Social Learning Theory

Social Learning Theory

1. vicarious reinforcement

   • learning by imitation, seeing another get rewarded or punished for behaviour will increase the likelihood they will imitate or avoid this behaviour

2. identification

   • if you identify with a person in ways such as ethnicity, sex, age you are more likely to imitate their behaviour as they act as a role model

3. meditational processes

   • 4.motivation
     • when weighing up the rewards and costs the behaviour must be worth repeating and be motivated to do it
   • 3.motor reproduction
     • they must be physically able to repeat the behaviour eg. may require hard skill
   • 2.retention
     • behaviour must stay in their mind so they have a memory to refer to
   • 1.attention
     • behaviour has to catch their attention

4. evaluation

   • research support from Bandura's bobo doll experiment, had kids observe an adult be aggressive or not towards a doll then watched the kids behaviour with the doll after. Kids watching aggressive condition imitated this behaviour and more so when the adult was their sex (identification)
   • Bandura's experiment had ethical issues by teaching kids to be aggressive, doesn't protect them from psychological harm
     • studies like this no longer allowed to take place, so a lack of testing of the slt makes it hard to establish scientific credibility due to lack of falsifiability
   • doesn't explain why kids would be aggressive without a model, Bandura and Walters group with no reward/punishment were inbetween high and low levels of aggression
   • Unlike operant conditioning theory, explains aggressive behaviour in the absence of direct reinforcement. Bandura's (1963) participants behaved more aggressively after observing an aggressive model, at no point were the children directly rewarded for any action, either aggressive or non-aggressive. Vicarious learning necessary to explain these findings.