MAP601_Systems and Theories

194 System and Theories When a child’s existing schemas are capable of explaining what it can perceive around it, it is said to be in a state of equilibrium, i.e., a state of cognitive (i.e., mental) balance. Piaget emphasised the importance of schemas in cognitive development and described how they were developed or acquired. A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply them when needed. For example, a person might have a schema about buying a meal in a restaurant. The schema is a stored form of the pattern of behaviour which includes looking at a menu, ordering food, eating it and paying the bill. This is an example of a type of schema called a ‘script’. Whenever they are in a restaurant, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation. The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this – especially those used by infants. He described how – as a child gets older – his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate. Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas – even before they have had many opportunities to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us. For example, babies have a sucking reflex, which is triggered by something touching the baby’s lips. A baby will suck a nipple, a comforter (dummy), or a person’s finger. Piaget, therefore, assumed that the baby has a ‘sucking schema’. Similarly, the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby’s hand, or the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, are innate schemas. Shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas, grasping and shaking. 10.4 Assimilation and Accommodation Jean Piaget (1952; see also Wadsworth, 2004) viewed intellectual growth as a process of adaptation (adjustment) to the world. This happens through: Assimilation – Which is using an existing schema to deal with a new object or situation. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Development Perspective of Piaget 195 Accommodation – This happens when the existing schema (knowledge) does not work, and needs to be changed to deal with a new object or situation. Equilibration – This is the force which moves development along. Piaget believed that cognitive development did not progress at a steady rate, but rather in leaps and bounds. Equilibrium occurs when a child’s schemas can deal with most new information through assimilation. However, an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted into existing schemas (assimilation). Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process as we do not like to be frustrated and will seek to restore balance by mastering the new challenge (accommodation). Once the new information is acquired the process of assimilation with the new schema will continue until the next time we need to make an adjustment to it. Example of Assimilation A 2-year-old child sees a man who is bald on top of his head and has long frizzy hair on the sides. To his father’s horror, the toddler shouts “Clown, clown” (Siegler et al., 2003). Example of Accommodation In the “clown” incident, the boy’s father explained to his son that the man was not a clown and that even though his hair was like a clown’s, he wasn’t wearing a funny costume and was not doing silly things to make people laugh. With this new knowledge, the boy was able to change his schema of “clown” and make this idea fit better to a standard concept of “clown”. 10.5 Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Cognitive development means how children think, explore and figure things out. It is the development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to think about and understand the world around them. Brain development is part of cognitive development. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

196 System and Theories Piaget’s 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Piaget said that children learn and develop their thoughts and beliefs based on their interactions with the world around them. Those interactions vary based on which stage of development the child is in. Piaget’s four stages include: 1. Sensorimotor Stage This first stage of development lasts from birth to age 2. During this time, infants and toddlers interact with the world through their senses. They make conclusions based on what they encounter. They play with new objects to understand them. They throw, shake, and put objects in their mouths. They learn through trial and error. Children begin to understand during this stage that an object exists even when it is not in front of them. For example, when a mother plays peek-a-boo with the child, he knows she is still there when she covers her face. 2. Preoperational Stage The second stage lasts from about age 2 to age 7. Here, children develop language skills. They learn to speak in words and to use symbols. They can also understand letters, numbers, and spatial concepts such as the difference between “on” and “in.” They know the difference between the past and the future. But for the most part, they remain focused on the present. Children at this stage tend to think mostly of themselves. Their worldview is self-centred. They assume others share their point of view. 3. Concrete Operations Stage The third stage lasts from about age 7 to age 11 – the preteen years. Children shift from a self- focused view and begin to imagine events beyond themselves and their lives. They grasp the concept of cause and effect. Children at this stage develop logic and reasoning skills. But they still depend on concrete facts and physical objects to draw conclusions. They understand some abstract concepts in fields such as math. But they still rely on what they can observe. Most cannot solve equations with multiple variables. 4. Formal Operational Stage At around age 11, children develop abstract and hypothetical reasoning. In decision-making, they are now more likely to consider moral and ethical questions. They can also weigh the likelihood that something could happen. This stage ends around age 15. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Development Perspective of Piaget 197 10.6 Educational Implications Piaget (1952) did not explicitly relate his theory to education, although later researchers have explained how features of Piaget’s theory can be applied to teaching and learning. Piaget has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching practice. For example, a review of primary education by the UK Government in 1966 was based strongly on Piaget’s theory. The result of this review led to the publication of the Plowden Report (1967). Discovery learning – the idea that children learn best through doing and actively exploring – was seen as central to the transformation of the primary school curriculum. “The report’s recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in children’s learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of children’s progress – teachers should not assume that only what is measurable is valuable.” Because Piaget’s theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of ‘readiness’ is important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught. According to Piaget’s theory, children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development. According to Piaget (1958), assimilation and accommodation require an active learner, not a passive one, because problem-solving skills cannot be taught, they must be discovered. Within the classroom learning should be student-centred and accomplished through active discovery learning. The role of the teacher is to facilitate learning, rather than direct tuition. Therefore, teachers should encourage the following within the classroom:  Focus on the process of learning, rather than the end product of it.  Using active methods that require rediscovering or reconstructing “truths”.  Using collaborative, as well as individual activities (so children can learn from each other).  Devising situations that present useful problems, and create disequilibrium in the child.  Evaluate the level of the child’s development, so suitable tasks can be set. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

