WGSS 3998 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Social Learning Theory, Bsc Young Boys, Bulldozer

• School: UConn
• Department: Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
• Course: WGSS 3998
• Professor: Chrystal Smith

Document Summary

Almost everyone can remember childhood events that taught what a good girl or boy should or shouldn"t do. Perhaps we were expected to do gender-specific household chores boys may take out the trash, while girls set the table for dinner. According to social learning theory, people learn their characteristic behavior patterns mainly through the process of reinforcement (bandura & walters, 1963). Behavior that is followed by desirable consequences is reinforced, and is more likely to occur in the future. If a behavior is never reinforced, it will eventually stop. Reinforcement of gender-linked behaviors is not always obvious. Parents do not usually follow their little girl around feeding her candy when she picks up a doll and frowning at her when she picks up a toy bulldozer! But behavior shaping can be effective without being noticeable. The newly learned behavior may generalize to other situations debbie may begin to prefer coloring books to blocks at preschool as well as at home.