How does Social Learning Theory extend the Behaviourist approach?

• A. By focusing on genetics
• B. By emphasising punishment only
• C. By incorporating cognitive factors and observational learning, including mediational processes
• D. By removing imitation

Answer: (C)

Social Learning Theory extends the Behaviourist approach by showing that learning can occur through watching others and through internal mental processes, not just through direct reinforcement. It introduces mediational processes—attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation—that determine whether observed behaviour is learned and later performed. For instance, a model being rewarded can influence imitation (vicarious reinforcement), but you also need to attend to the behaviour, remember it, be capable of reproducing it, and be motivated to do so. This explains how people can learn from others without direct reinforcement and highlights imitation as a key mechanism. The other statements don’t fit: genetics isn’t the focus of this theory, punishment-only ignores observational learning and cognition, and removing imitation would remove a central process of how learning occurs in this framework.