Social Learning Theory

What did the social learning theory propose?

That people learn through observation and imitation.

What did the SLT suggest?

Learning occurs directly through classical and operant conditioning but also indirectly.

Who are we more likely to observe and imitate?

A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer and/or are attractive and have a higher status.

• Not necessarily physical but also present in the environment ,e.g., social media.

What is the mediational process?

A thinking process- that intervenes in the learning process to determine whether a new response is required.

What are the 4 stages in the Mediational Process?

1. Attention- the extent to which we notice certain behaviors

2. Retention- how well the behavior is remembered

3. Motor reproduction- the ability of the observer to perform the behavior

4. Motivation- the will to perform the behavior, which is often determined by whether the behavior is rewarded or punished 

What is Vicarious Reinforcement?

• For indirect learning to take place, an individual observes the behaviours of others.

• The learner may imitate this behaviour —> imitation only occurs if the behaviour is seen to be rewarded rather than punished

—> The learner observes the behaviour and the consequences of the behaviour.

What was the Bobo Doll Study?

Method

The experiment involved 72 children (36 boys and 36 girls), ages roughly 3 to 6 years old, enrolled at the Stanford University Nursery School

The researchers pre-tested the children for how aggressive they were by observing the children in the nursery and judged their aggressive behavior on four 5-point rating scales.

It was then possible to match the children in each group so that they had similar levels of aggression in their everyday behavior.

The Bobo doll experiment was a laboratory experiment with an independent groups design (each child experienced one of the conditions: aggressive model, non-aggressive model, or control).

-Aggressive model – The model behaved aggressively towards the Bobo doll, using pre-determined, standardised behaviours e.g. hitting Bobo with a toy hammer-

-Non‐aggressive model – The model behaved in a non-aggressive way

-Control group - No model was present

Each child observed the behaviour of the model for 10 minutes

Each child was then taken to a room containing a Bobo Doll, aggressive toys such as a mallet and a dart gun and non-aggressive toys such as farm toys and crayons

The participants were observed  in the Bobo Doll room using a one-way mirror for a duration of 20 minutes

Results

Children who had observed aggressive behaviour were more likely to be aggressive towards the Bobo doll

Children were more likely to imitate the behaviour of the same-sex role model

What is an issue with research into SLT?

The findings lack external validity.

In Bandura’s study there was no interaction between the child and model, the child and model were strangers and the bobo doll was unfamiliar —> we cannot conclude that humans learn through observation and imitation.

So findings cannot be applied in the real world. 

Explain one weakness of the SLT?