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  • Essay / Social learning theory and its development in children's observational learning

    In order to learn how to behave, sometimes we need to learn through observational learning. This is emphasized by Albert Bandura's social learning theory, which states that humans learn new behaviors by observing and imitating others and being rewarded or punished for doing so. Social learning theory is demonstrated in Bandura's 1961 study of how children can use observational learning, in Joy et al. of 1986 on how the introduction of television can increase aggression, and in the study by Charlton et al. television has affected the behaviors of a remote community. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essaySocial learning theory is a type of learning dependent on observing patterns and is also determined by factors affecting the willingness to learn, the retention of, the ability to learn, and the ability to reproduce the behavior. Social learning theory is essentially about learning behaviors through observation and imitation and being rewarded or punished for the learned behavior. Through observational learning, we learn new behaviors by observing and imitating patterns that tend to have a direct effect on our behavior. Examples of role models might be the teacher, parents, or an older sibling. Although models have a direct effect on how we behave, they influence their observers indirectly and do not intentionally influence our behavior. Furthermore, according to Albert Bandura, the four factors involved in social learning are attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation. Learners need attention in order to give the model enough focus to learn the new behavior. Next, the learner needs retention in order to remember what he or she has learned. Subsequently, the learner uses motor reproduction to practice and reproduce the learned behavior. But most importantly, the learner must have the motivation or desire to learn the behavior to first commit to observing the model. Some of the factors that determine whether we choose to observe the model would be how much we admire and respect the model, how similar we are to the model, whether the model is rewarded or punished for their behavior, the consistency of the model's behaviors . , and if the model adopts a behavior for which he has high personal effectiveness. Social learning theory is good because it demonstrates how behaviors are transmitted culturally and through the family, because one's most familiar environment constantly presents models to learn from. Additionally, this proves the fact that children do not need to go through trial and error to learn a behavior as they can simply learn through observation. Finally, social learning theory shows how normative standards are developed and how behaviors are internalized, particularly after models broadcast their behavior through observations of people. However, social learning theory cannot always be the definitive cause of why a behavior is learned because there is a gap between when one observes the pattern and when one performs behavior, leaving some unsure of how a behavior is learned. In Albert Bandura (1961), the experimenters aimed to determine whetherimitated aggression in children would occur when exposed to aggressive adults and another aim was to determine whether children would prefer to imitate behavior from a role model of the same sex. The study collected a sample of children aged 3 to 6, and they acquired 36 boys and 36 girls. The children were divided equally between three groups, one group where the children had to watch a video in which an adult physically and verbally abused a Bobo doll, another group where the children watched a video of an adult assembling a toy for 10 minutes, and a control group. group where the children observed nothing. In order to evenly distribute children's aggression in each group so that not all aggressive children were in one group, they surveyed their teachers and parents to determine the children's aggression group. At first, the children were placed in a room where they played with toys. Soon after, the children learned that the toys were for other children and were taken to a room where there was a Bobo doll. The experiment yielded results demonstrating that people exposed to videos of aggressive adults generally treated the Bobo dolls with physical and verbal abuse similar to those who watched the adult assembling the toys. This supports Bandura's social learning theory which mentions that children learn behaviors through observation and imitation and by being rewarded or punished for the learned behavior. In addition, the results also showed that boys denounced aggressive actions towards Bobo dolls when women behaved violently. Thus, demonstrating that children tend to imitate only role models of the same gender and that there are certain socio-cultural norms that are followed due to children's attitude. own experience. The impressive and interesting parts of the study were the extensive manipulation of variables to ensure control of the study. For example, the equitable distribution of aggressive children to control the aggressive personality factor and ensure the discovery of same-sex adult affect by ensuring gender diversity. In addition, the control groups made it possible to reveal the effects of the manipulative variables of the two adult videos, because the experimental groups could compare their results there. Although the study supports social learning theory, it has some limitations, such as the low ecological validity demonstrated by the unnatural laboratory setting and the fact that children had to interact with Bobo dolls rather than with a real person. As a result, the findings can certainly ensure that situation can actually predict behavioral effects on children when exposed to violent television, and we do not know whether the results are related to aggression in general or to this situation. specific. Other methodological considerations may be limiting, such as the fact that parents' and teachers' opinions may not have been entirely accurate regarding the child's typical behavior, possibly invalidating the balance of aggression between all groups. Furthermore, adult violence toward Bobo dolls may not have been completely standardized; therefore, children may have observed slight differences in the display of aggression. Another limitation may be the demand characteristics of the experimenters, as the child may have acted aggressively in order to please the researcher. Finally, there are ethical issues related to teaching children about violent behavior and howStrangers acting violently can frighten children. This is worrying because there is no guarantee that the teaching of violent behavior will not be a permanent feature or will be widespread in other situations. In the study by Joy et al. (1986) on the introduction of television to a Canadian town, he compared growth in children's aggressive behavior in a town that began with exposure to television in a remote town that had recently been exposed to television in order to see if the . In 1973, the Canadian town of Notel gained access to television for the first time. This was not due to television antipathy, but to a lack of sufficient reception. Joy et al. decided to take advantage of this event by carrying out a double-blind longitudinal test on a cohort of 45 first and second year children. Additionally, he had two control groups of children from two different cities where television is regularly watched. After two years, Joy et al. measured growth in aggression and found that the rate of harmful behaviors (e.g. shoving, biting, and hitting) did not increase substantially for the two control groups, but increased sharply. 160% (P < 0.001). Therefore, the results support the social learning theory through the positive correlational relationship between television exposure and physical aggression rates found in the city of Notel. This particularly shows the impact of the new exposure to television as it provides children with another role model. observe and imitate, which further reinforces the behavior by rewarding viewers for their aggressive actions. The positive aspects of the study are the high ecological validity due to the method of a natural experiment where the experimenter did not intervene in the children's lives to hinder the authenticity of their behaviors. In addition, the choice to conduct a double-blind test eliminates the risk of demand characteristics appearing on the part of those tested and the experimenter's unintentional intervention in the child's life. Finally, the use of control groups gives drivers a point of comparison with the experimental group and really shows how the control groups' growth rate of aggression pales in comparison to Notel's growth experiment. However, in the study, since there was no manipulation of the variables, there is no control over potential environmental factors that could influence children's behaviors. Ultimately, since this was not a controlled experiment, it cannot be assumed that exposure to television at Notel caused an increase in aggressive behavior. In the study by Charlton et al. (2002) on observing the introduction of television in the On the isolated island of Saint Helena, conductors measure the effects of recent exposure to television by observing and questioning the growth of aggressive or antisocial behavior resulting from observational learning and imitation of televised violence. The study was a natural experiment where children aged 3 to 8 were observed before and after television installation through the perspective of cameras on the playgrounds of two primary schools. Additionally, the number of assaults shown on television was equal to those shown in the UK. Additionally, researchers use triangulation methods to seek more information about increases in antisocial or aggressive behavior due to television observations and imitations through interviews with teachers, parents, and older children . THE..