The Learning Theory- Social Learning Theory Flashcards
(7 cards)
What is the Social Learning Theory?
The Social Learning Theory, proposed by Albert Bandura, states that much of our behaviour is learned from experience. It was proposed within this theory that we learn through the observation and imitation of others within a social context. He argues that reinforcers and punishments inform an individual of the consequences of a behaviour. This occurs by watching behaviour (particularly that of a role model) being rewarded/punished. The individual then can decide whether to perform the behaviour themselves.
What research methods does this theory use?
The majority of research by this theory is laboratory experiments on children.
What are the main 5 concepts within the Social Learning Theory?
a) Imitation- copying the behaviour of others.
b) Identification- Identification occurs with another person (the model) and involves adopting observed behaviours of the person with whom you are identifying.
c) Modelling- in order for social learning to take place someone must act or model the attitude or behaviours to be learned.
d) Vicarious Reinforcement- involves learning through observation of the consequences of other people’s actions.
e) The Role of Mediational Processes- mental (cognitive) factors that intervene in the learning process to determine whether a new behaviour is acquired or not.
What are the 4 mediational processes identified by Bandura?
The four cognitive/mediational processes identified by Bandura are:
1- Attention (the extent to which we notice certain behaviours)
2- Retention (how well the behaviour is remembered)
3- Motor Reproduction (the ability of the observer to actually perform the behaviour)
4- Motivation (the will to perform the behaviour- often determined by whether the behaviour is rewarded/punished)
What is the main example of research within the Social Learning Theory?
The Bobo Doll experiment (1961)- Bandura et al
The aim of this experiment was to test whether social behaviours (i.e. aggression) can be acquired by observation and imitation.
Explain the procedure of the Bobo Doll experiment.
The researchers pre-tested the children for how aggressive they were by observing the children in the nursery allowing children with similar levels of everyday aggression (matched pairs design). All children were then put into a room containing aggressive and non-aggressive toys. A lab experiment was used where there was 3 different conditions. In the ‘aggressive’ condition, children watched a role model physically and verbally abuse the Bobo doll. In the non-aggressive condition, a role model ignored the doll and played with other toys in the room and in the control condition, there was no model. The child was in the room for 20 minutes and their behaviour was observed and rated though a one-way mirror.
What were the results of the Bobo Doll experiment?
Bandura found that children who observed an aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or control groups.
The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female.
Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than girls.
