want to imitate.
Retention – remembering the behaviour so that they can do the same.
Reproduction – consideration of our own ability to perform the behaviour.
Assumptions of SLT
Albert Bandura developed the SLT approach. He argued that classical and operant conditioning could not account for all human learning.
SLT suggests that behaviour is learned from experience, but in a social context.
Learning occurs through the observation of the behaviour of others (role models) and the rewards and punishments that they receive for their behaviour. Therefore, humans can also learn indirectly (as well as directly through behaviourism).
He believed that there are important mental processes that lie between the stimulus and response proposed by the behaviourist approach. Therefore, it combines principles from both the behaviourist and cognitive approaches.
This means that learning and performance are not the same activity – we could observe a behaviour and learn it, but choose not to perform it.
SLT sees people as active manipulators of their own environment rather than passive receivers of experiences.
It is concerned with human rather than animal behaviour.
Supporting evidence (Bandura et al)
explain study
This 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).
Real world applications of SLT
Modelling has been used to help to treat anxiety disorders, e.g. showing a role model interacting happily with a phobic object. A vicarious association is made between the positive feelings demonstrated and the object.
The applications of the approach support its external validity as they suggest that the principles can be used to explain a wide range of behaviours and help to support treatments.
Weakness of SLT (same role model)
SLT cannot explain why people act differently when exposed to same role models and behaviours. For example, why vicarious reinforcement of offender behaviour leading to one person becoming an offender but another not. Additionally, it cannot account for all behaviour e.g. why someone might become a criminal when he/she has not associated with criminals and/or observed criminal behaviour.
This suggests that SLT cannot account for individual differences and therefore cannot be considered a completely valid explanation of all behaviour.
Strength of SLT (culture)
SLT has the advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour. Social learning principles can account for how children learn from other individuals around them, as well as through the media, and this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through societies. This has been useful in understanding a range of behaviours e.g. how children come to understand their gender role.
This supports the external validity of the approach as an explanation of behaviour as it can explain why behaviours are different across cultures due to expose to different role models and vicarious reinforcement.
