Social Learning Theory A03

Social Learning Theory A03

1. Emphasises the importance of cognitive factors in learning

   • Neither classical or operant conditioning can offer a comprehensive account of human learning
     • Because cognitive factors are omitted
       • We store information about the behaviour of others
         • And use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions
   • SLT provides a more complete explanation of human learning
     • Than the behaviourist approach
       • Because it recognises the role of meditational processes

2. SLT can account for cultural differences in behaviour

   • Explains how children can learn from different people around them
     • Including the media
     • This can explain how cultural norms are transmitted
       • Helped to understand a range of behaviours
         • Such as how children come to understand their gender role
           • By imitating role models
   • The biological approach can only explain universal behaviours
     • Because human biological processed do not change with culture

3. SLT is less deterministic than the behaviourist approach

   • Bandura emphasised reciprocal determinism
     • We are influenced by our environment
       • But we also exert an influence upon it through the behaviours we choose to perform
         • This element of choice suggests we have free will in the way we behave
           • This is a more realistic and flexible position than the behaviourist approach
             • As it recognises the role we play in shaping our environment

4. SLT relies too heavily on research from controlled lab studies

   • Bandura observed children and their behaviour
     • However demand characteristics may have been present
       • The main purpose of a bobo doll is to hit it...
         • So the children may have done this is response to what they felt was expected
           • Therefore the research may show very little about how children learn aggression in real life

5. SLT underestimates the influence of biological factors

   • A consistent finding was that boys demonstrated more aggression than girls
     • Regardless of the experimental condition
       • This may be explained by the differences in the levels of testosterone
         • Which is present in greater quantities in boys and is linked to aggression
           • This means that Bandura may have underplayed the important influence of biological factors on social learning