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Strength of social learning theory
Strength of social learning theory
Social learning theory in current practice
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Reductionism is the belief that any subject matter in Psychology can be broken down from a complex phenomenon, to its simplest components. Reductionism is sometimes tied in with a concept named Occam’s razor, which is a problem-solving theory whereby the answer to a problem should supposedly be picked by looking at which explanation offers the fewest assumptions. This works by eliminating unnecessary components, only looking in dept at the basic aspects, (Clark, 2007). This idea can be further supported by Morgan’s Canon and the Law Of Parsimony, which states that we should never assume more complexity than is needed, therefore needing to break down behaviour into the simplest explanation, (Dewey, 2007). The reductionist approach does allow for Psychology to appear more scientific, however whether this is the best line of thinking is debatable. This essay will attempt to critically evaluate how effective reductionist approaches, such as Biology and the Social Learning Theory, are when trying to explain the concept of human aggression; to conclude whether reductionism offers a fulfilling enough explanation. Aggression can be defined as “hostile, …show more content…
Social Learning Theory explains that aggression is learnt from other people (usually role models) by observation and imitation. It involves the use of key conditions, such as attention, retention, reproduction and motivation, but the key concept is that all behaviour, including aggression, is learnt. (Bandura, 1977). Social Learning Theory offers a reductionist approach as it states that aggression can only be learnt through interactions with the environment, and through observation and imitation; according to this theory, biological aspects such as genes and hormones do not play a role in whether somebody is or will be
Social behavior responds to a complicated network of rewards and punishments. The more a behavior is rewarded, the more likely it is to continue. On the flip side of this, the more a behavior is met with negative consequences, the more it is likely to stop. In any given social situation, whether someone commits a crime is largely dependent on his past behavior, or whether someone has received a positive reinforcement to a that crime. According to Social Learning Theory, crime is a direct response to this reinforcement. So in other words, if rewards are greater than punishments, the crime will be committed. Social Learning Theory is meant to operate as a general theory of crime.
Social learning theory was first developed by Robert L. Burgess and Ronald L Akers in 1966 (Social Learning theory, 2016). In 1973, Akers wrote a book entitled Deviant Behaviour: A Social Learning Approach, which discussed Aker’s conception of the social learning theory. He developed social learning theory by extending Sutherland’s theory of differential association (Cochran & Sellers, 2017). Social learning theory is based on the principles of Pavlov’s operant and classical conditioning. Akers believes that crime is like any other social behavior because it is learned through social interaction (Social Learning theory, 2016). Social learning theory states that the probability of an individual committing a crime or engaging in criminal behaviour is increased when they differentially associate with others who commit criminal behavior (Cochran & Sellers, 2017). Social learning theory is classified as a general theory of crime, and has been used to explain many types of criminal behaviour (Social Learning theory, 2016). Furthermore, social learning theory is one of the most tested contemporary theories of crime. There are four fundamental components of social learning theory; differential association, definitions, differential reinforcement and imitation (Social Learning theory,
Through Social Learning Theory, an individual can be studied based on the behavior acquired by a role model. Verbal conditioning procedures and observation influences the response to an individual’s personality. Environment factors contribute to the Social Learning Theory. Antisocial model is a major contribute to crime, which influences negative characteristics. The Social Leaning Theory has three core social concepts the must be followed: observational learning, intrinsic reinforcement and modeling process.
One of the most researched topics in the history of psychology is aggression. One goal of social scientists has been to define aggression. Some believe that aggression is biologically preprogrammed, others look toward situational factors and this study suggests that aggression is learned. This study was conducted by Albert Bandura and his associates in 1961 at Stanford University. The researchers proposed that the children be exposed to adult models with either aggressive or nonaggressive ways, they would then be tested without the models present to determine if they would imitate that aggression they observed in the adult.
The field of psychology is a discipline, originated from many branches of science. It has applications from within a complete scope of avenues, from psychotherapy to professional decision-making. The flexibility and versatility of this field reflects its importance and demands in-depth analysis. Psychology was a division of philosophy until it developed independent scientific disciplines. The history of psychology was a scholarly study of the mind and behavior that dates back to the beginning of civilization. There are important details from previous theory psychologist, research have contributed to behaviorism approaches and have contributed towards specific current behavioral practices. Contemporary behavior therapy began to emerge into distinct practical and core learning theories concerning the needs and knowledge engaging cultural and professional differences.
Many theories have been thought of over the years to attempt to explain why people behave the way they do. Many questions were brought up when thinking about that and the social learning theory is a popular theory in explaining this. Nobody really thought of the social learning theory too much until Albert Bandura wrote his idea of it. He actually wrote a book called “Social Learning Theory.” In this book, he states that behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning(Saul McLeod).
