1. Learning Approach- Questions
What is a main assumption of the behaviourist approach?
What is conditioning?
What type of conditioning was investigated by John Watson and Rayner?
Who were the participants in Pavlov’s research?
In Pavlov’s research what was the unconditioned response?
In Pavlov’s research what was the conditioned stimulus?
Define classical conditioning
Who researched into operant conditioning?
Define operant conditioning
Name the three aspects of operant conditioning.
If a rat receives a shock every time it presses a leaver what aspect of operant conditioning is being tested?
What is negative reinforcement?
Extension: Provide one criticism of the behaviourist approach
Extension: Provide a real life application of the behaviourist approach
Learning Approach- Questions

2. Positive reinforcement :
Match the definitions
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are pleasant when they stop. Aspirin to get rid of a headache. In simple terms, it is behaviour that makes something unpleasant go away.
Positive reinforcement :
Negative reinforcement :
Anything which has the effect of decreasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are unpleasant when happen
Anything which has the effect of increasing the likelihood of the behaviour being repeated by using consequences that are pleasant when they happen i.e. food for the rat/pigeon. Giving a child sweets when they clean their room.
Punishment :
A pigeon pecks a button to stop an electric shock being administered to his feet.
A rat taps a lever to gain a food pellet.
Each time a rat presses a button an electric shock is delivered.
On your handout, identify whether these statements are referring to positive/negative reinforcement or punishment

3. Apply it: Big bang theory
Answer the following…
Which type of conditioning is used in the clip?
How is it being used?
Extension: can you think of when operant conditioning is used in the real world?

4. Schedules of reinforcement
When and how often we reinforce a behaviour can have a significant impact on the strength and rate of the response.
2 types of schedules
Continuous reinforcement: the desired behaviour is reinforced every single time it occurs.
Partial (variable-ratio) reinforcement: the response is reinforced only part of the time.
According to Skinner which type of reinforcement is the strongest in reinforcing behaviour?
Could discuss relevance to gambling here as they may study this at A2, and how even when we don’t win every time people still gamble.

5. Bullet point in your pairs, how you might answer this question
Exam focus
A. Sarah is terrified of lifts because she was trapped in one for 5 hours. She cannot go in a lift now.
B. Jerry ‘s mum awards him sweets for cleaning their pet hamster’s cage. The next day, Jerry’s mum finds him cleaning out the hamster cage again.
How can the behaviours described in A and B above be explained by the behaviourist approach? [6 marks]
Task:
Bullet point in your pairs, how you might answer this question

6. Answer: re-write the paragraph to improve on this answer
Sarah has learned to fear lifts because of conditioning. Originally, the lift was neutral; however, Sarah has now formed an attachment between the lift and being trapped, which would result in fear. Consequently, the lift produces a conditioned response of fear, which explains why Sarah is now afraid of lifts. Jerry is cleaning out the Hamsters cage because of conditioning. Jerry has been given sweets for cleaning the pet hamster’s cage, which is a form of reinforcement. This can explain why Jerry’s mum found him cleaning out the hamster cage

7. Sarah has learned to fear lifts because of classical conditioning
Sarah has learned to fear lifts because of classical conditioning. Originally, the lift was a neutral stimulus; however, Sarah has now formed an association between the lift and being trapped, which would result in an unconditioned response of fear. Consequently, the lift has become a conditioned stimulus which produces a conditioned response of fear, which explains why Sarah is now afraid of lifts.
Jerry is cleaning out the Hamsters cage because of operant conditioning. Jerry has been given sweets (a reward) for cleaning the pet hamster’s cage, which is a form of positive reinforcement (something desirable given). This can explain why Jerry’s mum found him cleaning out the hamster cage again as he is likely to repeat the behaviour in the future to gain further rewards.
Exam Hint: While students typically perform well on questions relating to classical and operant conditioning, students need to ensure that they do not muddle the key terms (e.g. neutral stimulus). For example, some students do not realise that ‘being trapped’ is an unconditioned stimulus which leads to fear which is the unconditioned response. 