198 System and Theories Critical Evaluation The influence of Piaget’s ideas in developmental psychology has been enormous. He changed how people viewed the child’s world and their methods of studying children. He was an inspiration to many who came after and took up his ideas. Piaget’s ideas have generated a huge amount of research which has increased our understanding of cognitive development. Criticisms Vygotsky and Bruner would rather not talk about stages at all, preferring to see development as a continuous process. Others have queried the age ranges of the stages. Some studies have shown that progress to the formal operational stage is not guaranteed. For example, Keating (1979) reported that 40-60% of college students fail at formal operation tasks, and Dasen (1994) states that only one-third of adults ever reach the formal operational stage. Because Piaget concentrated on the universal stages of cognitive development and biological maturation, he failed to consider the effect that the social setting and culture may have on cognitive development. Dasen (1994) cites studies he conducted in remote parts of the central Australian desert with 8-14 year old Aborigines. He gave them conservation of liquid tasks and spatial awareness tasks. He found that the ability to conserve came later in the aboriginal children, between aged 10 and 13 (as opposed to between 5 and 7, with Piaget’s Swiss sample). However, he found that spatial awareness abilities developed earlier amongst the Aboriginal children than the Swiss children. Such a study demonstrates cognitive development is not purely dependent on maturation but on cultural factors too – spatial awareness is crucial for nomadic groups of people. Vygotsky, a contemporary of Piaget, argued that social interaction is crucial for cognitive development. According to Vygotsky, the child’s learning always occurs in a social context in co- operation with someone more skillful (MKO). This social interaction provides language opportunities and language is the foundation of thought. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Development Perspective of Piaget 199 Piaget’s methods (observation and clinical interviews) are more open to biased interpretation than other methods. Piaget made careful, detailed naturalistic observations of children, and from these he wrote diary descriptions charting their development. He also used clinical interviews and observations of older children who were able to understand questions and hold conversations. Because Piaget conducted the observations alone the data collected are based on his own subjective interpretation of events. It would have been more reliable if Piaget conducted the observations with another researcher and compared the results afterward to check if they are similar (i.e., have inter-rater reliability). Although clinical interviews allow the researcher to explore data in more depth, the interpretation of the interviewer may be biased. For example, children may not understand the question/s, they have short attention spans, they cannot express themselves very well and may be trying to please the experimenter. Such methods meant that Piaget may have formed inaccurate conclusions. As several studies have shown Piaget underestimated the abilities of children, because his tests were sometimes confusing or difficult to understand (e.g., Hughes, 1975). Piaget failed to distinguish between competence (what a child is capable of doing) and performance (what a child can show when given a particular task). When tasks were altered, performance (and therefore competence) was affected. Therefore, Piaget might have underestimated children’s cognitive abilities. For example, a child might have object permanence (competence) but still not be able to search for objects (performance). When Piaget hid objects from babies, he found that it was not till after nine months that they looked for it. However, Piaget relied on manual search methods – whether the child was looking for the object or not. Later, research such as Baillargeon and Devos (1991) reported that infants as young as four months looked longer at a moving carrot that did not do what it expected, suggesting they had some sense of permanence, otherwise they would not have had any expectation of what it should or should not do. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

