3.1.6—Social learning and health
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2027
- Objective
- 3.1.6
- Level
- SL
Social learning can spread health behaviour through models and consequences
Social learning theory explains behaviour through observation, imitation and the social consequences attached to a model. Vicarious reinforcement changes expectations even when the observer is not directly rewarded.
Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation mediate whether an observed behaviour is learned and performed. The model's status, similarity and context influence what is noticed and whether imitation is feasible.
A teenager who sees a respected peer praised for using a bike helmet may remember the behaviour and adopt it later. The example supports a pathway, not a guarantee: access, skills and social norms still constrain action.
Seeing a behaviour is not the same as performing it, and correlation between media exposure and health behaviour does not prove imitation caused it. Name the mediating process.