Does Social Learning Theory illustrate conformity?

[Negotiation]

I was looking at a post with notes for the learning outcome "Outline principles that define the sociocultural level of analysis" here: http://ibpsychnotes.com/scloa-lo/lo1/

Under "Human beings have a need to belong" the Asch study is used as an example. Logical, because the need to belong is what controls conformity.

However, under "Culture influences behavior", the Bandura Doll study is listed. This strikes me as odd, as the subjects here aren't really being influenced by a culture, but are simply conforming to some behavior they see.

Wouldn't it be more appropriate to, say, refer to the study of IBM employees from different countries that showed differences in the ways people from different cultures perceived things?

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Also, should the game show study of 1977 be referred to as Lee (et al) or as Ross (Amabile & Steinmetz). If I'm not mistaken the researcher is called Lee Ross, so is Ross more appropriate? I've seen both be used, and my psych teacher says Lee is used more.

[~Lc~]

I think they mean it to be a behavioral rather than a cultural influence, you're right to doubt the example, as it's not specific to cultural learning per say. But the same idea is related to cultural learning. Let me explain:

The Bobo dolls experiment showed how children repeated what they saw. Cultural practices can be considered the conventional practices of a certain society, so instead of the doll being beaten you have "culture" being observed.

I haven't gone over the IBM experiment... So can't comment on that!

[just8food]

The Bobo doll experiment for the principle: "culture influences behavior"? That is odd!

And no, I don't think Social Learning theory is substantive enough to illustrate conformity. It could be argued that vicarious learning is a form of informational influence, but I don't think this covers much ground.

For this principle I think it would be far easier to use a simple study based on illustrating cultural differences. Hoefstede's research on different cultural dimensions displayed by IBM employees is good, but I find it a large study to cover and often my descriptions of it are very vague, making evaluation difficult.

For my LAQ on this learning objective I used a study conducted by Kashima and Triandis (1986). It's a short simple and sweet study in illustrating how culture could influence behavior.

And finally, I don't think your examiners will cut marks on using the researcher's last name or first. If its in the book, you can write it down on the paper.