PSYCHOLOGY - APPROACHES NOTES
Learning approaches in psychology : social learning theory
• This theory was developed by Albert Bandura, an American psychologist.
• Behaviourism believed that all human behaviour came about through a mixture of classical and
operant conditioning.
• Some problems with this is that behaviour seemed to appear without conditioning. This particularly
true of complex behaviour like language or antisocial behaviour like aggression.
• Bandura proposed SLT sometimes called observational learning which looks at how we learn by
observing other people and imitating them without conditioning.
Observational learning takes place in four steps:
1. The behaviour must be modelled which means it must be carried out by a role model.
2. The observer must identify with the role model. (similar in appearance , gender or interests)
3. The behaviour must be observed.
• Attention : you must be attending to the behaviour
• Retention : you must retain it in you memory
• Reproduction : you must be capable of carrying out this behaviour.
• Motivation : you must have a reason to carry out the behaviour. ( reward )
4. The behaviour is imitated.
Modelling and identification:
• Modelling- People are more likely to imitate the behaviours of role models .
• A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer
or are attractive and have high status.
• Role models may not necessarily be physically present in the environment and this has important
implications for the influence of the media on behaviour.
The role of meditational processes:
• SLT id often described as the bridge between behaviourism and the cognitive approach because it
focussed on how cognitive factors are involved in learning.
• These mental factors meditate the learning process to determine whether a new response is
acquired.
• Four mediational processes in learning was identified by Bandura
Albert Bandura - bobo doll experiment (1965):
• To investigate whether or not if kids imitate behaviour
• Inflatable doll was kicked and hit by a man and some kids picked up on this.
• Kids were given an impossible puzzle as some was pieces missing causing frustration by the kids.
• Researchers observed that many of the children started to hit the doll and let out their frustration,
showing that they imitated the man. The kids also even imitated the words said by the man such as
“hit it, kick it”.
• This reveals that kids can learn through observing behaviour.
• However, not all kids imitated this behaviour, meaning observational learning according to Bandura
isn’t as effective.
• Learning - performance distinction: learning behaviour and performing behaviour are two different
thing. ( just because I learnt a behaviour doesn’t mean I will perform it. )
, Banduras bob doll study - findings:
• Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than
those who were in the non-aggression control groups.
• The girls in the aggressive condition also showed more physical responses if the model was male
but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female.
• Boys ere more likely to imitate same set models than girls. Boys imitated more physically
aggressive acts than girls.
• Vicarious reinforcement is observing the consequences of another persons behaviour.
The cognitive approach:
• The cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can and should be studied
scientifically.
• The cognitive approach has investigated those areas of human behaviour that we neglected by
behaviourists such as memory, perception and thinking.
• One way to study internal processes is through theoretical models such as the multi store model of
memory.
• Another way to study internal process is by using computer models where the mind is compared to
a computer in the computer analogy by suggesting there are similarities in the way information is
processed. Some computational models are thinking machines or AI.
• Cognitive processing can often be affected by a persons beliefs or expectations, often referred to
as a schema.
• Schema examples is a chair that it has a backseat and something you sit on with four legs.
• Babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviour such as sucking and grasping
objects.
• As we get older, our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated. Adults have developed
mental representations for everything from the concept of psychology to a schema for what
happens in a restaurant or what a typical zombie looks like.
• Schema enables us to process lots of information quickly, this acts as a sort of mental short cut
that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.
• The gold and white dress is an example of a schema as it many distort our interpretations of
sensory information, leading to perceptual errors.
• Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental
processes.
• As early as the 1860s, Paul Broca has identified damage to an area of the frontal lobe (which came
to be known as Broca’s area) could permanently impair speech production.
• Recent advances in brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans have allowed
psychologists to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes s
• Tuvlig et al. (1972) were able to show how these different types of long term memory may be
located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex.
• Also, the system in charge of working memory - the central executive is also through to be located
in a similar area (Brave et al. 1997)
• The focus of cognitive neuroscience has expanded recently to include the use of computer-
generated models that are designed to read the brain.
• This has led to the development of mind mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting.
Learning approaches in psychology : social learning theory
• This theory was developed by Albert Bandura, an American psychologist.
• Behaviourism believed that all human behaviour came about through a mixture of classical and
operant conditioning.