200 System and Theories The concept of schema is incompatible with the theories of Bruner (1966) and Vygotsky (1978). Behaviourism would also refute Piaget’s schema theory because is cannot be directly observed as it is an internal process. Therefore, they would claim it cannot be objectively measured. Piaget studied his own children and the children of his colleagues in Geneva in order to deduce general principles about the intellectual development of all children. Not only was his sample very small, but it was composed solely of European children from families of high socio-economic status. Researchers have therefore questioned the generalisability of his data. For Piaget, language is seen as secondary to action, i.e., thought precedes language. The Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1978) argues that the development of language and thought go together and that the origin of reasoning is more to do with our ability to communicate with others than with our interaction with the material world. 10.7 Summary According to Piaget, children are born with a very basic mental structure (genetically inherited and evolved) on which all subsequent learning and knowledge are based. Imagine what it would be like if you did not have a mental model of your world. It would mean that you would not be able to make so much use of information from your past experience or to plan future actions. Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models, and enable us to form a mental representation of the world. Piaget (1952, p. 7) defined a schema as “a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core meaning.” In more simple terms, Piaget called the schema the basic building block of intelligent behaviour – a way of organising knowledge. Indeed, it is useful to think of schemas as “units” of knowledge, each relating to one aspect of the world, including objects, actions, and abstract (i.e., theoretical) concepts. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Development Perspective of Piaget 201 The schemas Piaget described tend to be simpler than this – especially those used by infants. He described how – as a child gets older – his or her schemas become more numerous and elaborate. Piaget believed that newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas – even before they have had many opportunities to experience the world. These neonatal schemas are the cognitive structures underlying innate reflexes. These reflexes are genetically programmed into us. Similarly, the grasping reflex which is elicited when something touches the palm of a baby’s hand, or the rooting reflex, in which a baby will turn its head towards something which touches its cheek, are innate schemas. Shaking a rattle would be the combination of two schemas, grasping and shaking. Each child goes through the stages in the same order, and child development is determined by biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Although no stage can be missed out, there are individual differences in the rate at which children progress through stages, and some individuals may never attain the later stages. Piaget did not claim that a particular stage was reached at a certain age – although descriptions of the stages often include an indication of the age at which the average child would reach each stage. “The report’s recurring themes are individual learning, flexibility in the curriculum, the centrality of play in children's learning, the use of the environment, learning by discovery and the importance of the evaluation of children’s progress – teachers should not assume that only what is measurable is valuable.” Because Piaget’s theory is based upon biological maturation and stages, the notion of ‘readiness’ is important. Readiness concerns when certain information or concepts should be taught. According to Piaget’s theory, children should not be taught certain concepts until they have reached the appropriate stage of cognitive development. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

202 System and Theories 10.8 Key Words/Abbreviations  Piaget’s Theory: Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development.  Assimilation: Assimilation refers to the process through which individuals and groups of differing heritages acquire the basic habits, attitudes and mode of life of an embracing culture.  Accommodation: Accommodation is all about making room it can mean a room or place where you will stay or an agreement about sharing something.  Cognitive Development: Cognitive development means how children think, explore and figure things out. It is the development of knowledge, skills, problem solving and dispositions, which help children to think about and understand the world around them. 10.9 Learning Activity 1. You are required to prepare a report on “Development Perspective of Piaget”. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 2. You are suggested to prepare the report on “Basic Components to Piaget’s Cognitive Theory”. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 10.10 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) Descriptive Type Questions 1. Explain in details about Development Perspective of Piaget. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Development Perspective of Piaget 203 2. Discuss about Piaget’s Theory differs from others in several ways. 3. Explain about basic components to Piaget’s Cognitive Theory. 4. Discuss in details about assimilation and accommodation. 5. Explain about Piaget’s four stages of Cognitive Development. 6. Discuss about Educational Implications. Multiple Choice Questions 1. Who established the theory of cognitive development? (a) Piaget (b) Abraham Maslow (c) Roger (d) None of the above 2. When the theory of cognitive development? (a) 1980 (b) 1936 (c) 1932 (d) 1922 3. How does the Piaget’s Theory differs from other theories? (a) It is concerned with children, rather than all learners. (b) It focuses on development, rather than learning per se; so, it does not address learning of information or specific behaviours. (c) It proposes discrete stages of development, marked by qualitative differences, rather than a gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviours, concepts, ideas, etc. (d) All the above CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

