Social learning theory
(Social cognitive theory)
By Mr Daniel Hansson
Social Learning Theory
 According to Bandura,
personality is shaped by an
interaction among cognitive
factors, behaviors and
environmental factors. This
interaction is termed reciprocal
determinism.
Cognitive factors
 Our dispositional factors: beliefs,
expectations, values, intentions, social roles,
emotional makeup and biological and
genetic influences
Questions for discussion
1. What are you good at?
2. What are you not good at?
3. What are you bad at?
4. Take the locus of control test. We will
discuss the test in class.
Behavioural factors
 Our skills, practice and self efficacy
 Self efficacy: Similar to confidence. The
belief that one is capable of performing a
certain behaviour to attain a certain goal
Environmental factors
 Our social, political and cultural influences
and personal learning experiences
Explanation of learning
Learning comes from observing other’s
behaviour and observing the consequences of
the behaviour
1. Attention. The learner must attend the behaviour
2. Retention. The learner must remember the
behaviour
3. Motor reproduction. The learner must be able to
act what she has seen
4. Motivation. The learner must feel motivated to
demonstrate what he/she has learned
Factors that may influence learning
 Consistency. The model (the person the learner
is imitating) behaves in a way that is consistent
across situations
 Identification: The learner can identify with the
model
 Rewards/punishment. We can learn from the
consequences of the models’ behaviour. (vicarious
learning)
 Liking: The more we like the model, the more
likely we are to imitate his or her behaviour
Supporting/challenging studies




Bandura (1961)
Eron (1986)
Kimball and Zabrack (1986)
Becker (1995)
Bandura, Ross & Ross (1961)
 Children watched a
model being aggressive
to a bobo doll
 Children imitated the
model – were
aggressive to the bobo
doll
Evaluation of study
 Ethical problem of using children (cannot give
consent, were taught aggressive behaviour)
 Study was well controlled (children were matched
with children of equal aggression, age and same
gender)
 Children’s aggressive behaviour was quantitatively
measured by two observers (teacher of the
children and the model) through a one way mirror
glass
 Possible demand characteristics
 Problems of ecological validity and generalizability
Evaluation of theory - strengths
 Empirical support (e.g. studies, mirror
neuron research, animal observations of
social learning)
 Application (education, therapy)
 To understand learning, aggression,
depression, to predict behaviour
 Interactionistic – emphasizes dispositional,
situational and sociocultural factors
Evaluation of theory - limitations
 Empirical challenges (e.g.Kimball and
Zabrack 1986)
 Methodological problems of studies
 Not all behaviour is learned through social
learning. There are other types of learning
(operant conditioning, classical conditioning,
direct instruction) There is a hereditary
factor for many behaviours
Links to the bobo doll experiment
 http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.
htm (original article on the Bobo doll
experiment)
 http://www.holah.karoo.net/bandura.htm
(information on the Bobo doll experiment)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTB-IL3YIE (video about Bobo doll experiment)
Social learning activity
 Teach a partner a simple skill that you know how
to do
 Your partner must be unable to do the skill
 You must be able to teach the skill within a short
time span (5-10 minutes) and without harming
anyone
 At the end of the activity your partner should be
able to perform the skill. It is voluntary if he/she
wants to show it to the rest of the class
Examples of skills that you can
teach
 A simple nursery rhyme
 Song (you may only recite it, you do not
have to sing it)
 Poem
 Some vocabulary from another language
 Dance steps
 Computer game or program
 A simple motor movement
Discussion
 What cognitive, environmental and
behavioral factors affected the outcome and
success of learning the skill?
 How could teaching/learning have been
improved?