8. Exam focus
Explain how the work of Skinner and Pavlov have contributed to our understanding of human behaviour (6)

9. Ivan Pavlov studied the role of classical conditioning in behaviour
Ivan Pavlov studied the role of classical conditioning in behaviour. This is learning by association. Pavlov discovered that dogs will salivate to the sound of a bell if it is repeatedly paired with food. The dogs had associated the sound of the bell with food. This has contributed to our understanding of the development of phobias as Watson used Pavlov’s ideas to show how an infant could develop a fear of a white rat if its presence was repeatedly paired with a loud noise. This shows that phobias can develop through an association of two stimuli. B.F. Skinner studied how the consequences of behaviour can influence whether a behaviour will be repeated or not. He found that if a behaviour was positively reinforced (something desirable given) behaviour would be repeated. Also behaviour would be repeated if it led to something unpleasant being taken away (negative reinforcement). But if a behaviour was punished (something unpleasant given) the behaviour would stop. This has contributed to our understanding of positively reinforcing desirable behaviour in schools and prisons and, although Skinner thought this was less useful, to use punishment to reduce criminal behaviour.

10. Social Learning Theory
The approaches

11. Video Watch the advertisement What does this suggest about behaviour?
Negative aswell as positive impact.

12. Learning objectives
Explain the key assumptions of the Social Learning theory
Outline and evaluate the research and main findings of Bandura et al

13. SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Mind-Behaviour-Environment
The cognitive processes involved in learning.
BEHAVIOURISM
FOCUS ON HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IN RESPONSE TO REWARD/PUNISHMENT
COGNITIVE
FOCUS ON THE INTERNAL MENTAL PROCESS BETWEEN STIMULUS AND RESPONSE
Learning occurs from OBSERVING others.
The mind, behaviour and the environment ALL play a role in learning behaviour
This deals with the major criticism of Behaviourist approach, which ignores mental processes, by taking account of cognitive processes. 13

14. What is the Social Learning Theory?
Developed by Bandura
Children learn through observing others
Learning occurs through:
Identification
Modeling
Vicarious reinforcement
Imitation
SLT take into account cognitive thought processes. These mental factors mediate in the learning process to determine if a response is acquired (mediational processes)
Learning can occur simply through observing others – also known as MODELS – in our environment
Behaviour can be explained not just by our own direct experience, but through our observations of the experiences of other people. Social learning is learning through observation, imitation and modelling of another person.
We learn through MODELLING - Modelling involves learning through the observation of other people (models), which may lead to imitation (repetition) of the behaviour.
Unlike classical and operant conditioning, SLT takes into account the thoughts and mental process of an individual. Therefore, while it is a behaviourist theory it could be seen to have cognitive aspects.
Have you ever observed a behaviour that you have then copied? What makes you want to copy some people rather than others?

15. Task Define the following key terms
Identification
Imitation
Vicarious reinforcement
Modelling
Mediational processes

16. Key term definitions
Social learning theory – A learning theory that states that children learn from observing behaviour from others.
Identification – wanting to be like another person
Imitation – the copying of the behaviour from another individual.
Vicarious reinforcement – learning from the observation of behaviours in others that have been reinforced.
Modelling – when a role model carries out a behaviour that is copied.
Mediational processes These are cognitive processes that occur between observation and imitation of the behaviour.

17. Vicarious Learning
Bandura stated that we are influenced not just by the behaviour, but by the consequences for the person we are observing.
We observe and learn about behaviour by observing others being reinforced or punished
learning NOT a results of direct reinforcement, rather an individuals observation of another person’s experiences
Bandura argued that children observe and learn about the consequences of aggressive behaviour by watching others be reinforced or punished (vicarious learning). Children witness many examples of aggressive behaviour at home or at school as well as on television and in films. By observing the consequences of aggressive behaviour for those who use it, children gradually learn something about what is considered appropriate and effective conduct. Thus they learn the behaviour through observation, and whether the behaviour is worth repeating. Bandura claimed that in order for social learning to take place, children must form mental representations of events in their social environments. They must also be able to anticipate expected rewards and punishments. Children will display a behaviour provided the anticipated rewards outweigh the anticipated punishments.
Once a child has observed and imitated a behaviour, this behaviour can then be maintained through direct reinforcement (operant conditioning).

18. SLT: application to media violence
Children observe and learn from role models
Live models (family, friends)
Symbolic models (through media: TV, films, games)
They learn which behaviours are worth repeating
They have a mental representation of events they observe, and can anticipate reward and punishment.
SYMBOLLIC MODELLING is considered to have a greater effect on cultures where media is widely available.

