Evaluation: Social Learning Theory
- Created by: theninjaemu
- Created on: 18-02-17 16:50
View mindmap
- Evaluation: Social Learning Theory
- S: Emphasises importance of cognitive factors in learning
- Cognitive factors are omitted in classical and operant conditioning
- Humans and animals make judgements about when to perform a behaviour based on stored information about others
- SLT provides a more complete explanation than behaviourism, as it recognises the role of mediational processes
- S: Accounts for cultural differences in behaviour
- Principles account for how children learn around them, as well as through the media
- Explains how cultural norms are transmitted
- Proven useful in understanding behaviours such as how children come to understand their gender roles through imitation.
- Contrast to the biological approach which can only explain universal behaviours as human biological processes do not change with culture
- Principles account for how children learn around them, as well as through the media
- S: Less determinist than behaviourism
- Reciprocal determinism- we are influenced by our environment and also exert an influence on it through our chosen behviours
- Suggests there is some free will in the way we behave
- A more realistic and flexible position than what is suggested by behaviourism- it recognises the role we play in shaping our own environment
- L: Relies too heavily on evidence from lab studies
- Bandura's lab experiments raise the issue of demand characteristics
- The main puropse of a bobo doll is to hit it, so children may have expected that of them
- The research may tell us very little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life
- L: Underestimates influence of biological factors
- Boys showed more aggression than girls in the bobo doll studies, regardless of the experimental condition
- May be due to differences in testosterone levels which are higher in boys
- Bandura may have underplayed the important influence of biological factors on social learning
- S: Emphasises importance of cognitive factors in learning
Comments
No comments have yet been made