204 System and Theories 4. An existing schema used to deal with a new object or situation is called as __________. (a) Assimilation (b) Accommodation (c) Both (a) and (b) (d) Industrialisation 5. Which of the following is the Piaget’s Stage of Cognitive Development? (a) Sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2) (b) Preoperational stage (from age 2 to age 7) (c) Concrete operational stage (from age 7 to age 11) (d) All the above Answers: 1. (a), 2. (b), 3. (d), 4. (a), 5. (d) 10.11 References References of this unit have been given at the end of the book.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 205 UNIT 11 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Structure: 11.0 Learning Objectives 11.1 Introduction 11.2 Social Learning Theory – Bandura 11.3 Bandura’s Observational Learning Experiment 11.4 Applications of Social Learning Theory 11.5 Critical Evaluation 11.6 Summary 11.7 Key Words/Abbreviations 11.8 LearningActivity 11.9 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) 11.10 References 11.0 Learning Objectives After studying this unit, you will be able to:  Describe Bandura  Elaborate Applications of Social Learning Theory CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

206 System and Theories 11.1 Introduction The social learning theory of Bandura emphasises the importance of observing and modeling the behaviours, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Bandura states: “Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action. Social learning theory explains human behaviour in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural, an environmental influences. The component processes underlying observational learning are: (1) Attention, including modeled events (distinctiveness, affective valence, complexity, prevalence, functional value) and observer characteristics (sensory capacities, arousal level, perceptual set, past reinforcement), (2) Retention, including symbolic coding, cognitive organisation, symbolic rehearsal, motor rehearsal), (3) Motor Reproduction, including physical capabilities, self-observation of reproduction, accuracy of feedback, and (4) Motivation, including external, vicarious and self- reinforcement. 11.2 Social Learning Theory – Bandura Social learning theory is a theory of learning process and social behaviour which proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behaviour, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious reinforcement. When a particular behaviour is rewarded regularly, it will most likely persist; conversely, if a particular behaviour is constantly punished, it will most likely desist. The theory expands on traditional behavioural theories, in which behaviour is governed solely by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of various internal processes in the learning individual. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 207 Figure: 11.1 Social Learning Theory – Bandura History and Theoretical Background In the 1940s, B.F. Skinner delivered a series of lectures on verbal behaviour, putting forth a more empirical approach to the subject than existed in psychology at the time. In them, he proposed the use of stimulus-response theories to describe language use and development, and that all verbal behaviour was underpinned by operant conditioning. He did however mention that some forms of speech derived from words and sounds that had previously been heard (echoic response), and that reinforcement from parents allowed these ‘echoic responses’ to be pared down to that of understandable speech. While he denied that there was any “instinct or faculty of imitation”, Skinner’s behaviourist theories formed a basis for redevelopment into Social Learning Theory. At around the same time, Clark Lewis Hull, an American psychologist, was a strong proponent of behaviourist stimulus-response theories, and headed a group at Yale University’s Institute of Human Relations. Under him, Neil Miller and John Dollard aimed to come up with a reinterpretation of psychoanalytic theory in terms of stimulus-response. This led to their book, Social Learning Theory, published in 1941, which posited that personality consisted of learned habits. They used Hull’s drive theory, where a drive is a need that stimulates a behavioural response, crucially conceiving a drive of imitation, which was positively reinforced by social interaction and widespread as a result. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

