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Social and Cognitive Learning
Origins
• Classical and Operant conditioning railed
against since their inception
• Dollard and Miller propose “Social Learning
Theory” in 1940’s
– Most learning done through observation of others
in social context
• Social learning theorists believe that attitudes,
beliefs and expectations affect our behaviors
• Called Social-cognitive learning theories today
Social-cognitive Learning Theories
• Emphasize interaction between thoughts, beliefs
and expectations on one hand and behavior on
the other
• Often emphasize the influence of immediate
environment on person’s actions like behaviorists
• Differ in their belief that people choose the
situations to get into in the first place, and
thoughts and feelings affect behavior in the
situation
4 Phenomena of Social Cognitive
Learning
• Latent learning- learning not immediately expressed
(Tolman and Honzik 1930 Rats and Mazes)
• Observational Learning-learning by watching others and
the consequences they receive (Bandura, Ross and Ross
1963 Aggression)
• Perceptions and Interpretations of events-2 People can look
at something and see different things (Media and Violence
Studies and Potential Bidirectional Ambiguity)
• Motivating Beliefs-any process that causes a person to
move toward of goal or away from unpleasentness
• Major Factors
– Locus of Control
– Explanatory Style
– Self-Efficacy
Locus of Control
• Are your actions under your control or the
control of an external force?
– based on past experiences we develop selffulfilling prophecies-expectations lead to behavior
that makes a prediction come true
– The more internal the locus of control the more
likely a person is to actively try to fix problems
– Locus of control can vary across cultures
– Can be affected by person’s position and
experiences in society
Explanatory Style
• Optimism vs. pessimism
• Pessimists explain things as:
– Internal
– Stable
– Global
• Optimists explain things as:
– External
– Unstable
– Limited in impact
Self-Efficacy
• The conviction that you can successfully accomplish what you set
out to do
• Comes from 4 sources:
–
–
–
–
Experience in mastering new skills and overcoming obstacles
Successful and competent role models
Feedback and encouragement from others
Learning to read and manage your own physiological state
• Deciding how to deal with failure via self-efficacy is what separates
social-cognitive researchers from behaviorists
• Much of what we accomplish is based on the type of goals we set
– Performance goals-put focus on success in performing and failure is
seen as internal and no attempt is made to improve
– Mastery goals-focus is on increasing competence and skills, failure is
seen as part of learning process (more intrinsic value)
Learning the Rules of Gender
• Anatomically we are born male or female for
most part
• Masculinity and Femininity (Gender) are learned
according to social-cognitive theory
• Secure gender identity is not established until 4-5
– Gender identity-fundamental sense of maleness or
femaleness
• Throughout life we experience gender typing
– Gender typing-the norms of abilities, interests, traits
and behaviors placed on an individual by society
about what is masculine and what is feminine
Early Learning Theories about Gender
• Often times looked at explicit, intentional
reinforcements as the cause of gender typing
• Found that children act out stereotypes
regardless of what parents do and children are
not passive imitators and are conformist in nature
• Now they look at:
– Subtle and unintended reinforcers
– Development of children’s cognitive understanding of
gender
– Specific situations a child is in
Hidden Reinforcers
• Parents and teachers often give subtle
messages to children they do not even realize
they are sending
– (Fagot et al., 1985) Showed adults respond
differently to boys and girls responding
aggressively, led to distinct gender difference a
year after testing
– (Jacobs and Eccles 1985) Showed attitudes about
math abilities in boys and girls affected outcome
Gender Schemas
• A mental network of beliefs, metaphors and
expectations about what it means to be male
or female
• Once formed, children seem to conform to
this
• Boys gender schemas seem more rigid than
girls.
– May be due to status afforded to males in society
Gender in Social Context
• Importance of Gender changes depending on
context of situation
Learning to be Moral
• A moral person is defined as someone who is
kind, fair, and responsible (Schulman and
Meckler, 1994)
• Involves empathy, intentions, conscience,
considerate and responsible behavior
• Social Cognitive explanation extends
understanding beyond biological, behavioral
and cognitive approaches by being multifaceted
Behavioral approach to Morality
• Based on rewards and punishments growing
up
• Ignores the fact that rewarding good behavior
does not produce life long good behavior
• Also ignores developing of cognitive
categories such as “right and wrong” or “good
and bad”
• Punishment can be counterproductive in
teaching behavior
Cognitive Approach to Morality
• Based on Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
• 3 universal levels of moral development consisting of 2
stages each
– Preconventional Morality (0-10)
• Stage 1-rules obeyed to avoid punishment
• Stage 2-in best interest to obey rules
– Conventional Morality (10-11)
• Stage 1-based on conformity and loyalty to others
• Stage 2-understanding of principles of law and justice
– Postconventional Morality (Not reached by all)
• Stage 1-some laws are immoral and must be changed
• Stage 2-Follow conscience over laws even at great risk
Kohlberg’s Theories Flaws
• Overlooks educational and cultural influences
on moral reasoning
• People’s Moral Reasoning often inconsistent
across situations
• Moral Reasoning is often unrelated to moral
behavior
Gilligan’s Cognitive Theory (1982)
• Men base decisions on Abstract Principles of
law and justice, women base decisions on
compassion and caring
• Not founded in research
• Both sexes say they use compassion and
fairness in coming to decisions
• Proves we can not assume that moral
behavior is consistent, but depends on the
situation and the issue
Social Cognitive Learning and Morality
• Moral Emotions
– Individuals are seemingly inborn with a moral sense
based on attachment to parents
• Causes adoption of parents standard of behavior
• Move from external reasons (punishment) to internal
reasons (Shame) as they grow
• Allows for empathy, shame and guilt to develop
– Empathy-ability to feel bad about another person’s
unpleasantness
– Shame-wound to the self-concept (how others perceive you)
– Guilt-emotion felt when not living to internal standards
• Seems to apply across cultures
• Parental Lessons
– How parents deal with you will shape your moral
standards
– Power assertion (using strength advantage), often
used, but prevents internalization of moral values and
leads to a negative cycle of behavior based on
inconsistency
– Permissiveness will produce similar results
– Induction seems to be the best strategy
• Requires statement of rules clearly and consistent
enforcement with explanations for punishment
• The Larger Culture
– Adult expectations have a huge influence on moral
behavior and these expectations vary widely
across cultures
• Westerners more egotistic and less altruistic than
people from eastern cultures