19. Role models
We are more likely to imitate behaviour if the model we are observing is
Same age
Same gender
High social status
Respected/admired
However, Bandura stated that while these four processes explained how behaviour was imitated, there are other factors which can increase the likelihood of behaviour being imitated.
The more similar the role model is to the observer, the more likely that the behaviour will be imitated

20. Bandura (1977) 4 stages (mediational processes) to social learning
Attention
The individual notices someone in their environment
Retention
The individual remembers what they have observed
Motor Reproduction
The individual replicates the behaviour shown by the model
Motivation
The individual seeks to demonstrate the behaviour that they have observed if it thought to be rewarded.
Bandura identifies four conditions that are necessary for an individual to successfully model the behaviour of someone else:
Attention: the observer pays attention to the role model.
The observer identifies with the role model and sees the behaviour the role model is doing (observation) 
Rentention of the observed behaviour. The capacity to remember the behaviour
The observer retains the information they saw, and then imitation occurs.
the ability to replicate the behaviour that the model has just demonstrated. This means that the observer has to be able to replicate the action, which could be a problem with a learner who is not ready developmentally to replicate the action. For example, little children have difficulty doing complex physical motion
Reproduction of the target behaviour: (if the behaviour is beyond our capability we will not be able to reproduce it)
 This is where the observer copies the behaviour they have seen – this may depend on an individual’s abilities in doing the behaviour.
Motivation to imitate the observed behaviour (a reward we anticipate we will receive if we reproduce the behaviour.)
(Imitation may also be affected by motivation – if a reward has been witnessed after the modeling it is more likely the behaviour will be repeated)
learners must want to demonstrate what they have learned. Remember that since these four conditions vary among individuals, different people will reproduce the same behaviour differently
Vicarious reinforcement is when individuals learn by watching the consequences of others e.g. a child is misbehaving and sees other children who are behaving getting sweets, they will then copy this behaviour so they too can get the reward.

21. Application of Social Learning Theory
Jane dyes her hair red because her favourite celebrity has done so.
First Jane paid attention to what the celebrity had done
Jane then retained this information
Jane was capable of reproducing the behaviour of dying her hair
Jane was motivated to dye her hair red and did so.
Can you think of other examples

22. Application of vicarious reinforcement
Shelby is five years old and is watching her
favourite cartoon.
The cartoon shows a young
girl helping her mother with the house work
and the mother praises the daughter for
doing so. After Shelby then offers to help her
mother with the house work.
Shelby is not receiving any DIRECT reinforcement to persuade her to help her mother.
DISCUSS: Why does Shelby do this?
She observed the girl in the cartoon being praised for her behaviour and is now motivated to replicate this behaviour herself in order to gain similar praise

23. Examples of reinforcement and punishment
1 - An example of positive reinforcement 2 - An example of negative reinforcement 3 - An example of punishment 4 - An example of vicarious reinforcement Each person will create an example which will then be given to an individual on another table who needs to use the same example but change it depending on their table focus.

24. Core study Bandura, Ross ans Ross (1961)
Aim: To investigate whether exposure to a real-life aggressive model increases aggression in children.

25. SLT: Exam question
A psychologist carried out a study of social learning. As part of the procedure, he showed children aged 4-5 years a film of a 4 year-old boy stroking a puppy. Whilst the children watched the film, the psychologist commented on how kind the boy was. After the children had watched the film, the psychologist brought a puppy into the room and watched to see how the children behaved with the puppy.

26. SLT: Exam question Content – outline:
learning that involves observation, imitation / copying / modelling, identification and vicarious reinforcement
acknowledges role of cognition in learning, eg attention, motivation etc.
Possible applications:
 in the procedure children observed the actions of the boy in the film
 the psychologist exposed the children to a role model, the boy
using role model / boy of the same age encouraged identification
after exposure the children would model / imitate the boy’s behaviour, stroking the puppy
the psychologist’s comments acted as vicarious reinforcement making learning more likely
the learning might not be outwardly demonstrated but could still have been internalised (because this is social learning and therefore need not be overtly demonstrated at the time).

27. Bandura's Research

29. Method: Tested 72 children enrolled at stanford university nursery
36 girls/36 boys: between ages of 3-5
Children were matched for physical and verbal aggression from ratings made by the experimenter and nursery school teacher.

