Question

18. What is social learning theory/observational learning? Why are children more susceptible to social learning than adults? What is the pioneer experiment that led to understanding and explaining social learning theory? How was this study basically designed?

Answer 1

Social learning theory was propounded by Bandra with his famous Bobo doll experiment.

It was the theory wherein he said that children are observational and social learners, they lick up cues from their environment and mimic those cues based on the reinforcement they receive on it. He said that children are most likely to mimic the action of an elder and/or an authority figure as they think it is right.

As children are young and at an impressionable age, it is easier to mold their ideals than that of adults, and hence they are easily inflicted and driven by this theory.

This study was designed with a Bobo doll, and an authority figure coming and lunching the Bobo doll in front of the children and leaving the children alone, later to see if they'd mimic the actions. There were two groups control group and experimental group.