Social Learning Theory & Phobias

I'm really confused about how the social learning theory is linked to phobias :confused:

Is it merely just observing a role model who avoids certain stimuli and therefore we imitate them by avoiding the same stimuli which accounts for irrational phobias? Or is there more to the explanation? :colondollar:

Reply 1

BananaWhale

4

Is this Bandura's Social Learning Theory?

Basically, in a nutshell, behaviour can be learned though Observational Learning, observing behaviour, and then imitating that behaviour.
E.g. young children imitating things their parents do.

We then had to talk about the effect of punishment and reinforcement.

If behaviour is rewarded, it is more likely to be imitated. If behaviour is punished, it will be less likely to be imitated.
Indirect Reinforcement is when a person observes another persons behaviour, and the other person being rewarded. (Someone else)
Direct Reinforcement is when a person imitates a behaviour, and is rewarded for it themselves. (Yourself).

Indirect Punishment is when a person observes another persons behavior, and the other person is punished. (Someone else)
Direct Punishment is when a person imitates a behaviour, and is punished for it themselves. (Yourself).

Bandura did an experiment to test his theory on children. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment

Sorry if this wasn't what you were looking for. I just wrote the basics of what we got taught for our WJEC Psychology PY1 exam.

Good luck :smile:

Reply 2

idontcare------

5

I'll try and answer this lol... So basically SLT suggests that phobias can be caused by vicarious reinforcement and modelling. Mineka et al and Coombes et al both did experiments that showed how animals observe other animals, and when the other animals has a fear of something, they’ll learn from that. This is because of SLT, so there’s a link between SLT and phobias.

I hope that made a tiny bit of sense.

Reply 3

the'blonde'

3

Original post by BananaWhale

Is this Bandura's Social Learning Theory?

Basically, in a nutshell, behaviour can be learned though Observational Learning, observing behaviour, and then imitating that behaviour.
E.g. young children imitating things their parents do.

We then had to talk about the effect of punishment and reinforcement.

If behaviour is rewarded, it is more likely to be imitated. If behaviour is punished, it will be less likely to be imitated.
Indirect Reinforcement is when a person observes another persons behaviour, and the other person being rewarded. (Someone else)
Direct Reinforcement is when a person imitates a behaviour, and is rewarded for it themselves. (Yourself).

Indirect Punishment is when a person observes another persons behavior, and the other person is punished. (Someone else)
Direct Punishment is when a person imitates a behaviour, and is punished for it themselves. (Yourself).

Bandura did an experiment to test his theory on children. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_doll_experiment

Sorry if this wasn't what you were looking for. I just wrote the basics of what we got taught for our WJEC Psychology PY1 exam.

Good luck :smile:

how

Reply 4

SupposedlyIronic

21

Original post by the'blonde'

how

This thread is 8 years old, and what do you mean by “how” lol?

Reply 5

gutonwalter

4

Original post by Issy123

I'm really confused about how the social learning theory is linked to phobias :confused:

Is it merely just observing a role model who avoids certain stimuli and therefore we imitate them by avoiding the same stimuli which accounts for irrational phobias? Or is there more to the explanation? :colondollar:

The social learning theory correlates with phobias. It provides that people learn both the emotions and actions of their role models. For example, children learn the emotion of fear by observing how parents react to threats.

Social Learning Theory & Phobias

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