30. Method: Stage one of the experiment
children were brought individually to the experimental room by the experimenter.
The room was set out for play
The model was invited to come in.
The child was placed in a corner of the room and shown how to design a picture
The model was taken to the opposite corner (containing a table, chair, tinker toy, mallet and a 5 foot inflatable bobo doll.
The children could only watch the model.
Stage one of the experiment
children were brought individually to the experimental room by the experimenter. The room was set out for play and the activities were chosen because they had been noted to have high interest for nursery school children, and included a Bobo doll.

31. Stage two of the experiment
In the non-aggressive condition, the model ignored Bobo and assembled the tinker-toys in a quiet, gentle manner.
In the aggressive condition the model began by assembling the tinker-toys, but after one minute turned to Bobo and was aggressive to the doll in a very stylised and distinctive way.
After ten minutes the experimenter entered and took the child to a new room.
Stage two of the experiment
There, the child was given toys to play with, which were eventually taken away.
In stage two the child was subjected to ‘mild aggression arousal’. The child was taken to a room with relatively attractive toys. As soon as the child started to play with the toys the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter’s very best toys and she had decided to reserve them for the other children.

32. Stage three of the experiment
Children were then taken to another experimental room and allowed to play freely for 20 minutes with aggressive and non aggressive toys and a 3 foot bobo doll.
Behaviour was rated by observing through a one way mirror.

33. Results
Children exposed to an aggressive role model displayed significantly more direct imitation than children exposed to the non-aggressive model.
On average 12.7 aggressive acts were imitated from the aggressive model
Girls were more likely to engage in verbal aggression and boys more likely to engage in physical aggression
Watching an aggressive role model had a greater effect on boys than on girls
Boys were more likely to imitate aggressive acts from the same sex role model than girls
Boys copied 25.8 aggressive acts when the model was male
On average girls copied 5.5 aggressive acts if the model was female and 7.2 aggressive acts if the model was male.
When the male aggressive model was observed an average of
16.5 aggressive acts were copied compared to 8.95 aggressive acts copied from the female aggressive role model

34. Conclusion
The findings support Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. That is, children learn social behaviour such as aggression through the process of observation learning – through watching the behaviour of another person.
Children exposed to an aggressive model are likely to display aggression and to imitate aggressive acts.

35. Task…fill in the spaces
Social learning theory was developed mainly by Bandura and Walters and suggests that much behaviour is learnt from the environment through reinforcement and the process of modeling. This process involves observation of other people (models), which may lead to imitation if the behaviour to be imitated leads to desirable consequences for the model (vicarious reinforcement).
Learning can occur without a change in behaviour. Behaviourists say that learning has to be represented by a permanent change in behaviour, in contrast social learning theorists say that because people can learn through observation alone, their learning may not necessarily be shown in their performance. Learning may or may not result in a behaviour change.
According to Bandura(1977) there are four requirements for observational learning to take place
Attention: the observer focuses on the model
Retention: the observer must be able to retain a memory of the observed behaviour
Reproduction: the observer must be able to reproduce the observed behaviour
Motivation: the observer must be motivated to reproduce the observed behaviour. This could be in the hope of a reward.

36. Evaluation

37. Social learning- Evaluation
Social learning theory provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning than behaviourism because…………………
Much of the research is based on laboratory studies which may involve demand characteristics. This is problematic because……
The Social learning theory underestimates the influence of…………………….This is a limitation because
SLT can explain gender differences across…..which is useful because………….
The SLT is ….. Deterministic than behaviourism because…………………. This is an advantage because……………..

38. Social learning theory provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning than behaviourism because…………………
It emphasises the importance of cognitive factors in learning. Neither classical or operant conditioning can offer a comprehensive account on human learning because cognitive factors such as the mediational processes are ignores. By taking into account these processes which cannot be demonstrated with animal research, SLT provides a more complete explanation of human learning than the behaviourist approach

39. 2. Much of the research is based on laboratory studies which may involve demand characteristics. This is problematic because……
The approach relies to heavily on evidence from controlled lab studies. This is evident in Bandura’ (1961) Bobo doll study. The main purpose of the bobo doll is to hit it. The children in the study may have been behaving as they thought was expected. Thus the research may tell us little about how children actually learn aggression in everyday life.

