Social Learning
Theory
The Individual vs. the
Environment
Roots in Traditional
Learning Themes
You are what you have experienced
Learning occurs via outcomes
– (rewards and punishments)
– Best to study animals
Behaviorism
B.F. Skinner
Behaviorism
Purest version of learning theories
Rewards & punishment =
conditioning
Emphasis on scientific rigor
Only replicable observation counts
How Behaviorists View the
Function of the Brain
Are Rats Little People?
Social Learning Theory
1960’s
No direct reward necessary
-Allows for thinking !
-Part of cognitive revolution in
Scientific psychology
Albert Bandura
Two Versions of Social Learning
Theory
Vicarious Learning - others get
rewarded or punished in view of the
learner
Pure Modeling - no one gets
rewarded or punished
Who Do We Model?
Parent
s
Pop
Star
s
Political
Leader
s
Historic
al
Figures
Problem
Many anti-social role models
Be a Canadian Hero
Be Violent
Be A Crook Like Tony Soprano
Be a Jack-Ass
Even Cartoons!
South Park; Beavis & Butthead
Be Skinny
Critique of Learning Theories
No big picture of the person
Too much focus on situations
Ignore biological factors
Mechanical -- No free will
Determinism vs. Free Will
Determinism says that all behavior
follows scientific laws
Only Humanistic Theories have free
will
No room for free will in learning
equation: S -------> R
Life Is A Pool Table
Ayn Ran
Laissez-faire Capitalism
Strongly individualist
opposition to state intervention into
personal, social or economic affairs
anti-Communist.
exalted American values of rational
egoism and individualism.
strong opposition to mysticism
one of the three founding mothers of
modern American libertarianism
Ayn Ran Believed
Psychology is dangerous to society
Takes away responsibility for social
behavior such as in the case of:
– Violence
– Communicable disease control
Case of Robert K.
Robert K. was found guilty by a jury
of his peers of molesting several
children for ten years. They included
his own daughter.
Mitigating Factors
He and all of his siblings had
psychological problems (e.g.,
depression; sexual disturbances)
He was an alcoholic
He was poor and uneducated
A brain tumor was discovered; after
removal, he no longer molested
He had been sexually abused by both
of his own parents
What would you recommend
as punishment and why?
Was Ayn Rand Right ?
Those who assume free like Ayn
Rand will assign the maximum
punishment
Determinists believe that punishment
should be handed out in accordance
with the circumstances that
surrounded the case
What do you believe?
How Would You Intervene?
Determinist?
Free Willer?