208 System and Theories Julian B. Rotter, a professor at Ohio State University published his book, Social Learning and Clinical Psychology in 1954. His theories moved away from the strictly behaviourist learning of the past, and considered instead the holistic interaction between the individual and the environment. In his theory, the social environment and individual personality created probabilities of behaviour, and the reinforcement of these behaviours led to learning. He emphasised the subjective nature of the responses and effectiveness of reinforcement types. While his theory used vocabulary common to that of behaviourism, the focus on internal functioning and traits differentiated his theories, and can be seen as a precursor to more cognitive approaches to learning. In 1959, Noam Chomsky published his criticism of Skinner’s book Verbal Behaviour, an extension of Skinner’s initial lectures. In his review, Chomsky stated that pure stimulus-response theories of behaviour could not account for the process of language acquisition, an argument that contributed significantly to psychology’s cognitive revolution. He theorised that “human beings are somehow specially designed to” understand and acquire language, ascribing a definite but unknown cognitive mechanism to it. Within this context, Albert Bandura studied learning processes that occurred in interpersonal contexts and were not adequately explained by theories of operant conditioning or existing models of social learning. Specifically, Bandura argued that “the weaknesses of learning approaches that discount the influence of social variables are nowhere more clearly revealed than in their treatment of the acquisition of novel responses.” Skinner’s explanation of the acquisition of new responses relied on the process of successive approximation, which required multiple trials, reinforcement for components of behaviour, and gradual change. Rotter's theory proposed that the likelihood of a behaviour occurring was a function of the subjective expectancy and value of the reinforcement. This model assumed a hierarchy of existing responses and thus did not (according to Bandura) account for a response that had not yet been learned. Bandura began to conduct studies of the rapid acquisition of novel behaviours via social observation, the most famous of which were the Bobo doll experiments. 11.3 Bandura’s Observational Learning Experiment The Bobo doll experiment (or experiments) is the collective name for the experiments performed by influential psychologist, Albert Bandura. During 1961 and 1963, he studied children’s behaviour after they watched a human adult model act aggressively towards a Bobo doll, a doll-like toy with a rounded bottom and low center of mass that rocks back to an upright position after it has been CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 209 knocked down. There are different variations of the experiment. The most notable experiment measured the children’s behaviour after seeing the human model get rewarded, get punished, or experience no consequence for physically abusing the Bobo doll. The experiments are empirical methods to test Bandura’s social learning theory. The social learning theory claims that people learn largely by observing, imitating and modelling. It demonstrates that people learn not only by being rewarded or punished (operant conditioning), but they can also learn from watching somebody else being rewarded or punished (observational learning). These experiments are important because they resulted in many more studies concerning the effects of observational learning. The new data from the studies has practical implications, for example by providing evidence of how children can be influenced by watching violent media. SLT is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory (i.e., behaviourism) and the cognitive approach. This is because it focuses on how mental (cognitive) factors are involved in learning. Unlike Skinner, Bandura (1977) believes that humans are active information processors and think about the relationship between their behaviour and its consequences. Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work. These mental factors mediate (i.e., intervene) in the learning process to determine whether a new response is acquired. Therefore, individuals do not automatically observe the behaviour of a model and imitate it. There is some thought prior to imitation, and this consideration is called mediational processes. This occurs between observing the behaviour (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response). There are four mediational processes proposed by Bandura: 1. Attention: The extent to which we are exposed/notice the behaviour. For a behaviour to be imitated, it has to grab our attention. We observe many behaviours on a daily basis, and many of these are not noteworthy. Attention is therefore extremely important in whether a behaviour influences others imitating it. 2. Retention: How well the behaviour is remembered. The behaviour may be noticed but is it not always remembered which obviously prevents imitation. It is important therefore that a memory of the behaviour is formed to be performed later by the observer. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

