cognitive approach - social learning theory

Social learning theory

• developed by Bandura

• people learn by observing how others behave, including the rewards and punishment they receive​. We then imitate the behaviour.

• indirect reinforcement

Models in SLT 

• someone who influences us (the person we observe)

• people (especially children) are more likely to imitate the behaviour of people they identify with → role models 

• role models don’t have to be physically present in the environment

vicarious reinforcement

seeing a model rewarded/punished for doing a behaviour can influence our want to do that behaviour.

Bandura BoBo Doll Aim

whether children learn aggressive behaviors through observing adults, and whether gender impacts imitation.

Bandura BoBo Doll procedure

Children observed either an aggressive adult, a calm adult, or no adult, and were later observed to see if they imitated aggression.

Bandura BoBo Doll results 

• children in aggressive condition → more aggressive than children in non-agressive condition → children imitate aggressive behaviour

• children also showed non imitative aggression - made up new ways of showing aggression e.g with toy gun

• Physical aggression was most likely to be imitated by boys observing a male model​

• no difference between boys and girls in imitation of verbal agression

strengths of Bandura Bobo doll

• measurement + causality : lab experiment + standardised procedure → isolates IV (can establish cause and effect) → increases validity + can be replicated

• measurement - collected a lot of qualitative + quantitative data → can do statistical comparison between groups + enriches data

limitations of Bandura BoBo doll

• lacks ecological validity → lab environment was artificial

• low population validity → all pp were children from stanford nursery

• researcher bias → Observers were aware of which condition each child was in

• ethical issues → children might have imitated long term aggressive behaviour because of this

cognitive processes in SLT 

• attention : e.g authority, attractiveness of model or desirability of behaviour

• retention : observer must remember behaviour

• reproduction : observer must be able to carry out the behaviour

• motivation : learner must want to replicate behaviour 

meditational processes

• thought prior to imitation

• we don’t automatically observe a behaviour and then imitate it

other important factors that affect SLT

• consistency : model behaves consistently across situations → more likely to imitate

• identification with model : model is like observer → more likely to imitate

• liking the model : like → more likely to imitate

• self efficacy of observer : high → more likely to imitate behaviour

strengths of SLT

• can be used to explain a wide range of behaviours

• Bandura showed variables that can increase/decrease likelihood of imitation → increases predictive power

• has biological support → modern biological research indicates that mirror neurons play an important role in learning

weaknesses of SLT

• difficult to test under naturalistic conditions (difficult to control extraneous variables)

• constructs such as motivation, self-effiacy and attention are difficult to measure

• strong bias towards nurture side of argument.