Social Learning Theory Perspective Bandura’s Experiment Factors affecting imitation Applying social learning theory

Social Learning Theory Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment Bandura performed an experiment which he said showed that children learnt from imitating others, especially significant people, people they admired, and people who they perceived were rewarded for behaviour. Read PP03 for experiment details

Social Learning Theory For learning to take place 5 factors must exist: Availability Attention Retention Reproduction Motivation

Social Learning Theory Availability 1) Availability - the behaviour to be learnt must be available. This means it must be performed somewhere for the individual to see. Where do you think behaviour can be learnt from? Where is behaviour seen by children? TV, siblings, friends, parents, school teachers, church, clubs eg brownies etc, cartoons etc.

Social Learning Theory Attention 2)Attention We must notice the behaviour or we will not be able to learn it. Discuss what sort of things will influence whether a child pays attention or not to a model. The amount of attention we pay is influenced by the characteristics of the model. If they model is attractive, prestigious or powerful we are more likely to pay attention than if the model is unattractive, of low status and with little power.

Social Learning Theory Attention (continued) 2) Attention (Continued) Click each of the buttons 1 2 3 Why do you think Chris Tarrant and other celebrities were used in these adverts? Chris Tarrant

Social Learning Theory Retention 3) Retention The behaviour must be retained, ie the individual must be old enough or interested enough to be capable of keeping information about this behaviour in their memory. What examples can you think of where a child will not be able to keep behaviour in their memory?

Social Learning Theory Reproduction 4) Reproduction the individual must be capable of actually performing the behaviour – we need specific skills. What example can you think of? The toddler does not have the skills to reproduce the dance moves, but she has a go! You Tube Link

Social Learning Theory Motivation Discuss 5) Motivation Children may have learnt the behaviour and are able to reproduce it, but does not meant that they will. They need to be MOTIVATED to imitate the behaviour. When might children be motivated to imitate behaviour? When might they NOT be motivated to imitate behaviour? If it’s not deemed cool by their peers. If they stand to lose something by doing it – eg their life! When people say “if you’re friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it too” they are refering to social learning theory. How can we stop people doing dangerous things? 3000 crimes committed by under 10s last year – they are learning this behaviour from family and peers. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home – why is home so good? It’s where we feel comfortable, it’s where we often feel safe, even if that is a messed up place to be. When people are abused, they see this behaviour as normal, this is why it is often repeated…. An example is where we learn our responses from our parents. Peer pressure can motivate us. If we have acceptance we feel motivated. When we are teenagers we often rebel agains’t our parents and so might get piercings and tatoos to annoy them…. We are maybe following our friends or movie stars instead.

Social Learning Theory Watch and Use PP04 to discuss and apply social learning theory to these video clips. Please answer all the questions on the handout. The music and lyrics could affect their language (swearing) their behaviour towards women, it could affect them to fight (all according to social learning theory). It might affect them in a good way – eg getting exercise from dancing. Therefore, what positive impact can role models have on behaviour of children? Why are people like david beckham and ian wright used in commercials.

Social Learning Theory In groups of 3 or 4, create a poster to answer one of the following and present your work to your peers: Explain how nursery workers could use social learning theory to teach the children to be non-discriminatory. Research a celebrity who has engaged in negative health behaviour (eg illegal drug use etc). Explain the implications of this to young people and children according to social learning theory. (Don’t forget to use the 5 factors which effect imitation) Explain why positive role models should be used in health promotion campaigns.