Social Learning Theory (SLT) 2

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Self Efficacy

Self efficacy is the extent to which we believe our actions will achieve the desired goal. Therefore a child’s confidence in their ability to be aggressive grows as they learn that aggression can bring rewards.

Learning aggression

Children learn that they have the motor skills necessary to force another child to hand over a toy, and that that ability comes easily to them.
The child’s sense of self efficacy then develops on each successful outcome.
The child becomes confident that because their aggression has been effective in the past it will continue to be so in the future.
In other words, they learn that aggression works and that they are good at it.

Bobo doll study

Bandura et al.’s famous Bobo doll study illustrates many of the features of social learning theory.
Young children individually saw an adult model assaulting an inflatable plastic toy called a Bobo doll.
The aggressive behaviours included throwing, kicking, and hitting with a mallet.
They were accompanied by the verbal outbursts such as ‘sock him in the nose’.

Method

There followed a short period during which the children were not allowed to play with some attractive toys.
They were then taken to another room where there was a Bobo doll, plus some other toys including ones the adult models used.

Results

Without being instructed to do so, many of these children imitated the behaviour they had seen performed by the model, physically and verbally.
There was also another group of children who had observed an adult interacting non-aggressively with the doll.
Aggressive behaviour towards the doll by these children was minimal.

Reciprocal Determinism

People shape their own (aggressive) behaviour by selecting and creating their surroundings, a process known as reciprocal determinism.

Environment

The theory argues that people are not passive recipients of reinforcement, whether direct or vicarious, but active influences of their own environments.
People shape their own aggressive behaviour by selecting and creating their surroundings, a process known as reciprocal determinism.

Training grounds

Poulin and Boivin (2000) applied social learning analysis to aggressive behaviour in boys aged between nine and 12 years.
They found that the most aggressive boys formed friendships with other aggressive boys, leading the researchers to describe such cliques as training grounds.

Positive reinforcement

These friendships were lasting, stable, and mutually reinforcing of aggression and the boys used their alliances with each other to gain resources through aggressive behaviour, usually successfully.
Therefore they were frequently exposed to models of physical aggression and to the positive consequences of it.
They also gained reinforcement from the rewarding approval of the rest of the gang.

Applicability

There are practical benefits to understanding this aspect of social learning theory.
It could help establish ways to reduce aggression and to break the cycle in which individuals become yet more aggressive by choosing situations which rewards their behaviour.
- E.g. encouraging aggressive children to form friendships with children (and adults) who do not habitually behave aggressively gives them more opportunities to model non-aggressive behaviour.

Huesmann and Eron (2013)

Huesmann and Eron (2013) argue that media portrayals of aggression can be powerful influences on a child’s acquisition of aggression.
This is especially true if the character is rewarded for being aggressive, and if the child is able to identify with the character in someway.

Media and aggression

Under these conditions vicarious reinforcement experienced by children observing violent behaviour by media characters may be just as influential at encouraging imitation in real life.