Describe and evaluate the social learning theory. Refer to evidence in your answer. The social learning theory believes the our behaviour is learnt through our environmement, and that it is the people around us that teach us our behaviour. Social learning theorist believe that behaviour is learnt in steps and that factors including reinforcement, motivation as well as mediating cognitive factors, effect whether the behaviour is repeated or not. Firstly, the child observes a model displaying a certain behaviour.
A group of 36 boys and 36 girls of ages three to six were split into three groups. The first group observed an adult hitting an inflatable Bobo doll; the second group observed an adult assembling toys; and the third group, the control group, did not see a model. In the first two groups, some of the adult models were of the same sex as their subjects while others were of the opposite. After observing their models, the children were put into a room with a Bobo doll. Sure enough, the children who had seen aggressive models reciprocated their violent behaviour with physical and verbal aggression to the doll.
(Bandura 1977: 22)’ It was discovered that aspects of this observational learning involved an individual serving or catering to a certain behaviour, remembering/memorising it and how it worked for another person and then the individual acting it out to see how it worked for them. ‘Symbols retained from a modelling experience act as a template with which one’s actions are compared. During this rehearsal process individuals observe their own behaviour and compare to their cognitive representation of modelled experience. (Hergenhahn 1988 quoted in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 135)’ The above quote basically states that behaviour results from the interaction of the individual with the environment. Lave and Wegner put forward a more radical version of this theory in 1991 called ‘Situated Learning’.
Bandura conducted research into social learning and was interested in the possible effects that watching aggression on media or in real life could have upon children. He devised an experiment where children were put into different situations where they witnessed acts of aggression towards a five foot tall toy doll, the children were then observed to see if they did indeed imitate the aggressive behaviour. The Bobo doll studies in more detail The experiment was conducted using 96 children split into 4 groups of 24. All the children took part in the experiment individually but under different circumstances according to which group they were in. The first group were taken into a room and sat at a table with some toys.
In the Bobo Experiment (1961), there were a various number of children being observed to see how they would react to certain behaviors, more so aggression when observing it being displayed by someone else beating on a Bobo Doll. • A Bobo Doll is an inflatable toy that is about 5ft tall and is usually made of a soft vinyl or plastic. The Bobo Doll was most often painted to look like a clown. The doll was designed to be bottom-weighted so that if it were hit, it would fall over then immediately lift back up to a standing position. It first came on the market in the 1960’s.
Jacky Chen Psychology 1 Instructor: Professor Amanda Reflective Journal 1 9/26/2010 Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Bandura’s social cognitive theory is a learning theory based on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. While social cognitists agree that there is a fair amount of influence on development generated by learned behavior displayed in the environment in which one grows up, they believe that the individual person (and therefore cognition) is just as important in determining moral development .People learn by observing others, with the environment, behavior, and cognition all as the chief factors in influencing development. These three factors are not static or independent; rather, they are all reciprocal. According to social learning theory, modeling influences learning primarily through its informative functions. Observers retain a symbolic representation of the modeled behavior, which then serves as a blueprint for the behavior.
Displacement occurs when the ego takes out its feeling on a person or object that is not necessarily the initial cause of aggression but is seen as being less threatening. This has been linked to discrimination and prejudice, where people take their aggression out on groups that are less powerful. Evidence to support the frustration- aggression hypothesis comes from a study by Barker, Denbow and Lewin (’41). Groups of children were shown attractive toys for a long time but were not allowed to play with them so they became angry and frustrated. When children were let into the room with the toys they acted aggressively by fighting and deliberately breaking toys.
Differential association According to Askers social learning theory, the important point of social learning is differential association. This refers to how often a person interacts with others who either encourage or discourage violating the law. In the process of differential, social learning comes first. A person will interact and identify with the people and groups that will provide models for social reinforcement and behaviour. Definitions Definitions reflect the meanings that a person attaches to a person’s behaviour.
2. What applications of learning theory and goal-setting theory do you see in AELN’s leadership development program? It looks like AELN’s leadership program is based on a cognitive approach to learning. In fact, one group was given material to learn and reflect on their own (introverts), while the other group was learning through the process of exchanging ideas and interactions with other people (extroverts). The company also uses quantitative goals to measure responses for the program.
Let’s start things by describing what I learned about yourself in this exercise. I have learn numerous things about myself from who I am and personality wise to what makes me tic and how I am motivated. These will help me interact better within a group atmosphere. I have also learned about incentives and how to use extrinsic verses intrinsic types of rewards to motivate your group. The most interesting item to me was learning about “Locus of Control” and whether you or the members of your group possess a strong internal or external control.