Assumptions & Key Concepts of SLT

Who created the Social Learning Theory (SLT)?

The SLT was proposed by Bandura (1972) as a more nuanced (complex, sophisticated) explanation of behaviourism. It takes the core principle of behaviourism - people are shaped by their environment, and refines it to include the mechanism of how people (particularly children) learn from others.

What are the key assumptions of the Social Learning Theory (SLT)?

• That children learn through:

- Observation of role models; significant people like parents, teachers, older siblings and celebrities

- Imitation of the behaviours observed from the role models (more likely to imitate if they see that behaviour being rewarded)

- Social contexts i.e. learning is not innate but is absorbed via the child’s environment, such as home, school, peer groups

• SLT suggested that learning occurs directly, through classical and operant conditioning, but also indirectly

Who do role models tend to be?

Older, influential figures who have high status or possess qualities the child aspires to. Also usually someone of the same gender as them (e.g. a same-sex parent)

• E.g. being good at football

What is imitation?

The action of using someone or something as a model and copying their behaviour.

• When a model is provided, whole patterns of behaviour can be rapidly acquired

What are the key determinants of whether a behaviour will be imitated?

• Characteristics of the model - attractive, similar to us, high status

• Observers perceived ability to perform that behaviour - could I do this? yes = more likely to imitate, no = less likely to imitate

• Observed consequence (reward or punished) of that behaviour

What is identification?

When an observed associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like them.

• May not be someone physically present in their environment, and this has important implications for the influence of media on behaviour

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced (rewarded) for a behaviour.

• It suggests that people don’t need to experience rewards or punishments directly in order to learn, they can observe the consequences experienced by a model and then make judgements as to the likelihood of experiencing these outcomes themselves

What is an example of vicarious reinforcement?

• Child observes their aggressive father

• Child sees that the aggressive father is rewarded e.g. they have power over their mother

• The aggressive father experiences positive direct reinforcement, e.g. they got what they wanted; they feel good

• The child identifies with the aggressive father and  internalises what they have just seen, e.g. 'I want to feel like that'

• Vicarious reinforcement has taken place

  • The child has observed the reward gained by the aggressive parent and is motivated to behave similarly to gain such a reward for themselves

  • The child may then go on to behave aggressively towards other children, particularly those who appear to be vulnerable

How does vicarious reinforcement highlight the more sophisticated nature of SLT?

It involves a degree of cognition; people are required to process what they have seen and imagine themselves gaining a similar reward for the specific behaviour.

What is mediational processes?

Cognitive factors (i.e. thinking) that influence learning and come between stimulus and response.

What are the four mental or mediational processes in learning?

1. Attention - the extent to which we notice behaviours

2. Retention - how well the behaviour is remembered

3. Motor reproduction - the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour

4. Motivation - the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was punished or rewarded

- Attention and retention - learning of behaviour

- Motor reproduction and motivation - performance of behaviour

How does the mediational process differ to traditional behaviourism?

Learning and performance are separate because behaviour is learned cognitively through observation and stored in memory, but only performed later if the observer is motivated and able to reproduce.

What are the strengths of the assumption and key concepts of SLT?

It provides a more ‘rounded’ explanation of how the environment shapes behaviour than behaviourism

• SLT is less reductionist (oversimplified) and deterministic (all human behaviour are the inevitable result of specific causes, like biology, environment, or past experiences, rather than being freely chosen) than behaviourism

• The mediational processes imply that the individual has some choice over their behaviour

It has good application to the use of token economies in prison or health settings

• The prisoner/patient is rewarded for ‘good’ behaviour with tokens

• Observation of fellow prisoners/patients receiving rewards encourages good behaviour from others

• Theory has good external validity

It supports the influence of social media on social learning in young people through identification and imitation

• Arunrangsiwed et al (2018) demonstrated the wannabe effect among young people

• 20 college students completed a questionnaire and 80 primary school students were interviewed

• The findings revealed that both groups were more likely to identify with heroic movie stars that were perceived to be attractive and similar to themselves, and were also more likely to accept prosocial (a social behaviour that "benefit[s] other people or society as a whole) messages from movie characters they admired

What are the limitations of assumptions and key concepts of SLT?

It can’t account for behaviours which are observed frequently and aren’t imitated

• E.g. a child who frequently observes domestic violence may never be violent towards anyone

• This means that SLT can only offer a limited explanation of behaviour as it doesn’t acknowledge the role of individual differences as a factor

Research into SLT tends to consist of lab experiments

• A limitation as SLT is an explanation of behaviour within social contexts

• It’s controlled conditions can’t replicate real life thus, such research lacks ecological validity

• They’re criticised for their forced nature where participants may respond to demand characteristics

• The children in the Bobo doll experiment were simply behaving in a way they thought was expected, in fact, Nobel (1975) reports that one child participating in the experiment said “Look mummy, there’s a doll we have to hit.”, suggesting research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life