210 System and Theories Much of social learning is not immediate, so this process is especially vital in those cases. Even if the behaviour is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to refer to. 3. Reproduction: This is the ability to perform the behaviour that the model has just demonstrated. We see much behaviour on a daily basis that we would like to be able to imitate but that this not always possible. We are limited by our physical ability and for that reason, even if we wish to reproduce the behaviour, we cannot. This influences our decisions whether to try and imitate it or not. Imagine the scenario of a 90-year-old-lady who struggles to walk watching Dancing on Ice. She may appreciate that the skill is a desirable one, but she will not attempt to imitate it because she physically cannot do it. 4. Motivation: The will to perform the behaviour. The rewards and punishment that follow a behaviour will be considered by the observer. If the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs (if there are any), then the behaviour will be more likely to be imitated by the observer. If the vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the observer, then they will not imitate the behaviour. 11.4 Applications of Social Learning Theory Criminology Social Learning Theory has been used to explain the emergence and maintenance of deviant behaviour, especially aggression. Criminologists Ronald Akers and Robert Burgess integrated the principles of Social Learning Theory and operant conditioning with Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory to create a comprehensive theory of criminal behaviour. Burgess and Akers emphasised that criminal behaviour is learned in both social and nonsocial situations through combinations of direct reinforcement, vicarious reinforcement, explicit instruction, and observation. Both the probability of being exposed to certain behaviours and the nature of the reinforcement are dependent on group norms. Developmental Psychology In her book Theories of Developmental Psychology, Patricia H. Miller lists both moral development and gender-role development as important areas of research within Social Learning CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 211 Theory. Social learning theorists emphasise observable behaviour regarding the acquisition of these two skills. For gender-role development, the same-sex parent provides only one of many models from which the individual learns gender-roles. Social Learning Theory also emphasises the variable nature of moral development due to the changing social circumstances of each decision: “The particular factors the child thinks are important vary from situation to situation, depending on variables such as which situational factors are operating, which causes are most salient, and what the child processes cognitively. Moral judgments involve a complex process of considering and weighing various criteria in a given social situation.” Management Social Learning Theory proposes that rewards are not the sole force behind creating motivation. Thoughts, beliefs, morals and feedback all help to motivate us. Three other ways in which we learn are vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Modeling, or the scenario in which we see someone’s behaviours and adopt them as our own, aide the learning process as well as mental states and the cognitive process. Media Violence Principles of Social Learning Theory have been applied extensively to the study of media violence. Akers and Burgess hypothesised that observed or experienced positive rewards and lack of punishment for aggressive behaviours reinforces aggression. Many research studies and meta- analyses have discovered significant correlations between viewing violent television and aggression later in life and many have not, as well as playing violent video games and aggressive behaviours. The role of observational learning has also been cited as an important factor in the rise of rating systems for TV, movies and video games. Creating Social Change with Media Entertainment-education in the form of a telenovela or soap opera can help viewers learn socially desired behaviours in a positive way from models portrayed in these programs. The telenovela format allows the creators to incorporate elements that can bring a desired response. These elements may include music, actors, melodrama, props or costumes. Entertainment education is symbolic modeling and has a formula with three sets of characters with the cultural value that is to be examined is determined ahead of time: CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