The idea that people learn from one another through observations, modeling, and imitation has been identified as the theory of social learning. Psychologist, Albert Bandura, proclaims that human personality is an interaction between the environment and the mental processes of the individual. To test this theory, Bandura established that children can learn a social behavior such as aggression simply by observing the modeled behavior of another person. Physically aggressive children acquire aggressive tendencies by how their parents have disciplined them. If screaming, slapping, beating, etc., is evident, children are likely to mimic such behaviors and this has the potential for escalated abuse and essentially, violence begets violence. This theory also infers the influence media violence on
In this paper I have learned that children base their actions of off what they learned from their parents. In my findings, I was able to see that Girl 1 treated Girl 2 as her mother would meaning that Girl 1 tended to Girl 2 as if she were a young child and she was an older more mature child. Girl 2 also reacted in a way that is considered aggression to get her way. The most interesting thing to me in all of this observation is that Berger was right in saying that behavior is learned through the actions of their parents (Berger, 200, 2012).
According to Social Learning Theory, Bandura (1989) suggested cognitive factors cannot be overlooked if learning is needed to be understood. Bandura has also noted that while reward and punishment substantially shape one 's personality, cognition has as much impact as they do. Also, the principles of behavioural approach have mainly been tested on animals. It implies some findings may not be applicable to a human being, which as a creature is much more complex than an animal.
Freud believes that aggression is a primal instinct, and civilization thwarts this instinct, making man unhappy. Civilized society controls man's tendency toward aggression through rules and laws and the presence of authority. These mechanisms are put in place to guarantee safety and happiness for all individuals in a society. However, the necessity of suppressing the aggressive drive in m...
Social Learning Theory is the progression that happens in the course of watching the punishment of others and by deciding if such activity is important enough to replicate (Wallace, n.d.) Fundamentally, this idea supports that individuals discover by examining others. In the 1930s, the Social discovering idea was evolved by Edwin Sutherland, Robert Burgess, Ronald L. Akers, and Daniel Glaser. This group of theorists evolved the discovering idea by distinguishing examples of criminalistic demeanor and the values that escorted these lawless persons, the way in which they dwelled and broadcast they called differential association (Schmalleger, 2012.) Albert Bandura is another theorist that has aided in the development of the idea. Bandura's work put the focus on reciprocal determinism, which focuses on how a person’s behavior, natural environment, and individual features all reciprocally leverage each other. ("Learning- Theories.com", 2012). Bandura evolved a form that involved the following steps. 1. Attention: In order for an individual to discover, they must be adept to pay vigil...
Akers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).
Social learning theory is the idea that we learn attitudes, values, and in this case behaviors such as aggression by seeing other people act a particular way in a social situation. Frustration-Aggression Theory is the idea that frustration increases the probability of aggression. Throughout the entire story we see social learning theory taking place. In the beginning we see everyone crying over the world’s youngest man dying, something that is unanimously valued due to societies current state of infertility. In the bulk of the movie there is emphasis on the attitude towards immigrants, again this is something that has clearly occurred due to the state of their environment and the way people around individuals are acting.
The field of psychology has opened different hypothesis from a variety of theories with the aim of studying the behaviour of humans being as a result they concluded with five psychological perspectives. Behaviourist, Biological, Psychodynamic, Cognitive and Humanistic perspectives are the deduction after a depth study of mental activity associate to human behaviour. In this essay I will be comparing two psychological perspectives according to aggressive behaviour.
Psychology is the scientific study and practical application of observable behavior and mental processes of organisms. Psychology differs from other social sciences such as: Sociology, History, or Economics, because psychology specifically deals with the study of an individual. The other social sciences will study groups, or history. Psychology is less a science of reported findings, it attempts asks and answers questions using observable behavior and what can be determined as mental processes of the subject. The symbol for psychology is the Greek letter “psi” (Ø). The subject matter of psychology is, affect, behavior, and cognition. The affect for psychology is the actual mental processes that make up: moods, feeling, and emotional state. An example for affect would be feeling sad about something happening. Behavior includes the actually actions and responses of organisms. Behavior can include the way we act in any given situation, for example when we get up in the morning. The order in the way we prepare ourselves for going out into public can be categorized as our behavior. Cognition is the actual mental events and the processes that result from them. Memories of an event are a great example of an organism’s cognition. The components and corresponding faces of psychology include the body of knowledge which is considered the teaching face, set of investigative methods or research face, and array of techniques the therapy face. The goals of psychology are: to explain behaviors, to describe behaviors, to predict behavior, and to modify inappropriate behaviors. Explaining behaviors would be a question similar to “Why does this happen?”, and example of how describing behavior could be accomplished would be asking “What causes this behavior, where does it come from?”. Predictions can be elaborated on by asking “When will the behavior occur?”. An example of a behavioral modification question is “What can be changed in the environment to alter this behavior?”. A specialized subfield of psychology that most interests me is, Forensic Psychology, because it would be appealing to me to understand a potential criminal mind and to make the determination if the criminal was sane at the time the crime was committed or if he/she was operating with full judgment. In studying the 9/11 attack on America, a Forensic Psyc...