Social Learning Theory

Why does Social Learning Theory say that experience explain aggressive behaviour?

1. The social learning theory of human aggression says that aggressive behaviour is learned

2. People learn aggression by observing and imitating the behaviour of aggressive models.

3. Reinforcement (behaviour being rewarded) affects how likely somebody is to imitate an observed behaviour.

4. This can be positive reinforcement (something good happening), or negative reinforcement (something bad stopping).

5. Reinforcement can also be direct (being rewarded yourself), or vicarious (observing the model being rewarded).

Why does Bandura’s study explain why experience explains aggressive behaviour?

Bandura's (1961) Bobo doll study, showed that children can learn aggression through imitation. In a similar experiment, Bandura (1965) found that vicarious reinforcement affected imitation:

• Bandura (1965) got children to watch a video of a model behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll. The model was either rewarded, punished, or neither (in the control condition). When the children played with the doll, those in the reward and control condition behaved more aggressively than those in the punishment condition.

What is the social learning theory?

A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with the role of cognitive factors

• Learning through observation and imitation of others

What is identification?

When the observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model

Who is the role model?

The person who demonstrates a specific behaviour that an observer may imitate

Who is the observer?

A person who watches the behaviour of the role model

What is imitation?

When someone copies the behaviour of others

What is vicarious reinforcement?

• SLT acknowledge learning directly through classical and operant conditioning, but they suggest learning also happens indirectly

• For indirect learning to happen the individual observes the behaviour of others and may imitate the behaviour. In general, imitation only occurs if the behaviour is seen to be rewarded (Vicarious Reinforcement)

  • The learner observes the behaviour but most importantly observes the consequence of the behaviour

What are mediational processes?

• SLT is described as a bridge between traditional learning theory and the cognitive approach because it focuses on how mental (cognitive) factors are involved in learning aggression

• These mental factors mediate (intervene) in determining whether a response is acquired

• Four mental or mediational processes in learning were identified by Bandura

What is ARMM?

1. Attention: The extent to which we notice certain behaviours

2. Retention: How well the behaviour is remembered

3. Motivation: The will to perform the behaviour which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished

4. Motor Reproduction: The ability to perform the behaviour

• The observed behaviour may be stored and reproduced at a later time

What is the overview of Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study?

The Bobo doll experiment was a study by psychologist Albert Bandura that demonstrated how children learn aggressive behaviour through observation behaviour. The experiment involved showing children adult models behaving aggressively or non-aggressively towards an inflatable doll and then observing the children's behaviour.

What is the evaluation of Bandura’s Bobo Doll Study?

• SLT highlights the importance of cognitive factors in learning and provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediational processes

• Over-reliance on evidence from Lab studies

  • Bandura’s ideas were developed through observation of young children in lab settings.

    • Lab studies are criticised because of their contrived nature and suggest that children may be affected by demand characteristics.

    • The children may just have been doing what they thought was expected of them

• Bandura makes no reference to the impact of biology on social learning - one consistent finding was that boys were often more aggressive than girls, regardless of the specifics of the experiment.

• This could be explained by hormonal factors such as differences in levels of testosterone, which are greater in boys than girls and has been linked to aggressive behaviour

What are the strengths of the Bobo doll study?

• Controlled variables: The study was conducted in a lab, allowing researchers to control many variables, such as the model's behaviour and the length of time children observed the model. 

• Standardised procedure: The study used a standardized procedure, script, and checklist categories, making it easy to replicate. 

• High inter-rater reliability: The study used two observers behind a one-way mirror, and behaviours had to be noted by both observers. 

• High external validity: The study's findings have been applied to other settings and behaviours, such as the impact of media violence on children. 

• Influential: The study's findings have influenced the debate about how media violence affects children. 

• Replicable: The study has been replicated multiple times, with similar results, increasing the findings' reliability. 

What are the weaknesses of the Bobo doll study?

• Demand characteristics: Children may have acted in ways they thought the experimenters wanted them to, rather than how they would normally behave. 

• Lack of ecological validity: The experiment took place in a lab, which may not reflect how children behave in real life. 

• Short-term focus: The experiment only looked at short-term behaviour, so it may not reflect how children behave over time. 

• Imitating a doll vs. a real person: Children may have acted differently towards a real person who could have retaliated. 

• Ethical issues: The experiment may have upset or alarmed some children, and asking nursery workers to rate children's aggression may have been intrusive. 

• Biased sample: The children were all from a university nursery, so the results may not be generalizable to other children. 

• Underestimates biological factors: The experiment may have underestimated the role of biological factors, such as testosterone, in aggression. 

What is the culture of the Kung San?

They have a special way of handling anger and physical assaults by one child against another. When two small children quarrel and begin to fight, adults don’t punish them or lecture them; they separate them and physically carry each child off in an opposite direction

What is the evaluation of the social learning theory?

• SLT can explain Cultural differences in aggressive behaviour which are transmitted and learnt from individuals around them

• Kung San parents do not use physical punishment, and aggressive postures are avoided by adults and devalued by society

• So, children have relatively little opportunity to observe or intimate overtly aggressive behaviour

• Aggressive models are scarce and the adult technique of interfering at the earliest stages of discord means that a child doesn’t have the opportunity to learn the satisfaction of striking and humiliating another child