212 System and Theories (a) Characters that support a value (positive role models) (b) Characters who reject the value (negative role models) (c) Characters who have doubts about the value (undecided) Applications for Social Change Through observational learning, a model can bring forth new ways of thinking and behaving. With a modeled emotional experience, the observer shows an affinity towards people, places and objects. They dislike what the models do not like and like what the models care about. Television helps contribute to how viewers see their social reality. “Media representations gain influence because people’s social constructions of reality depend heavily on what they see, hear and read rather than what they experience directly”. Any effort to change beliefs must be directed towards the socio- cultural norms and practices at the social system level. Before a drama is developed, extensive research is done through focus groups that represent the different sectors within a culture. Participants are asked what problems in society concern them most and what obstacles they face, giving creators of the drama culturally relevant information to incorporate into the show. Psychotherapy Another important application of Social Learning Theory has been in the treatment and conceptualisation of anxiety disorders. The classical conditioning approach to anxiety disorders, which spurred the development of behavioural therapy and is considered by some to be the first modern theory of anxiety, began to lose steam in the late 1970s as researchers began to question its underlying assumptions. For example, the classical conditioning approach holds that pathological fear and anxiety are developed through direct learning; however, many people with anxiety disorders cannot recall a traumatic conditioning event, in which the feared stimulus was experienced in close temporal and spatial contiguity with an intrinsically aversive stimulus. School Psychology Many classroom and teaching strategies draw on principles of social learning to enhance students’ knowledge acquisition and retention. For example, using the technique of guided participation, a teacher says a phrase and asks the class to repeat the phrase. Thus, students both imitate and reproduce the teacher’s action, aiding retention. An extension of guided participation is reciprocal learning, in which both student and teacher share responsibility in leading discussions. Additionally, teachers can shape the classroom behaviour of students by modelling appropriate behaviour and CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 213 visibly rewarding students for good behaviour. By emphasising the teacher’s role as model and encouraging the students to adopt the position of observer, the teacher can make knowledge and practices explicit to students, enhancing their learning outcomes. 11.5 Critical Evaluation The social learning approach takes thought processes into account and acknowledges the role that they play in deciding if a behaviour is to be imitated or not. As such, SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning by recognising the role of mediational processes. However, although it can explain some quite complex behaviour, it cannot adequately account for how we develop a whole range of behaviour including thoughts and feelings. We have a lot of cognitive control over our behaviour and just because we have had experiences of violence does not mean we have to reproduce such behaviour. It is for this reason that Bandura modified his theory and in 1986 renamed his Social Learning Theory, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), as a better description of how we learn from our social experiences. Some criticisms of social learning theory arise from their commitment to the environment as the chief influence on behaviour. It is limiting to describe behaviour solely in terms of either nature or nurture and attempts to do this underestimate the complexity of human behaviour. It is more likely that behaviour is due to an interaction between nature (biology) and nurture (environment). Social learning theory is not a full explanation for all behaviour. This is particularly the case when there is no apparent role model in the person’s life to imitate for a given behaviour. The discovery of mirror neurons has lent biological support to the theory of social learning. Although research is in its infancy the recent discovery of “mirror neurons” in primates may constitute a neurological basis for imitation. These are neurons which fire both if the animal does something itself, and if it observes the action being done by another. 11.6 Summary Social learning theory is a theory of learning process and social behaviour which proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

214 System and Theories instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. In addition to the observation of behaviour, learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments, a process known as vicarious reinforcement. When a particular behaviour is rewarded regularly, it will most likely persist; conversely, if a particular behaviour is constantly punished, it will most likely desist. The theory expands on traditional behavioural theories, in which behaviour is governed solely by reinforcements, by placing emphasis on the important roles of various internal processes in the learning individual. At around the same time, Clark Lewis Hull, an American psychologist, was a strong proponent of behaviourist stimulus-response theories, and headed a group at Yale University’s Institute of Human Relations. Under him, Neil Miller and John Dollard aimed to come up with a reinterpretation of psychoanalytic theory in terms of stimulus-response. This led to their book, Social Learning Theory, published in 1941, which posited that personality consisted of learned habits. They used Hull’s drive theory, where a drive is a need that stimulates a behavioural response, crucially conceiving a drive of imitation, which was positively reinforced by social interaction and widespread as a result. Julian B. Rotter, a professor at Ohio State University published his book, Social Learning and Clinical Psychology in 1954. His theories moved away from the strictly behaviourist learning of the past, and considered instead the holistic interaction between the individual and the environment. In his theory, the social environment and individual personality created probabilities of behaviour, and the reinforcement of these behaviours led to learning. He emphasised the subjective nature of the responses and effectiveness of reinforcement types. While his theory used vocabulary common to that of behaviourism, the focus on internal functioning and traits differentiated his theories, and can be seen as a precursor to more cognitive approaches to learning. Social Learning Theory has been used to explain the emergence and maintenance of deviant behaviour, especially aggression. Criminologists Ronald Akers and Robert Burgess integrated the principles of Social Learning Theory and operant conditioning with Edwin Sutherland’s Differential Association Theory to create a comprehensive theory of criminal behaviour. Burgess and Akers emphasised that criminal behaviour is learned in both social and nonsocial situations through combinations of direct reinforcement, vicarious reinforcement, explicit instruction, and observation. Both the probability of being exposed to certain behaviours and the nature of the reinforcement are dependent on group norms. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 215 Social Learning Theory proposes that rewards aren't the sole force behind creating motivation. Thoughts, beliefs, morals, and feedback all help to motivate us. Three other ways in which we learn are vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Modelling, or the scenario in which we see someone’s behaviours and adopt them as our own, aide the learning process as well as mental states and the cognitive process. Principles of Social Learning Theory have been applied extensively to the study of media violence. Akers and Burgess hypothesised that observed or experienced positive rewards and lack of punishment for aggressive behaviours reinforces aggression. Many research studies and meta- analyses have discovered significant correlations between viewing violent television and aggression later in life and many have not, as well as playing violent video games and aggressive behaviours. The role of observational learning has also been cited as an important factor in the rise of rating systems for TV, movies and video games. 11.7 Key Words/Abbreviations  Social Learning Theory: Social learning theory is a theory of learning process and social behaviour which proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others.  Criminology: Criminology is the scientific study of crime, including its causes, responses by law enforcement and methods of prevention. It is a sub-group of sociology, which is the scientific study of social behaviour.  Developmental Psychology: Developmental psychology is a scientific approach which aims to explain growth, change and consistency though the lifespan. Developmental psychology looks at how thinking, feeling, and behaviour change throughout a person’s life.  Psychotherapy: Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction with adults, to help a person change behaviour and overcome problems in desired ways.  School Psychology: School psychology is a field that applies principles of educational psychology, developmental psychology, clinical psychology and community psychology. CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