• Some problems with this is that behaviour seemed to appear without conditioning. This particularly
true of complex behaviour like language or antisocial behaviour like aggression.
• Bandura proposed SLT sometimes called observational learning which looks at how we learn by
observing other people and imitating them without conditioning.
Observational learning takes place in four steps:
1. The behaviour must be modelled which means it must be carried out by a role model.
2. The observer must identify with the role model. (similar in appearance , gender or interests)
3. The behaviour must be observed.
• Attention : you must be attending to the behaviour
• Retention : you must retain it in you memory
• Reproduction : you must be capable of carrying out this behaviour.
• Motivation : you must have a reason to carry out the behaviour. ( reward )
4. The behaviour is imitated.
Modelling and identification:
• Modelling- People are more likely to imitate the behaviours of role models .
• A person becomes a role model if they are seen to possess similar characteristics to the observer
or are attractive and have high status.
• Role models may not necessarily be physically present in the environment and this has important
implications for the influence of the media on behaviour.
The role of meditational processes:
• SLT id often described as the bridge between behaviourism and the cognitive approach because it
focussed on how cognitive factors are involved in learning.
• These mental factors meditate the learning process to determine whether a new response is
acquired.
• Four mediational processes in learning was identified by Bandura
Albert Bandura - bobo doll experiment (1965):
• To investigate whether or not if kids imitate behaviour
• Inflatable doll was kicked and hit by a man and some kids picked up on this.
• Kids were given an impossible puzzle as some was pieces missing causing frustration by the kids.
• Researchers observed that many of the children started to hit the doll and let out their frustration,
showing that they imitated the man. The kids also even imitated the words said by the man such as
“hit it, kick it”.
• This reveals that kids can learn through observing behaviour.
• However, not all kids imitated this behaviour, meaning observational learning according to Bandura
isn’t as effective.
• Learning - performance distinction: learning behaviour and performing behaviour are two different
thing. ( just because I learnt a behaviour doesn’t mean I will perform it. )
, Banduras bob doll study - findings:
• Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative aggressive responses than
those who were in the non-aggression control groups.
• The girls in the aggressive condition also showed more physical responses if the model was male
but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female.
• Boys ere more likely to imitate same set models than girls. Boys imitated more physically
aggressive acts than girls.
• Vicarious reinforcement is observing the consequences of another persons behaviour.
The cognitive approach:
• The cognitive approach argues that internal mental processes can and should be studied
scientifically.
• The cognitive approach has investigated those areas of human behaviour that we neglected by
behaviourists such as memory, perception and thinking.
• One way to study internal processes is through theoretical models such as the multi store model of
memory.
• Another way to study internal process is by using computer models where the mind is compared to
a computer in the computer analogy by suggesting there are similarities in the way information is
processed. Some computational models are thinking machines or AI.
• Cognitive processing can often be affected by a persons beliefs or expectations, often referred to
as a schema.
• Schema examples is a chair that it has a backseat and something you sit on with four legs.
• Babies are born with simple motor schema for innate behaviour such as sucking and grasping
objects.
• As we get older, our schema becomes more detailed and sophisticated. Adults have developed
mental representations for everything from the concept of psychology to a schema for what
happens in a restaurant or what a typical zombie looks like.
• Schema enables us to process lots of information quickly, this acts as a sort of mental short cut
that prevents us from being overwhelmed by environmental stimuli.
• The gold and white dress is an example of a schema as it many distort our interpretations of
sensory information, leading to perceptual errors.
• Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific study of the influence of brain structures on mental
processes.
• As early as the 1860s, Paul Broca has identified damage to an area of the frontal lobe (which came
to be known as Broca’s area) could permanently impair speech production.
• Recent advances in brain imaging techniques such as fMRI and PET scans have allowed
psychologists to systematically observe and describe the neurological basis of mental processes s
• Tuvlig et al. (1972) were able to show how these different types of long term memory may be
located on opposite sides of the prefrontal cortex.
• Also, the system in charge of working memory - the central executive is also through to be located
in a similar area (Brave et al. 1997)
• The focus of cognitive neuroscience has expanded recently to include the use of computer-
generated models that are designed to read the brain.
• This has led to the development of mind mapping techniques known as brain fingerprinting.
