Social Learning Theory Essay

The social Learning theory (SLT) suggests that behaviour is partially learnt from role models that we develop, whilst also being slightly down to genetics. It is the way that people are affected by the ones they are raised with and look up to. For example, a child might see a famous footballer playing, observe his behaviour on the pitch and try to imitate it, however the child may not have the inherited capability that is required within the genetics. This would be a restriction of the observer’s physical ability. The role models can be either live modelling or symbolic modelling. Live modelling is real people who are in the world, whether it be past or present, that have influences on the observers lives. They can either be icons and celebrities, such as musicians or sports icons, or friends

Stage 1 is attention, where somebody has to pay attention to the behaviour of the model to be able to take in a certain amount of how they act. Linking to the case of the child, he must read or watch a lot of Spiderman to be able to recreate what he does so easily. The next step is memory, which says however much of the behaviour is remembered is only what is able to be imitated. So in this case it would be that the child remembers a lot of Spiderman, such as his enemies and his costume to know that he has to imitate them to ‘become’ Spiderman. Stage 3 is the ability of the observer to be able to imitate the actions and behaviour, which is where the downfall to Liam’s game would be expected. As he cannot recreate what Spiderman really does, such as climb walls, he relies on his imagination to fill in the rest of the gaps which is easier for his young and fun mind. The final stage is motivation the observer receives when recreating the behaviour. In Liam’s case he gets plenty of reward in the form of his father’s laughter or encouragement by joining in, which makes him think that being Spiderman is a good thing to