216 System and Theories 11.8 Learning Activity 1. You are required to identify the influencing factors of Social Learning Theory by Bandura. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 2. You are suggested to preapare a report on “Applications of Social Learning Theory”. _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 11.9 Unit End Exercises (MCQs and Descriptive) Descriptive Type Questions 1. Discuss in details about Social Learning Theory of Bandura. 2. Explain various applications of Social Learning Theory. 3. What is Criminology? Explain in details about Developmental Psychology. 4. What is Management? Discuss about the Media Violence and Psychotherapy. 5. Explain in details about School Psychology. 6. Discuss about the concept of Mediational Processes. 7. Explain about Critical Evaluation. Multiple Choice Questions 1. The social learning theory of Bandura emphasises the importance of observing and modeing the __________. (a) Behaviours (b) Attitudes (c) Emotional reactions (d) All the above CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

Social Learning Theory 217 2. Who states: “Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do”? (a) Bandura (b) Kurt Lewin (c) Skinner (d) Carl Jung 3. Which of the following is a theory of learning process and social behaviour which proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others? (a) Psychology (b) Social Learning Theory (c) Behavioural Theory (d) All the above 4. Which of the following is the application of Social Learning Theory? (a) Criminology (b) Developmental Psychology (c) Media Violence (d) All the above 5. Which of the following is the element of mediational processes proposed by Bandura? (a) Attention (b) Retention (c) Reproduction (d) All the above Answers: 1. (d), 2. (a), 3. (b), 4. (d), 5. (d) 11.10 References References of this unit have been given at the end of the book.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

218 System and Theories References 1. Baron, R.A. (2012), Psychology, III Edition, Prentice Hall Publications. 2. Chaplin, T. and Kraweic, T.S. (1979), Systems and Theories of Psychology, NY: Thompson Learning. 3. Ciccarelli, S.K. and Meyer, G.E. (2010), Psychology, South Asian Edition, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., Licensees of Pearson Education in South Asia. 4. Czrniawska, B. (2004), Narratives in Social Science Research, New Delhi: Sage. 5. Feldman, R.S. (2006), Understanding Psychology, IV Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publication. 6. Lionel Nicholas (2009), Introduction to Psychology, II Edition, Juta and Company Ltd. 7. Marx, M.H. and Hillix, W.A. (1978), Systems and Theories in Psychology, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publication. 8. Misra, G. (2009), Psychology in India, Pearson. 9. Santrock, J.W. (2006), Psychology Essentials, 2nd Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publication. 10. Wolman, B.B. (1995), Contemporary Theories and Systems in Psychology, Delhi: Freeman. 11. Singh, S. and Chadha, N.K. (2010), “Work Meaning Model of Leadership”, MAIMS Journal of Management, 5(1): 1-9, New Delhi.  CU IDOL SELF LEARNING MATERIAL (SLM)

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