What is the difference between the behaviourist approach and social learning theory?

The behaviourist approach mainly focuses on observable events and the link between stimulus and response and none of the underlying mechanisms. For example, Pavlov only measured the responses of dogs to the presentation of the bell (the conditioned stimulus) and did not consider any mental processes occurring in the dogs. On the other hand, social learning theory (SLT) pays attention to the internal mental processes involved in learning such as the mediational processes (attention, remember, replicate, motivate).To look at it in a different way, the behaviourist approach is more deterministic as it implies that all of our behaviour is controlled by the environment and we have no mental factors influencing our behaviour.

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Answered by Daniel K. Psychology tutor

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