Social Learning Theories

Anatomically Detailed (AD) dolls were suggested by Boat and Everson (1986) as a memory aid to interviewing young children to recollect their experience of abuse. Though helpful, this method cannot definitely prove whether abuse took place or not. These dolls were also used in the Wee Care School and this method can support the investigations but cannot conclusively prove if abuse occurred. A comprehensive interview technique was developed by Raskin and Esplin in 1991, known as “Statement Validity Analysis" (SVA). The interview is conducted in three stages.

To begin with, the social learning theory by Albert Bandura (1977) states that humans learn behavior through observing the environment. Meaning that either on purpose or not, a model might be a teacher of behavior by being observed and imitated. But as already said, these models might have an involuntary effect – Bandura states that all what it is needed is for a human to become “student” is to have an interest in certain behavior, be able to reproduce it because if not, there is no motivation to either retain it or want to show off. Children are more likely to fall into imitation because they are learning, forming their intellect and personality and so they focus in their surroundings. The interest to replicate certain behavior can have several reasons but in general it is more likely that children will imitate the people who perceive similar to itself (i.e. same age or sex).

Children took part in this research due to the lack of knowledge about social rules act on them. The methods used were observation and imitation. Thirty-six children were chosen to watch people abusing to a bobo doll through kicks, pushes and verbal insults, whereas another small group of children played innocent games. Firstly, the results manifested that children imitate adult’s behaviour either positives or

In my placement at the private nursery, there are identical twins of around 2 years – they have just began to see that they are separate people by recognising that they have different names and are different people. When they first commenced at nursery they didn’t recognise themselves as separate children. Evidence of increased self awareness is the change in a child’s language to using ‘I’, ‘me’ and ‘mine’. As part of self-awareness, a child’s sex concept begins to develop between 2 and 5 years. Toddlers begin to play with gender stereotyped toys, such as dolls and cars, etc.

This is supported by the study conducted by Bandura, also known as the Bobo doll study. Bandura put forward that they can learn from vicarious experiences and he set out to prove this by conducting the bobo doll study. Bandura and his colleagues did a laboratory experiment with children (half male and half female) between the ages 3 and 6. First of all the children were asked to take an aggression test and were then put into one of three categories; a control group with no model, adult aggressive or adult not aggressive. They matched up the children to each group so each group had about the same level of aggression as each other.

At some point in our lives, we have learned by observing the behaviors of others. Observation can play a very important role in determining what and how we learn. It can have positive or negative effects on one 's development and behavior, especially in children. This is demonstrated in the social learning theory.

In the experiment, he split the children up into two conditions whereby the children will observe either a aggressive or non-aggressive model. The children were then further categorized into male and female and made to observe same sex models. In the aggressive condition the

In an attempt to understand humans and how they behave psychologists have developed theories that seek to explain this. Social learning theory fathered by Albert Bandura 1971 proposes that humans learn from each other and from their environment. Bandura believes that children learn from adults –models. Similarly Lawrence Kohlberg in his theory on Moral development seeks to prove this very notion. Pre-convention Morality, Conventional Morality and Post- conventional Morality form the bases of Moral Development Theory.

According to Vygotsky, the basis for learning lies within social interaction and communication. It is when a child is able to communicate, either verbally or non-verbally, that they understand the world around them through copying and internalizing new concepts. An example of this is what Vygotsky called cooperative or collaborative dialogue, when a “more knowledgeable other” assists the learner with a task. Although it sounds like a relatively basic idea, other psychologists at the time, notably Piaget, placed the source of learning within the person and not related to the people around them. As Orlando Lourenco illustrated in the article “Piaget and Vygotsky: Many resemblances, and a crucial difference,” the key difference between the two leading psychologists of the early twentieth century was the importance of the surroundings of the child.

Next, response feedback influences will also impact the occurrence of such behavior in the future. Lastly, it stressed that cognitive functions are important as well. To prove that same behaviors will be learned by individuals following the action of the models and altering their own behaviors, Albert Bandura conducted a famous experiment, known as the Bobo doll experiment in 1961 (McLeod, 2014). Before the experiment, Albert Bandura made 4 predictions. First, children that observed adult acting aggressively will be more likely to act the same.

They also give emphasis to the importance of the mental processes, what we think about a situation and the effect it might have on our behavior in that situation (cognitive). Instead of focusing merely on how our environment controls us (behaviorism), social-cognitive theorists focus on how the environment and we interact. How we interpret and respond to events? How our experiences, and/or expectations influence our behavioral patterns? Social observation learning is important in the socialization process