Evaluation of the Social learning theory

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  • Created by: AliceTori
  • Created on: 16-04-17 14:22

Emphasises the importance of cognitive factors

A strength of the Social Learning theory is that it emphasises the importance of cognitive factors in the learning process.

Neither classical or operant conditioning can offer a comprehensive account of human learning on their own because cognitive factors are completely unaccounted for and are not taken into consideration.

Humans and animals store information about the behaviour of others and use this to make judgements about when it is appropriate to perform certain actions in relation to this.

Social Learning theory provides a more complete explanation of human learning than the behaviourist approach by recognising the role of the mediational process.

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Can account for cultural differences in behaviour

Social learning prinicples can account for how children learn from other people around them, as well as through the media which can help to explain how cultural norms are transmitted.

This has proven to be useful in understanding a range of behaviours such as how children come to understand their gender role by imitating role models.

However, in contrast, the biologial approach can only explain universal behaviours because human biological processes do not change with culture.

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Relies too heavily on evidence from controlled lab

Many of Bandura's ideas were developed through the observation of children's behaviour in lab settings and this raised the probelm of demand characteristics.

The main purpose of a Bobo doll is to hit it, so the children in the study may have been acting and behaving as they thought was expected of them.

This means that the research may not actually tell us how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.

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Underestimates the influence of biological factors

A consistent finding in the Bobo dol experiement (Bandura) was that the boys in the experiment always acted more aggressively than the girls regardless of the specifics of the experimental condition.

This could be explained by differences in levels of testosterone, a hormone that is present in greater quantities in boys than in girls and has been commonly linked to aggression.

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