SLT

What is SLT?

Learning through imitation. It is indirect as you are watching what happens as a result of someone else’s behaviour

Two types of models

• Live model

• Symbolic model

Live model

A real person present in your life e.g. parent, teacher/friend

Symbolic model

might be someone portrayed in the media e.g. a TV character

The three factors which cause behaviour patterns to be rapidly acquired

1. Characteristics of the model

2. The observers perceived ability to perform that behaviour

3. The observed consequences of behaviour

What does this come under?

Imitation

Identification

• Refers to the extent to which an individual can relate to a model + feels that they are similar to that person

Why is it important that observers feel similar to the model?

• Observers must feel that they are similar enough to experience the same outcome if they exhibit the same behaviour

What types of people are individuals more likely to imitate?

• People are also more likely to imitate others with high status e.g. celebrities, people with expertise and people who are perceived as physically attractive

Vicarious Reinforcement

• Individuals learn about the likely consequence of an action by viewing the behaviour of a model

• Individuals then adjust their later behaviour accordingly

Mediational Processes

• SLT can be described as the bridge between traditional learning theory and the cognitive approach as it focuses on cognitive (thinking) factors that are involved in learning

• These mental factors mediate (i.e. intervene) to determine whether a new response is acquired

• Observed behaviours might be stored by the observer and reproduced at a later time

4 steps to the mediational processes

1. attention

2. retention

3. motor reproduction

4. motivation

attention

the extent to which we notice certain behaviours that capture out attention because they are intrinsically (extremely) interesting, unusual/we recognise them

retention

how well the behaviour is remembered if it is shocking it might strengthen LTM or if it is simple it might be easy to encode + remember

motor reproduction

the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour. E.g. if it is an easy behaviour to copy (this is based on self-efficacy, which is having the confidence to enact the behaviour).

motivation

the will or desire to perform the behaviour based on it’s previous success. This is often determined by whether it was rewarded or punished. Often, positive vicarious reinforcement can motivate the individual.

Which two mediational processes refer to the learning of behaviour?

3 and 4/ motor reproduction and motivation

Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961)

• Recorded the following behaviour of young children who watched the following:

• Condition 1: An adult behaving in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll. Including hitting the doll with a hammer + shouting abuse at it

• Condition 2: An adult playing with the Bobo doll in a non-aggressive way

What did they find?

• They found that the children in Condition 1 were more likely to be aggressive towards the Bobo doll when given their own one to play

• They also found that there was a greater level of imitation if the model was the same sex as the child

Bandura and Walters (1963) what did they do?

• Showed videos to children where an adult behaved aggressively towards a Bobo doll

• Condition 1: the children saw the adult praised for their behaviour

• Condition 2: the children saw the adult being punished for their aggression towards doll by being told off

• Condition 3 (control group): children saw the aggression without any consequences

Conclusions

• The fact that children expressed their aggression in ways that clearly resembled the model’s novel behaviour provided striking evidence for learning through imitation

• While boys showed more overall aggression than girls following exposure to the male model, this was especially marked in relation to stereotypically male behaviour (e.g. physical as opposed to verbal aggression)

STRENGTH of Bandura’s research into SLT

P One strength of Bandura’s research is that there is supporting research.

E Fox and Bailenson (2009) found evidence for this using computer generated 'virtual' humans engaging in exercise or merely loitering. The models looked either similar or dissimilar to the individual participants. Participants who viewed their virtual model exercising engaged in more exercise in the 24 hours following the experiment than participants who viewed their virtual model merely loitering or a dissimilar model exercising.

K This supports Bandura’s research as the greater identification with a model leads to participants finding it easier to visualise the self in the place of the model. Which is the same as the children in Bandura’s Bobo doll research.

Strength

P Another strength of Bandura’s research is that it was a laboratory experiment.

E Bandura’s research being a lab experiment allowed for a controlled environment in which the manipulation of the IV (gender and exposure to violent model in the observation) allowed for
the DV (amount of aggression) to be measured. 

Bandura was also able to use the lab experiment to his advantage and control all extraneous variables

K This means that we can be sure that changes in aggression (DV) are a result of changes to gender and exposure to a violent model (IV) in Bandura’s research and as such this allows us to establish a causal relationship.

WEAKNESS

P One weakness of Bandura’s research is the fact that it was a laboratory experiment.

E Therefore, this reduces the internal validity of Bandura’s study and impacts the scientific credibility of the theory.

K Lab experiments are contrived (deliberately set up/engineered) situations where participants may respond to demand characteristics. It is possible that children thought that the main purpose of the Bobo doll was to hit it, and were therefore; simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected of them.

 Noble (1975) reported that one child at the laboratory for the experiment said: “Look Mummy, there’s the doll we have to hit!”

Weakness

P Another weakness of Bandura’s research is that there are many ethical issues.

E The major issue is protection from harm and the wellbeing of participants.  

The children may have been distressed by the aggressive behaviour they witnessed and the aggressive behaviour they learned from the study may have stayed with them, going on to become a behavioural problem. Participants are supposed to leave a study in the same state they entered it, which may not have happened here.

K Bandura would argue that, in terms of a cost-benefit analysis the benefits to society outweighed the risks to any of the children that took part as we gained invaluable information about the influence of role models on behaviour. Therefore, meaning that despite Bandura’s research having ethical issues there are a lot of benefits to wider society.