COGNITIVE APPROACH - Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

8 important questions on COGNITIVE APPROACH - Social Learning Theory (Bandura)

What are the cognitive factors in Social Learning Theory?

  • Attention: Notice the model's behaviour, influenced by the model's attractiveness & authority.
  • Retention: Must remember the behaviour that's been observed.
  • Vicarious Reinforcement: Watching someone else imitating someone else and getting rewarded for a behaviour, making it more likely for observers to imitate the behaviour.
  • Potential: To reproduce an observed behaviour, observers must be physically and/or mentally able to carry it out.
  • Motivation: Learners must want to replicate the observed behaviour, understand potential outcomes.

What was a limitation of the study regarding the measurement of behavior?

The study measured behaviour in the short term only. Ethical concerns arose because children were exposed to aggression. There was limited generalizability to real-life situations.

What was the aim of Bandura’s Bobo doll study?

To investigate whether children learn aggressive behaviour by observing and imitating a model.
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What are the three conditions in the study?

  • Aggressive model condition: child watched an adult act aggressively toward the Bobo doll.
  • Non-aggressive model condition: child watched an adult play quietly and ignore the Bobo doll.
  • No-model control condition: child did not watch any adult model.

Describe the method used in Bandura’s Bobo doll study.

  • Laboratory experiment
  • Controlled, standardized procedure
  • Children were exposed to different model behaviours and then observed for aggression

How were the children grouped in addition to the conditions?

  • Children were also split by:
    • Same-sex model
    • Opposite-sex model

What were the variables in Bandura’s Bobo doll study?

  • Independent variable: Type of model behaviour
    • aggressive model
    • non-aggressive model
    • no model
  • Dependent variable: Child's aggressive behaviour toward the Bobo doll

What are some strengths of the study?

  • High control, so cause and effect could be established.
  • Standardized procedure, so the study was replicable.
  • Strong support for Social Learning Theory.
  • Useful real-world applications, such as understanding the effect of violent role models and media.

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