Transcript Social Norms

Social Norms
Explain social learning theory, making reference to two relevant studies.
Norm
 Set of rules based on socially or culturally shared beliefs of
how an individual ought to behave.
 Regulate behavior within a group.
 If a person deviates from a social norm, they may be
punished, marginalized, stigmatized, or -more positivelythey may be seen as creative and affecting change in the
society.
 The need to belong plays a strong role in the desire to
conform to group norms.
 ? Can you think of examples from your everyday life of
different types of norms?
Social Learning Theory
 How does a society or culture pass on its norms to
individuals within the group?
 Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory assumes that
humans learn behavior through observational
learning.
 People can learn by watching models and imitating
their behavior.
SLT involves the following:
 Bandura says, social learning involves the following
factors:
 Attention: The person must first pay attention to the
model.
 Retention: The observer must be able to remember the
behavior that has been observed.
 Motor reproduction: The observer has to be able to
replicate the action.
 Motivation: Learners must want to demonstrate what
they have learned.
It may look like this graphically:
Attention
retention
Social learning
(modeling, Imitation)
Motivation
Motor
reproduction
Motivation to Imitate
 Factors which may influence whether or not the observer
decides to imitate and learn:
 Consistency: If the model behaves in a way that is consistent across
situations – for example, always being brave – then the observer will be
more likely to imitate than if the model behaves in different ways
depending on the situation
 Identification with the model: There is a tendency to imitate models
who are like ourselves – for example, in terms of age and gender
 Rewards/punishment: Bandura argues that people can learn from
observing what happens to others; they don’t have to experience the
consequences themselves (vicarious reinforcement)
 Liking the model: Warm and friendly models are more likely to be
imitated than cold, uncaring models.
Yarrow et. al.
 (1970) study showed that children learn altruistic
behavior (helping others for no personal gain) better
from people with whom they have already developed
a friendly relationship than from people they do not
know.
 Social learning theory has been used to explain many
things but particularly the role of violence in the
media on aggression in children
Albert Bandura
 (1925-present)
 Joined the Dept of Psychology at Stanford U in 1953
 He initially suggested social learning theory as a reaction against
the passive conception of humans in behaviorism.
 He pointed at the role of modeling in learning based on his
famous experiment with the Bobo doll.
 Social learning theory, and later social cognitive theory with the
important theory of self-efficacy (if we believe in our own ability to perform an action,
we are more motivated to do so) changed the direction of psychology.
 Social cognitive theory sees people as self-reflecting and selfregulating and the theory is now very influential in all areas of
psychology.
Bandura’s Research (1961)
 Two aims:
1. see if children would imitate aggression modeled by
an adult.
2. see if children were more likely to imitate same-sex
adults.
 Children aged 3 – 6 years (36 boys and 36 girls)
 The groups were matched with regard to aggression based on
evaluation by their parents and teachers. One group was exposed to
adult models who showed aggression by bashing an inflatable “Bobo”
doll; a second group observed a non-aggressive adult who assembled
toys for 10 minutes; and a third group served as a control and did not
see any model. In the first and second groups, some children watched
same-sex models and some watched opposite-sex models.
Bandura’s Outcomes
 After watching the models, children were placed in a room with toys.
 They were soon taken out of the room and told the toys were for other
children.
 They were put in the room with the Bobo doll
 Children who had observed the aggressive models were significantly
more aggressive – both physically and verbally.
 According to Bandura the theory of social learning was demonstrated in
the study, since the children showed signs of observational learning.
 With regard to the second aim, Bandura observed that girls were more
likely to imitate verbal aggression, whereas boys were more likely to
imitate physical aggression.
Interesting facts and other ethics…
 When boys witnessed women hitting the bobo doll, they often made
comments like, “Ladies shouldn’t do that!” In other words, the children
were more likely to imitate the same-sex adult.
 The experiment has been criticized for low ecological validity. Not only
was it carried out in a laboratory, but there are also other factors which
make the situation less than natural.
 There is only a brief encounter with the model, and the children are
intentionally frustrated after they begin to play with a toy.
 This situation does little to predict what happens if a child is repeatedly
exposed to aggressive parents or violence on television.
 One also has to question the actual aggression that was observed: Does the
aggression against a Bobo doll indicate learned aggression in general, or is it
highly specific to this situation?
Criticism continued
 In addition to questionable ecological validity, there are
other methodological considerations. The aggression
modeled by the adult was not completely standardized,
meaning that the children may have observed slight
differences in the aggression displayed.
 In spite of the attempt to match the participants with
regard to aggression, it was based on observations from
teachers and parents, and this may not have been
completely accurate.
 Finally, there is the question of demand characteristics: the
children may have acted aggressively because they
thought it would please the researcher.
Application of social learning theory
in real life
 According to social learning theory:
 There is a chance that violence on television will lead to
more violent children.
 Is this so????
 The results of studies on the effects of televised violence
are consistent.
 By watching aggression, children learn how to be
aggressive in new ways and they also draw conclusions
about whether being aggressive to others will bring them
rewards or punishment.
Huesmann and Eron (1986)
 Carried out a longitudinal study, monitoring children’s
behavior over a 15-year period.
 They found a positive correlation between the number of
hours of violence watched on television by elementary
school children and the level of aggression demonstrated
when they were teenagers.
 Also found that those who watched a lot of television
violence when they were 8 years old were more likely to be
arrested and prosecuted for criminal acts as adults.
Kimball and Zabrack (1986)
 Canadian study, children were found to have become
significantly more aggressive two years after
television was introduced to their town.
 The results of the two studies here indicate a link
between watching violent television and aggressive
behavior, but we should critically consider the
findings:
 Could there be another explanation? For example,
children who watched violent television may have lived
in families which facilitated violent behavior.
Evaluation of social learning theory
 Social learning theory helps explain why behaviors
may be passed down in a family or within a culture.
 It explains why children can acquire some behaviors
without trial-and-error learning.
 However, it is not always demonstrated
 The child may learn something by watching the model,
but may not exhibit that behavior for some time.
 Some see this as a criticism of the theory.
Difficult to Establish
 Because this gap exists between when one observes
the model and when one may demonstrate the
behavior, it is difficult to establish 100% that the
behavior is the result of observing the model.
 Social learning theory also does not explain why some
people never learn a behavior, in spite of the above
criteria being met.
Self-beliefs Influence Behavior
 Social learning theory has developed into social
cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory.
 Both are based on the social learning theory
 The focus is on beliefs and how self-beliefs influence
behavior
 This is an important elaboration of social learning theory
to include how people are motivated not only by role
models but also their own beliefs and previous
experiences.