Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Behaviourist Approach and Social Learning Theory - Coggle Diagram
Behaviourist Approach and Social Learning Theory
Vicarious Reinforcement
Vicarious enforcement
- someone imitates a model because they observe the model being rewarded
Direct reinforcement
- learning through positive or negative reinforcement
Vicarious punishment
- someone is less likely to imitate the model because they observe the models behaviour being punished
Difference is
vicarious
is watching
somebody else
receive positive or negative reinforcement whereas
direct
is
you
learning through positive or negative reinforcement
Strength, plentiful support
Fox and Bailenson found that humans were more likely to imitate computer-generated ‘virtual humans’ who were similar to themselves
Rushton and Campbell found that same-sex modelling significantly increased the number of female observers who agreed to, and then actually did, donate blood
Myers confirmed the importance of vicarious learning for the effectiveness of workplace teams
Show support for different aspects of SLT, modelling and vicarious reinforcement adding credibility to the key principles of this theory
Operant Conditioning
Learn through association of an action and a behaviour, it becomes reinforced
Skinner's rats
-Skinner used animal research because, as a behaviourist, Skinner believed humans and animals learned through the same mechanisms and skinner was not concerned with testing mental processes
When the rat stepped on the lever, it received a positive reinforcement, therefore the rat repeated the behaviour again
The rat received electric shocks although when it stood on the lever, the electric shocks stopped. Therefore this negative reinforcement meaning the rat was more likely to repeat the beahaviour
Positive and Negative reinforcement and Punishment
Positive reinforcement
- When after completing an action, you are rewarded with a reward, meaning you are more likely to repeat the behaviour
Negative reinforcement
- When you action are reinforced by taking away something negative and therefore you are more less to repeat the behaviour
Punishment
- Association is made between an action and a negative or bad outcome, which makes the person less likely to repeat their behaviour
Limitation
Over simplified the learning process
By reducing behaviour to such simple components, behaviourists may have ignored an important influence on learning- that of human thought
Cognitive approach and social learning theory have drawn attention to the mental processes involved in learning
learning is more complex and observable behaviour alone and that private mental processes are also essential
Strength
Well-controlled research by Skinner and Pavlov
Focused on the measurements of observable behaviour with highly controlled lab setting
knot basic stimulus response units, all other possible extraneous variables were removes
Can establish a cause and effect relationship
For instance, Skinner was able to clearly demonstrates how reinforcement influence an animal behaviour happens
emphasising the importance of scientific processes such as objectivity and replication
Assumptions
1) Psychology should study
observable behaviour only
, so that psychology is based on
empirical evidence
2) Most of our behaviours are
learned through experience
as we interact with out environment
3)
Humans and animals share the same learning mechanisms
, behaviourists justify animal research as an easier way to reach conclusions about humans behaviour
Classical Conditiong
Pavolv dog's
Neutral Stimulus- Bell
Unconditioned stimulus- Food leading to an unconditioned response of salivation
Association between the bell and the food
Therefore when the dog hears the bell, it salivates before it has even seen the food- Due to classical conditioning, the bell became a conditioned stimulus or CS , because it caused a conditioned response.
Classical conditioning is a process of learning, where a neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus, through repeated association with an unconditioned stimulus.
Association- something neutral becomes associated with something that already makes you feel a certain way
Limitation, methodology
Badura made extensive use of lab experiments which are highly controlled and artificial, and contrived in its very nature.
Meaning that there is the risk of demand characteristics, as the children might have picked up cues from the environment
Guessing the aim and changing their behaviour accordingly, lowering the internal validity of the study
May have been acting aggressively towards the BoBo doll because that is what they though was expected, not the genuine learnt beahviour.
Assumptions
1) Social learning theory is that mediational processes are involved in observational or social learning
2) Recognises the importance of cognitive processes - mediational processes - and rejects the notion that learning is purely the outcome of a stimulus-response loop
3) Argued classical and operant, cannot account for all learning. There are important mental processes between response and stimulus
Mediational Processes
Imitation
- Mental processes like attention and memory are involved in determining whether or not an observer imitates behaviour
Bridge
between the behaviourist learning theory and the cognitive approach because it focused on
how mental factors
are involved in learning
Mental factors
mediate
in the learning process to determine whether a
response is acquired
Attention
- The extent to which we notice certain behaviours
Retention
- How well behaviour is remembered
Motor Reproduction
– The ability of the observer to person behaviour
Motivation
- The will to perform the behaviour, which is often determines by whether the behaviour will be rewarded or punished
Behaviourist Approach
Watson said that experimental psychology should be based on
empirical evidence
For psychology to be an
experimental science
, it must be based on empirical evidence, which means that it is not possible to study mental processes
Observational Learning
Observational learning is when we learn by observing and copying or imitating someone else’s behaviour
Bandura
1st Group, showed the most aggressive behaviour towards the bobo doll- throwing the doll around the room, punching in and hitting it with a hammer
Little aggressive behaviour between the other two groups although there was more aggressive behavoour in the group that had not adult than the group the observed a non aggressive adults
Showed that children could learn behaviours by observing adults
Support for observational learning and social learning theory
They found that boys were more likely to repeat the behaviour of the same gender
Boys imitated same-sex models more than girls. Girls imitated more physical aggression if they saw male models, and more verbal aggression if they saw female models
A learner is more likely to imitate behaviour if they identify with the model
1961, BoBo doll experiment
36 females and males
Three IV groups
1st Group, observed an adult being aggressive towards the BoBo doll
2nd Group, observed an adult being non-aggressive towards the BoBo doll
3rd Group, had not adult and were the control group
Controlled the IV in an artificial controlled environment, Conducting a lab experiment
The adults left the room and bandura watched how much aggression was given to the bobo doll by the children
The independent variable was the level of aggression of the adult in the room
Bandura Further research
Children who observed adults being rewards (praised) for their aggressive behaviour, were more likely to imitate the behaviour than those who observed adults punished
Support for vicarious reinforcement
To test how vigorous reinforcement affects behaviour
Similar study, three levels of Iv
1st group observed aggressive behaviour reawrded with positive reinforcement
2nd groupd observed aggressive abhviour faced with punishment
3rd group observed aggressive behaviour with no consequence