Learning Approaches: Social Learning Theory

What is social learning theory?

A way of explaining behaviour that includes both direct and indirect reinforcement, combining learning theory with cognitive factors.. It suggests that learning occurs directly, through classical and operant conditioning, but also indirectly.

What were Bandura’s procedures?

Study A: Bandura et al. recorded the behaviour of young children who watched an adult behave in an aggressive way towards a Bobo doll (see right). The adult hit the doll with a hammer and shouted abuse at it.

When these children were later observed playing with various toys, including a Bobo doll, they behaved much more aggressively towards the doll and the other toys than those who had observed a non-aggressive adult.

Study B: Bandura, together with Richard Walters (Bandura and Walters 1963), showed videos to children where an adult behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll. One group of children saw the adult praised for their behaviour (being told "Well done'). A second group saw the adult punished for their aggression towards the doll, by being told off. The third group (control group) saw the aggression without any consequence.

When given their own Bobo doll to play with, the first group showed much more aggression, followed by the third group, and then the second.

What did Bandura agree with?

Behaviourists in saying that behaviour is learned from experience. However, SLT proposed a different way in which people learn - through observation and imitation of others.

What is imitation?

Copying the behaviour of others.

What must happen for indirect learning to take place?

An individual has to observe the behaviour of others. The learner may imitate this behaviour but in general, imitation only occurs if the behaviour is seen to be rewarded rather than punished. (vicarious reinforcement.)

What is vicarious reinforcement?

Reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour. This is a key factor in imitation.

What happens as a result of vicarious reinforcement?

The learner observes the behaviour as well as the consequences of it.

Why is SLT often described as the bridge between learning theory and the cognitive theory?

IT focuses on how cognitive factors are involved in the learning process to determine whether a new response is acquired.

What do these mental factors do?

Mediate in the learning process to determine whether a new response is acquired.

What are the four mental/mediational processes in learning identified by Bandura?

• Attention.

• Retention.

• Motor reproduction.

• Motivation.

What is attention?

The extent to which we notice certain behaviours.

What is retention?

How well the behaviour is remembered?

What is motor reproduction?

The ability of the observer to perform the behaviour.

What is motivation?

The will to perform the behaviour, often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.

What are attention and retention related to?

The learning of behaviour.

What are motor reproduction related to?

The performance of behaviour.

Who are people, especially children, more likely to imitate?

People they identify with, a process called identification.

What is identification?

When an observer associated themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model.

What is the person the observer identifies with called?

The role model.

What is the process of imitating a role model called?

Modelling.

What is the behaviour of a role model called.

Modelling.

When does a person become a role model?

If they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have high status. Tole models may not necessarily be physically present in the environment, and this has important implications for the influence of the media on behaviour.

What are the strengths of social learning theory?

• Cognitive factors.

• Real-world application.

How are cognitive factors a strength of SLT?

It recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning. Neither classical nor operant conditioning can offer an adequate amount of learning on their own. Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions.

What does cognitive factors suggest about SLT?

That it provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of meditational processes.

What is the counterpoint to cognitive factors?

Despite this, SLT has been criticised for making too little inference to the influence of biological factors on social learning. Although Bandura claimed natural biological differences influenced out learning potential, he thought that learning itself was determined by the environment. However,, recent research suggests that the observational learning, of the kind that Bandura was talking about, may be the result of mirror neurons in the brain, which allo us to emphasise and imitate other people.

What does the counterpoint ot cognitive factors suggest?

That biological influences on social learning were underemphasised in SLT.

How is real-world application a strength of SLT?

SLT principles have been applied to a range of real-world behaviours. SLT has the advantage of being able to explain cultural differences in behaviour. SLT principles, such as modelling, imitation and reinforcement can account for how children learn from others around them, including the media and this can explain how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies, This has proved useful in understanding a range of behaviours, such as how children come to understand their gender role.

What does the real-world application mean for SLT?

It increases the value of the approach as it can account for real-world behaviour.

What is the limitation of SLT?

Controved lab studies.

How are contrived lab studies a limitation of SLT?

The evidence was gathered through lab studies. Many of Bandura’s ideas were developed through the observation of young children’s behaviour in the lab. Lab studies are often criticised for their contrived nature where participants may respond to demand characteristics. It has been suggested, in relation to the Bobo doll research, that the main purpose of the doll is to strike it, the children were simply behaving in a way that they thought was expected.

What does contrived lab studies mean for SLT?

It suggests that the research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in real life?