Evaluation: Social Learning Theory

Evaluation: Social Learning Theory

1. Supporting Studies

   • Bandura found that children who watched an adult role model act aggressively towards a bobo doll the replicated this behaviour and acted aggressively towards the bobo doll themselves, particularly if the role model was the same sex and reinforced. This suggests that behaviour can be learnt through observation and imitation.
     • Bandura suggested that behaviour is learnt through observation and imitation. He believed this occurred over 4 stages: ATTENTION to the role model and their behaviour, RETENTION of the observed behaviour, REPRODUCTION of the observed behaviour in appropriate circumstances, and MOTIVATION to carry out the behaviour which is often due to vicarious reinforcement.
       • Vicarious reinforcement is when the observer feels indirectly rewarded after seeing the role model be reinforced for their behaviour.

2. Criticism of Supporting Studies

   • Bandura's study was only carried out on children, so cannot be generalised to every age group. Children are typically more impressionable that older people too, so perhaps they would have been more influenced by other people's behaviours than older people are. This limits the credibility of how it supports SLT.
   • The study also had low ecological validity as it took place in a lab setting. As this environment will have been unfamiliar to the children, their behaviours may not have reflected real life ones, limiting the extent to which it supports SLT to.

3. Opposing Evidence

   • Kendler et al (2015) suggested that identical twins are more similar in their levels of aggression than non-identical twins. This suggests that there is a biological factor to aggression and that it is not just a purely learnt behaviour.
     • However, Bandura did not fully ignore biological factors when coming up with his theory. He suggested that it is the way the behaviour is expressed that is learnt, not the actual urge to do that behaviour (e.g. aggressive acts are learnt but the urge to be aggressive is not).

4. Different Theories

   • Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are both different explanations for how a behaviour may be learnt. Classical conditioning suggests that it is the link made between two stimuli, and operant conditioning suggests that it is when behaviour is reinforced or punished.
     • Bandura builds on some elements that are explored in operant conditioning, with the idea of vicarious reinforcement being a key part of learning behaviours.
   • There are other biological explanations for behaviours, especially aggression, such as evolutionary theory. This suggests that we have evolved to be aggressive, particularly men, as they needed that aggression in the past in order to hunt and protect their families etc..,

5. Application

   • As Bandura's study into SLT suggests that behaviours such as aggression can be learnt through role models, with his 1963 showing that cartoon behaviour is even modelled by children, the theory can be used to inform things such as censorship on TV shows and games in order to try and prevent children from displaying and replicating aggressive acts that they see in the media.
   • It has also been applied to issues such as anorexia, suggesting that perhaps eating disorder behaviours stem from seeing size-0 models all over the media, being reinforced through their wealth and fame, and therefore people trying to replicate that body type. This is useful as it can help us introduce a wider range of body types to the media to try and prevent this.