social learning theory

What does the social learning theory believe?

behaviour is learnt through observing and imitating other people

How is human learning explained in Social Learning Theory?

through observational learning

What plays an important role in SLT?

mediating cognitive factors

What is vicarious reinforcement?

learners are more motivated to imitate behaviours if they observe the role models being reinforced (rewarded)

Whats involved in SLT to scientifically observe behaviour?

laboratory experiments

What does the term 'black box' refer to in the context of SLT?

cognitive factors such as internal mental processes that mediate stimulus and response.

What's imitation?

an individual observes someone model a behaviour then replicate it

What's identification?

the extent to which an individual relates to a model and feels that they are similar to that person or because they have a quality the individual would like to possess

What does research show regarding identification?

children are more likely to identify with/learn from models that are similar to them, especially same sex models

What are the four mediational processes?

attention, retention, reproduction, motivation

What's a study regarding SLT?

Banduras bobo doll study

What did Bandura want to study?

whether children would imitate aggressive behaviours from adults

What was Banduras process?

half of children exposed to aggressive model, half to non aggressive model

aggressive model struck doll, verbal aggression "POW".

children were then frustrated as they saw dolls they weren't allowed to play with

they were they taken to a room with the bobo doll

What did Bandura find?

children with an aggressive model displayed physical and verbal acts of aggression

those with the non agressive model showed no aggression

1/3 repeated the models verbal responses

imitation of aggression was more likely if the adult model was of the same sex

What was Banduras conclusions?

children learn aggressive behaviours indirectly through observing and imitating behaviours displayed by models

What was a conclusion in a follow up experiment?

What is this an example of?

if children observed the model being rewarded for aggression, they were more likely to display a higher level of aggression

example of vicarious reinforcement