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Approaches: Social learning theory and Behaviourist approach - Coggle…
Approaches:
Social learning theory and Behaviourist approach
SLT AO1
Albert Bandura (1977) proposed SLT:
Agrees with behaviourist that much of our behaviour is learned from experience but unlike behaviourism the learning (attention, retention) and performance (motor reproduction, motivation) of behaviour don't need to occur together
We learn through observation and imitation and can occur directly (conditioning) but also indirectly
Vicarious reinforcement
= Reinforcement which is not directly experiences but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for a behaviour
Four meditational processes:
Attention
- Whether or not you notice a behaviour
Retention
- How well you remember a behaviour/impression
Motor reproduction
- The ability of the observer to perform the behaviour
Motivation
- The extent to which you want to perform a behaviour
Two types of behaviour:
Identification
- When an observer associates themselves with a role model and wants to be like them
Modelling
= Imitating the behaviour of a role model
Bandura et al (1961) Bobo doll experiment:
There was a control group where children watched a video of a non-violent adult and an experimental group where children watched a video of an adult being violent towards a Bobo doll
Found that the control group played in a non-violent way while the experimental were violent toward the doll and were creative with their violence
Bandura found that the children imitated the adults violence which provided evidence for meditational processes
Bandura and Walters (1963) experiment:
Control group who watched a video of a violent adult but no consequence, Experimental group watched a video of a violent adult who is punished and experimental 2 group watched a video of a violent adult who is praised for behaviour
Found that the Experimental group had no violent behaviour, Control group were second most violent and the Experimental 2 group were most violent
Provides evidence of vicarious reinforcement that children observed both the behaviour and consequences which affected their motivation to imitate
Behaviourist AO1
Assumptions of the behaviourist approach:
We are all born as a blank slate
All behaviour is learnt and can be explained through classical and operant conditioning
We are a product of our environment (nurture)
Behaviour should be investigated using lab experiments
Two forms of learning:
Classical
conditioning (Pavlov 1927) - learning by association
Operant
conditioning (Skinner 1953) - learning through consequence
Positive reinforcement
- When a reward is given after behaviour
Negative reinforcement
- When an unpleasant consequence results in not repeating a behaviour and getting a reward
Punishment
- When another person enforces an unpleasant consequence which results in not repeating a behaviour
Pavlov (1927):
A dog naturally salivated (UCR) at food (UCS)
Rang a bell (NS) before giving the dog food (UCS) - no salivation
Rang the bell at the same time as the food - salivation
Dog salivates (CR) just at the bell (CS)
Pavlov was able to show how a neutral stimulus can trigger a new learned response (CR) through association
Skinner (1953):
Conducted experiments with rats in specially designed cages called Skinner boxes
Every time the rat activated a lever within the box it was rewarded with a food pellet - animal would then continue behaviour (positive reinforcement)
Skinner showed how rats could be conditioned to perform the same behaviour to avoid an unpleasant stimulus like an electric shock (negative reinforcement)
Variable ratio
- In operant conditioning if no food pellet is delivered immediately after lever is pressed the rat will stop pressing the lever - extinguished
If the rat got rwarded every time it activated the lever then the rat would become full - extinguished
Behaviourists discovered different patterns of reinforcement had different effects on the speed of learning and on extinction
SLT - AO3
Strength:
SLT principles have been applied to a range of real life behaviours and can explain cultural differences
SLT principles such as modelling, imitation and reinforcement can account for how children learn from others around them, including the media which explains how cultural norms are transmitted through particular societies
Allows us to understand a range of behaviours which increases the value of the approach as it accounts for real life behaviour
Strength:
SLT recognises the importance of cognitive factors in learning as classical/operant conditioning cannot offer a sufficient account of learning
Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about it when it is appropriate to perform certain actions
Suggests that SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of meditational processes compared to behaviourism
Strength:
SLT is less deterministic than behaviourism
Bandura emphasised reciprocal determinism, in the sense that we are not merely influences by our external environment but we also exert influence upon it, Through behaviours we choose to perform
This element of choice suggests there is some free will in the way we behave and we have control over our actions
Limitation:
There is an over-reliance on evidence from lab studies
Many of Bandura's ideas were developed through observation of young children's behaviour in lab settings - could have been that the children hit the bobo doll because they wanted to please the adult experimenter - demand characteristics
Therefore, it lack mundane realism and the research that supports the approach tells us little about how children learn aggression in everyday life
Limitation:
A weakness with SLT is that it ignores the influence of biological factors on SLT
It may be that boys in Bandura's study were more aggressive than girls due to hormonal factors such as having higher levels of testosterone
This influence is not accounted for by SLT - For example, gender seems to be a much more complex process than just being learnt through imitation
Behaviourist AO3
Strength:
Behaviourism made psychology a science by focusing on the measurement of observable behaviour within highly controlled lab settings
By breaking down behaviour into basic stimulus-response units other variables were removed allowing cause and effect relationships
Skinner demonstrated how reinforcement influenced an animals behaviour
Therefore, behaviourist experiments have scientific credibility
Strength:
Operant conditioning is the basis of token economy systems which are successfully used in prisons and psychiatric wards, which rewards appropriate behaviour with token exchanges for privileges
Systematic counter conditioning can be used to condition the patient to feel relaxed in the presence of the phobia stimulus - has shown to improve phobic symptoms of up to 33 months after treatment - effective so the principles it is based on are correct
Therefore, the behaviourist approach has made a positive contribution to society and is based on concepts which have value in real life
Limitation:
Presents humans as being machine like (passive responders to their environment - conditioning states that our behaviours are reflex actions to what is happening in our environment)
Undermines complexity of human beings, ignoring factors such as cognition or emotion which drive our behaviour
This is a limitations the behaviourist approach is a reductionist view as it doesn't account for other external cognitive factors
Limitation:
Suggests that all of our behaviour is determined by past experiences which have been conditioned- Skinner suggested everything we do is the sum total of our reinforcement history
Suggests we do not consciously control ourselves and undermines the notion of free will and that we choose how to behave
Therefore, suggests that free will is an illusion and ignores the influence of conscious decision making processes on behaviour