Social Cognitive theory - Bandura + Odden & Rochat

Social cognitive theory

• behaviour is learnt from environment via modelling and rienforcement

• learn by watching so observational learning

Aim of bandura

to determine whether children would learn aggressive behaviour by imitating an adult model

method of bandura

• used 3-5 year old children

• level of aggression determined at start of study as a control through interviewing parents and teachers

• matched pair design to ensure levels of aggression were evenly distributed

• 3 IV: whether child was exposed to violence or not, gender of child, gender of model

• children then watched model act aggressive by bashing a bobo doll or act passively by assembling toys or didn’t watch any models as a control

• children then went to room of toys and were observed after being told they could not play with toys

results of bandura

• All children showed some level of aggression however, the group that saw the aggressive model were most aggressive with control being second and passive model being third.

conclusion of bandura

In conclusion, the children learnt aggression by imitating the adult model which can be seen because all the children showed levels of aggression even if their model was not aggressive but the model that was aggressive had the most aggressive children, so they learnt to be aggressive more if their model was aggressive.

aim of odden rochat

To investigate the role of the social cognitive theory on the development of cultural norms in Samoa

method of odden rochat

• longitudinal study of 25 months

• 28 children from one samoan village was sample

• used interviews and observations to find out how children learn cultural norms from parents

results of odden rochat

The finding stated that children around 10 years old would borrow adult fishing equipment and experiment on their own and by 12 the children were able to fish on their own

conclusion of odden rochat

In conclusion, observational learning in the social cognitive theory affects the development of cultural norms because the children used observational learning, part of the SCT, to learn how to fish and learn the cultural hierarchy of people in their community.

critical thinking odden rochat

Strengths

• high ecological validity because it observed children in their natural community and did not interject

Limitations

• low internal validity because not all communities will follow what one tribe did in Fiji

• low generalisability as it was done only in Fiji on children

critical thinking bandura

strengths

• easily replicable which makes the results more reliable and credible

• match-pair design allows for a good spread of aggressive children which will limit ex

Limitations

• only done on 3-5 year olds so isn’t generalisable to the rest of the population

critical thinking SCT

Strengths

• the theory has high heuristic validity meaning it can explain a wide variety of behaviours like aggression, anorexia and health behaviours

• The theory has relatively good predictive power

Limitations

• motivation to replicate a behaviour is hard to measure so one key concept of the theory is hard to achieve

• the theory has a strong bias towards nurture being main factor in behaviours of people which means its not free of bias

four key things needed for SCT

• attention - must pay attention to learn

• retention - must remember what was seen to learn

• motivation - must be motivated to learn

• physical potential - must have ability to do beh to learn

  • self efficacy - belief that you can do it

5 factors that influence SCT

• model must stand out against other models

• models beh must be consistent

• model must be liked and respected by observer

• models behaviour must be reinforced

• models share similarities with observer