outline and evaluate social learning theory essay

first paragraph the theory and features

SLT involves observing and imitating the behaviour of role models. Children may do this as a result of referent social influence (a type of Informational Social Influence) i.e. they want to be socially accepted and so look to others for how to behave in certain situations. Imitation is more likely if the role model is the same gender, of a higher status and if the child spends a long time in contact with that role model.  Bandura said that social learning involves the following mediational processes: attention (to the role model’s behaviour), retention (of information about the behaviour), reproduction (of the behaviour) and motivation (to perform the behaviour). 

A key feature of SLT is that a person will copy a role model’s behaviour, and this will be reinforced, even though they do not receive a reward directly (only the role model gets rewarded directly). This is called ‘vicarious reinforcement’.

second paragraph evidence that SLT can influence behaviour

Albert Bandura provided evidence that SLT can influence behaviour. He found that children who witnessed aggressive adult role models were much more likely to show aggression to a Bobo doll than children who witnessed non-aggressive models. Children were also much more likely to copy aggression from the same gender role model. Boys showed more physical aggressive behaviour than girls but both boys and girls copied verbal aggression to the same degree. This supports SLT as the children were more likely to see adults of the same gender as a role model and thus copy their behaviour.  Also, as they saw the adults being rewarded, they may have performed the behaviour through vicarious reinforcement i.e . they did not need a direct reward for the behaviour to be reinforced; it was enough to see their role model being rewarded and that led to their behaviour being reinforced indirectly. This shows the importance of Social learning in the development of children’s behaviour. The reason that young people may copy role models is due to ‘identification’. This is a social explanation for conformity; it is a middle level of conformity where you change your behaviour but not your beliefs. Identification occurs because you feel that you want to be similar to the other person and so you adopt their characteristics and behaviours.

third paragraph problems with the study

First, in one final version (1963) of the experiment the children saw same sex adults being punished for aggressive behaviour to the Bobo doll. The children were then offered rewards for being aggressive to the doll. The children imitated the aggressive behaviour of the adults despite the fact that the adults were punished and not rewarded for their behaviour. This shows that learning can occur without witnessing reinforcement i.e. without vicarious reinforcement. This shows that SLT cannot be the only explanation for aggression. In this instance, the children’s aggressive behaviour is explained by operant conditioning (direct reward for behaviour).

Thirdly, the frustration could have interplayed with environmental cues (aggressive toys) that signal that aggressiveness may be appropriate in this situation. This is called the ‘cue arousal’ hypothesis of aggression and it offers another alternative explanation for behaviour.

fourth paragraph problems with the study

Secondly, it is possible that the aggression was a result of the ‘relative deprivation hypothesis’ i.e. the children were deliberately frustrated by not being allowed to play with the toys in a 2nd room, this may have made them feel ‘hard done by’ and aggression may have occurred due to this sense of unfairness rather than to SLT.

fifth paragraph problems with the study

Thirdly, the frustration could have interplayed with environmental cues (aggressive toys) that signal that aggressiveness may be appropriate in this situation. This is called the ‘cue arousal’ hypothesis of aggression and it offers another alternative explanation for behaviour

sixth paragraph real world application

SLT does have real world applications as it lends support to the idea that exposure to violence on TV leads to ‘copy-cat’ violence by children in real life e.g. Bulger murderers were supposed to have copied the violence from the film ‘Child’s Play’, which they watched. On the other hand, children can probably differentiate between violence in real life and violence on a video / game, or violence to a Bobo doll, which was seemingly designed for punching.

seventh paragraph idea of mediational factors

The idea of mediational factors is good, because it shows that importance of cognition influencing behaviour and so is more holistic than some other approaches (e.g behaviourism). However, we cannot prove that mediational factors have occurred, we can only infer that they may be there. So, this is not very scientific.

eigth paragraph deterministic

Finally, the suggestion that children blindly imitate behaviour without considering the consequences is deterministic. Indeed, we only have to consider that many children in Bandura’s study did not imitate the behaviour. The mediational factor of ‘motivation’ meant that some children possibly chose not to copy the aggressive behaviour. SLT is, therefore, an example of ‘soft determinism i.e. behaviour is likely but not inevitable.

ninth paragraph cognitions

In addition, these children may have had cognitions that inhibited the behaviour or they may have had a less aggressive innate (genetic) tendency towards particular behaviours. To gain a real insight into aggressive behaviour we need to consider biological as well as sociological mechanisms i.e. taking a holistic approach.