SLT

mediating conative factors

Processes between stimulus and response within SLT.

attention

A mediating cognitive factor that occurs when an individual observes a behaviour taking place.

retention

A mediating cognitive factor that occurs when an individual memorises the behaviour that they have paid attention to.

motor reproduction

A mediating cognitive factor that involves having the physical (or mental) ability to reproduce the behaviour.

motivation

A mediating cognitive factor that involves the desire to want to reproduce the behaviour.

imitation

the conscious copying or reproduction of a model’s behaviour

live model

An actual model with whom we may come into contact e.g. a parent, sibling, friend or teacher.

symbolic model

A model that is a character to which the individual may be exposed e.g. a television or literary character.

modelling

The way in which a model displays or demonstrates a behaviour for somebody else to imitate.

identification

A process whereby an individual associates with the qualities, characteristics and views of another person

soft determinism

A view as used in SLT that believes that behaviours are controlled though includes an element of free will.

vicarious reinforcement

Indirect reinforcement e.g. seeing somebody else being rewarded. This information can be retained and reproduced in future.

assumptions

One assumption of the social learning theory is that we learn through the environment. To be specific though mediating cognitive factors which is a 4 step process (attention retention motor reproduction and retention. which can result in a behaviour being leant though observation and imitation

. Describe two characteristics of a model that will most likely lead to imitation and provide an example within your answer.

If the model is the same gender as the person then the likelihood of imitation is higher. It is also higher if the model is older For example daughter are more likely to copy the behaviour of there mum than sons as there the same gender and is older. Also if we see Similarities between us and the model

what makes someone more likely to imitate someone

low self esteem

explain the procedure of banduras study

The ps (children aged 3 to 6) they were divides into 2 groups. The first group observed an adult being physically and verbally aggressive towards the bobo doll . The second group saw the adult interact non aggressively with the doll. An experimenter observed and recorded the children’s physical and verbal aggression covertly behind a one way mirror

outline the findings of the study

children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to act aggressively themselves. Also highlighted the role of identification particularly in boys who were more likely to mimic aggression when observing a male model than a female one

please outline the research related to symbolic models

when children were exposed to a symbolic model ( a cartoon) the levels of aggression were comparable across all group to the live model  

outline the method and findings of the variation which used vicarious reinforcement 

Children were split into 3 groups. One  witnessed adults acting aggressively towards the bobo doll being rewarded with sweets. Another group saw the adults being punished with a wooden bat . The other group was a control group. 

Those who saw the punishment were significantly less aggressive than the other children

One strength is that that the approach is only soft deterministic.

P – Point

One strength of Social Learning Theory (SLT) is that it takes a soft determinist position, recognising a role for both the environment and individual free will.

E – Evidence

Although SLT proposes that behaviour is influenced by observing others, Bandura emphasised mediational processes (attention, retention, motivation, and motor reproduction), meaning individuals actively choose whether to imitate a behaviour. For example, Bussey and Perry found that children were more likely to imitate same-sex role models, as they identified with them more strongly and therefore felt more motivated to copy their behaviour.

E – Explain

This suggests that behaviour is not automatically shaped by environmental stimuli alone; instead, people make conscious decisions based on internal cognitive evaluations, such as whether the model is similar to them or whether imitating the behaviour will lead to desirable outcomes. This highlights that SLT incorporates both environmental influences and cognitive factors.

L – Link

Therefore, SLT is less mechanistic and reductionist than more rigidly deterministic approaches like the behaviourist perspective, providing a more holistic and realistic explanation of human behaviour.

fails to consider the role of biology and nature.

P – Point

However, despite being less deterministic than many other approaches, a limitation of Social Learning Theory (SLT) is that it still underestimates biological influences on behaviour, particularly in areas such as aggression.

E – Evidence

For example, Dabbs et al. found that violent offenders had significantly higher levels of testosterone, a hormone strongly associated with aggressive behaviour. This suggests that biological factors can play a substantial causal role that is not accounted for by SLT.

E – Explain

This challenges the idea that behaviours such as aggression can be fully explained through imitation, identification, or vicarious reinforcement, as SLT proposes. Biological variables may predispose individuals to behave aggressively regardless of the models available in their environment.

L – Link

Therefore, although SLT is more flexible and less rigidly deterministic than purely environmental explanations (as highlighted in the previous PEEL paragraph), it still remains reductionist for overlooking the contribution of nature. This reduces its overall explanatory power when accounting for complex behaviours like aggression or criminality.

strength related to human ps

P – Point

Another strength of SLT is that, unlike many biological studies, it is often based on human participants, which increases the generalisability of its findings to real human behaviour.

E – Evidence

For instance, Fagot’s study on gender development used 24 human children and found that parents provided different patterns of reinforcement depending on the child’s sex. This supports SLT’s claim that children learn gendered behaviours through differential reinforcement and observation of parental role models.

E – Explain

Because the research is conducted on humans rather than animals, the findings are more directly applicable to understanding complex human social behaviours. This contrasts with biological research such as Gorski’s work on rats, which, although useful for understanding physiological processes, suffers from low population validity because animal behaviour does not fully represent human social learning.

L – Link

Therefore, despite the previous limitation that SLT overlooks some biological influences, its reliance on ecologically valid human studies strengthens the approach. This makes SLT a more realistic and generalisable explanation of behaviours like gender development compared to purely biological research based on animals.