social learning theory

What type of learning is SLT?

- learning by observation

What is modelling?

* a form of learning in which a person (model) performs a behaviour and another individual observes them.

What is vicarious reinforcement?

* reinforcement which is not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour

What is imitation?

* the process of copying an observed behaviour and is more likely to occur when **identification** (when the observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like the role model) takes place.
* Children are more likely to identify with and learn from models who are similar to them.

What are mediational processes?

* **they enable the observer to store mental representation of this behaviour and its provable consequences.**


* Attention: the extent to which we notice certain behaviours.
* Retention: how well the behaviour is remembered
* Motor reproduction: the ability of the observer to perform the behaviour.
* Motivation: the will to perform the behaviour, which is often determined by whether the behaviour was rewarded or punished.
* **Unlike traditional behaviourism, the learning and performance of behaviour need not occur together. Observed behaviours may be stored by the observer and reproduced at a later time.**

What was the aim of Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment?

* to demonstrate that aggression can be learned through modelling 

What was the method of Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment?

* 72 children aged between 3 and 6 years old were put into one of three groups.
* One groups saw an aggressive model played in a room while an adult hit and shouted at a “Bobo doll”. 
* One group saw non-aggressive model played in a room while an adult played quietly with a construction set. 
* One groups was a control did not see a model. 
* After they had observed the aggressive/ non aggressive role model - The children were observed while they spent 20 minutes alone in a room  with a range of aggressive and non-aggressive toys including the Bobo doll.

What was the results of Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment?

* Children who saw the aggressive model produced more aggressive acts than those in either other group. 
* Boys imitated same sex models more than girls.
* Boys imitated more physical aggression if they saw male models, and Girls exhibited more  more verbal aggression if they saw female models. 

A03 - scientific credibility (s)

* P Strength is that the approach is scientific in its methods
* E Bandura’s procedure is very reliable because it can be replicated – as Bandura did, replicating the study in ’63 and ‘65. This was easy to do because of the standardised procedure (same script, same checklist categories, etc). 
* This is important as the studies have been seen to be repeatable so that they are a reliable experiment to help us understand behaviour.  Scientific credibility.

A03 - lacks ecological validity (w)

* P However, the main criticism of the research is that it was conducted in a laboratory
* E The children were put in a strange situation, exposed to some unusual adult behaviour and given toys to play with which encouraged them to act unnaturally. For example, a Bobo Doll is designed to be hit and knocked over (it bounces back upright); children would suppose the experimenters wanted them to play with the Bobo Doll in this way.
* This is important as the studies as even though the studies are reliable they cannot be generalised to the real world way to actually test aggression in children in a natural environment Therefore it lacks ecological validity 

A03 - real life application (s)

* P An important strength of the  approach is practical application 
* E Bandura changed his study to the child watching the aggression on TV. This has much more application to TV censorship. The study suggests even cartoon violence (like Tom & Jerry) might be causing children to learn aggressive behaviour. This study is used to support censoring TV, films and video games aimed at children.
* This is important as the studies can be seen to be important as they have a real life application

A03 - other approaches disagree (w)

* P However an important criticism of the SLT’s conclusions is that other approaches might disagree with their assumptions
* E A study by __Raine et al. (1997)__ shows that aggression is linked to certain brain deficits, like a weak prefrontal cortex; people with these deficits might need no excuse to start behaving aggressively and would do so in social situations without a role model present 
* This is important as SLT might not be a full understanding of what causes human behaviour and we might need other approaches to give a complete picture.