40. 3. The Social learning theory underestimates the influence of Biological factors. This is a limitation because…
The SLT sees behaviour as environmentally determined whereas some behaviours may be innate. For example, a consistent finding in the bobo doll experiment was that boys showed more aggression than girls regardless of the specifics of experimental condition. This may be explained by differences in the levels of testosterone, which is present in larger doses in males compared to females and has been liked to aggression. Both the SLT and Bandura may have underestimated the important the impact of biological, heredity or maturational factors on behaviours. Evidence from these areas of research does show they do have an impact.

41. 4. SLT can explain gender differences across cultures which is useful because………….
It helps us to understand a range of behaviours and how cultural norms are transmitted. It helps us to understands how children learn from parents and each other and also how the media can influence our behaviour.
This is in contrast with the biological approach who explain universal behaviours because human biological processes do not change with behaviour.

42. 5. The SLT is less Deterministic than behaviourism because is suggests that there is an element of free will in the way we behave. This is an advantage because it offers a more realistic and flexible position than is suggested by the behaviourist approach as it recognises the role we play in shaping our environment.

43. Difficulty demonstrating cause and effect – although Bandura research controlled variables and demonstrated behaviour was imitated it is difficult to show cause and effect in real life Benefits of the experimental approach to investigate learning and issues with experimental evidence that might affect the validity of the results and therefore the conclusions drawn. Provides explanations that relate to behaviours such as aggression and intellectual development. mediating cognitive factors have to be inferred so cannot measure extent of their influence SLT does not explain cognitive processes, leaving this to cognitive psychologists can explain learning of outward behaviours, SLT is not so able to explain the learning of abstract notions, eg fairness, justice etc which cannot be observed directly

44. Application to real life cases…
Teenager obsessed with TV killer Dexter stabbed and dismembered girlfriend
Steven Miles jailed for 25 years for ‘chilling, blood-curdling’ attack on Elizabeth Thomas, 17, at his Surrey family home
“This was a truly gruesome killing ripped from the pages of a hit TV script. The evidence points to the defendant trying to emulate the actions of the character Dexter, who he idolised. The case is a sad testament to the perils of how young people can become entrenched in modern TV blockbusters involving violence which shockingly led to a copycat killing in real life.”
Can violence and aggression be learnt through observation and imitation and modeling – This case was in the news last week. A 17 year old boy murdered his girlfriend after he became obsessed with Dexter. The news article stated that:
Maybe a discussion: do you think we learn through observation and imitation? (aren’t we usually punished for bad behaviour?)
Do you think we learn through observation and imitation?

45. Discuss the following scenario in terms of nature and nurture
Mr Napper said: “When Robert came home, he had a big grin on his face and said: ‘The psychiatrist thinks I’m mad, Dad’.
“I thought he was just mucking around like kids do, but I later found out that what he had said was true.”
Napper was counselled at Maudsley Hospital in Camberwell, for six years. Aged 12, he was abused by a family friend while on a camping holiday. The offender was jailed but the incident marked the beginning of Napper’s descent into violence.
By the time he reached adolescence, Napper was bullying his siblings to an extreme degree. He shot his younger brother in the face with an air-pistol and used to watch his sister get undressed.
He attended Abbey Wood Comprehensive School, where classmates said he was “despised”.
One said: “No one wanted to sit next to him in class. He did not have any friends and he was teased a lot about his spots. In a game of football once, when he headed the ball, the game stopped because no other boy would go near the boy after it had touched his forehead.
This is an extract from an article about the murderer Robert Napper. He killed a women in Wimbledon in front of her young son and went on to murder a mother and daughter in their own home. He is now in Broadmoor hospital and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

46. Exam question
Explain one limitation of the social learning theory approach (3 marks)

47. Model answer- 3 marks
One limitation of the Social learning approach is that it over relies on evidence from laboratory studies (1 mark) Lab studies could result in participants responding to demand characteristics. For example in bandura’s research the children may simply be behaving in a way that they thought the researcher expected them to (2 marks) The research and theory therefore lack ecological validity as it fails to tell us how children may act in everyday life. ( 3 marks)

48. ‘Discuss the learning theory in psychology’
Homework
Create an essay plan to the following exam question…..
‘Discuss the learning theory in psychology’
(16 marks)
We will be writing and marking this in class in your first week back (Friday)