Social Learning Theory

Social Learning Theory

• Albert Bandura agreed with the behaviourists that much of our behaviour is learned (nurture), although not always through classical and operant conditioning (direct experiences).
• Assumptions:
• vicarious reinforcement
• modelling/role models and identification
• mediational processes

Slide 2

• Vicarious reinforcement - we observe other people's behaviour and take note of its consequences. Behaviour that is seen to be rewarded is more likely to be imitated.
• Identification - people imitate those who are most similar to them - the one they identify with.
• Mediational Processes - mental processes involved in acquiring and producing new behaviours.
• attention
• retention
• motor reproduction
• motivation

Evaluation

• + One strength is research support from Bandura. He divided 3-6 year-old children into the groups of three. One group saw adults acting aggressively towards the Bobo doll, the second saw non-aggressive behaviour and the third was a control group with no adult. He found that children acted aggressively towards the doll if they had seen an aggressive behaviour. In later variation, Bandura and Walters also found that children were more likely to imitate if the adults' behaviour was rewarded rather than punished, which supports the idea of vicarious reinforcement. This matters because the theory has been proven in research, meaning it is reliable.
• - However, Bandura's research may not explain how these children would behave in real-life situations. Bandura's setting was highly artificial where a child was put into the room on their own, seeing the Bobo doll for the first time in their life. They may not have known what to do with it, meaning that seeing others beating it, they thought that this was the way they were supposed to behave. Also, children were little and might thought that they were in a game where you have to beat the doll and get a prize. This matters because Bandura's research lacks ecological validity as it cannot tell whether people will act the same in more serious real-life situations.

Evaluation

• + One strength is the recognition of cognitive factors. Behaviourists omitted an adequate explanation of human learning by ignoring mental processes. Bandura, however, pointed out that humans and animals observe each others' behaviour to judge their own behaviour. It would be quite dangerous if we only relied on the effects of our own actions. This matters because the inclusion of mediational processes makes the theory a more comprehensive approach.
• - However, this approach suffers from environmental determinism. Like behaviourists, Bandura thought that our behaviour is determined by the environment we live in. This means that the theory ignores free will and conscious-decision making, suggesting that all our behaviour is influenced by the objects of our environment, with us being passive influencers.
• Additionally, the theory undervalues biological approach. Some research showed that observational learning may be a result of mirror neurons which play a role when we imitate someone's behaviour. For example, when someone laughs, you can't help but automatically laugh. This matters because SLT ignores many other key, valuable explanations.

Evaluation

• + One strength is that identification has real-world applications. For example, children from poor suburbs to the North of Paris saw Kylian Mbappe - a boy from their hometown who worked hard and became one of the best footballers as a teenager. As there are similarities between them, the children may also work hard and imitate the footballer's lifestyle because they identify with him. This means that a type of person we choose to model the behaviour is key. For example, in schools, to motivate children, we can choose a person of their age who achieved A* to model a hard-working behaviour rather than a headteacher. This matters because SLT can improve some life areas like education.

Application question

• Imitation means copying a behaviour of someone else. Barney might imitate the behaviour of the older boy by 'becoming aggressive to the younger children himself'. Identification suggests that the more similar we are to the role model, the likely we are to repeat the behaviour. Barney shares the same gender with the older student and they are from the same 'primary school' that increases the likelihood of Barney 'becoming aggressive' too. Vicarious reinforcement is observing others receiving a reward for their behaviour and thus, increasing the likelihood of imitating this behaviour to be rewarded themselves. Barney is likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour because the older boy might be rewarded with 'sweets' and 'money' that may lead to vicarious reinforcement.
• One way in which Barny may not repeat the behaviour is lacking retention. Even if Barny has already 'noticed' the behaviour, he might walk away home and forget about it. Another way is lacking motor reproduction. Barny is an 'eight-year-old' boy and he might not be capable enough to boss 'young children around' because he is too young himself. Finally, he can lack motivation. If the older student does not get rewarded or on the opposite, gets punished, Barny will not be likely to repeat that behaviour.