Albert Bandura Social Learning Theory

Noteworthy due mostly to the work of Albert Bandura, social learning theory attempts to explain behavior through the interaction of three variables: the environment, the behavior, and psychological processes. With his model, Bandura stepped away from strict behaviorism and opened the doors for the cognitivist movement. His premise is that human behavior and learning is influenced by a complex network of observations made about the behaviors, beliefs, and emotional responses of those in our

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory describes the process through which people acquire new info, forms of behavior, or attitudes from others firsthand or vicariously. The likelihood of a behavior presenting itself will rely on the amount of reinforcement it receives and the value that the individual associates to it. While some behavior may be rewarded, others may produce unfavorable responses. An individual will learn from the consequences of these actions and when a similar situation arises, they will alter their behavior according to what was most successful in the past.

Social learning theory, developed by Bandura, discusses how people learn from one another through observation, modeling, and imitation bridging an individual’s attention, memory and motivation. Social learning theory identifies the importance of cognition, observable behavior, individual self-efficacy, and the extent of how the events surrounding an individual affect them; their locus of control. Social learning theory also looks at individual problem behavior being influenced by positive or negative reinforcement (Ashford & LeCroy, 2012).

Behaviouristic theories of learning are essentially theories of conditioning and emphasize the role of reinforcement in learning. One of the mot predominant theories is Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which assumes that. People learn through observing others’ behavior, attitudes, and outcomes of those behaviors which is called observational learning, that is an indirect form of learning known as vicarious learning and indirect forms of reinforcement which is called vicarious reinforcement .Bandura renamed SLT as social cognitive theory to accommodate the ever increasing importance in his thinking of cognitive factors .SLT has also

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia (NSW Government Health, 2017), with around 1.9 million people using it per year (National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 2010). If a person is caught using, selling or giving cannabis to someone else they can face substantial fines and penalties including a prison sentence. This essay will argue that social learning theory best explains cannabis use in Australia, and other Western nations. I will be outlining the health impacts of cannabis on individuals and showing how socioeconomic status (SES) and age are highly influential factors in determining cannabis use. I will then define social learning theory and argue why it’s the most appropriate theory in explaining cannabis use causation.

Roughly 1.4 million children living in the United States, which weighs between 2 and 3 percent of the population under 18, experience some form of child maltreatment a year (Wissow, 1995). All in all, child maltreatment is the intentional harm or threat of harm to a child. Yet, child maltreatment can easily be broken into the categories of child abuse and child neglect (Simons, Simons & Wallace, 2004). Moreover, this essay will focus on child abuse which singles in on physical injury or threat by the child’s caretaker.

In this essay, I will try to evaluate Social learning theory as originated by Albert Bandura. I am going to use three pieces of evidence, in a form of case studies, which have been done previously to support or contradict Bandura’s theory. I will demonstrate my knowledge of these studies throughout their analysis, trying to highlight their strengths and limitations.

The HBO television show Game of Thrones is known for its abrasive language, violence, and sexual content. These shocking factors are what attract many viewers because there are not many other shows that are so openly proud of these elements. On the contrary, these factors have also turned away viewers from this show because it is just too vulgar, just too violent, and just too obscene. One character, King Joffrey, is known for being particularly cruel and unfair. He is usually seen on screen sentencing someone to death or finding new ways to torture his soon to be wife. But Joffrey is King, meaning no one can punish him and what he does is accepted. Social Learning Theory teaches us that one learns through observations. The normalcy of Joffrey’s actions demonstrates to the audience that

Akers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).

Social cognitive theory, also known as social learning theory, “a theory of learning that focuses on changes in behaviour that result from observing others” (Bandura 2001 as cited in Eggen,Kauchak, 2013). According to Simons(1994, p.43) Social learning Theory is the view of psychologists who emphasize that behaviour is learned through experiences with the environment and that cognitive factors influence learning. Albert Bandura is the theorist behind this psychological theory. According to a survey conducted in 2002, Bandura was ranked as the third most frequently cited psychologist of all time (Eggen,Kauchak, 2010). Social Cognitive Theory emphasizes the roles of beliefs, self-perceptions, and learner expectations (Eggen,Kauchak.2010). According to social cognitive theorists learning is viewed as a change in a person’s mental processes that stimulates the capacity to demonstrate different behaviours (Hill, 2002 as cited in Eggen,Kauchak, 2010).

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory is a theory that includes development theories in order to understand how children learn. Bandura’s theory is based on how people can learn by observing others, how internal mental states influence people, and how learning something does not change one’s behavior every time. Bandura was able to find out that people learn by three observational models. The first model is the live model which includes observing how someone demonstrates the behavior, the verbal instruction model which learning occurs through auditory directions, and the symbolic model where modeling occurs through media sources such as internet, movies, and books.

SLT is grounded in the fact that humans acquire behaviors throughout their lifetime by acquiring knowledge through observation and modeling. People socially influence each other through their interactions, and typically change their desirable behaviors due to positive or negative outcomes observed (Nabavi, 2012). Bandura notes the fundamental elements of SLT include interaction of both individuals and situations. Learning the effects of SLT from observing others’ behaviors and situations can directly influence a person’s choice, as both parts are a result of the other (Hanna, Crittenden, & Crittenden, 2013).

Albert Bandura is considered the developer of social learning theory, which is also known as social cognitive theory (Corey, 2013; Feist et al., 2013; Thoma et al., 2015). Badura’s theory, while based upon the principles of behaviorism, departs from the traditional behavioral model and leaves room for the exploration of unobservable mental states and their influence on behavior (Corey, 2013; Thoma et al., 2015). Social Cognitive theory bases its theory of learning on two types of learning processes: observational learning and enactive learning (Feist et al., 2013). In contrast to Skinner’s belief that reinforcement is required for learning, Bandura believes that learning is possible simply by observing the behavior of others; while reinforcement facilitates learning, it is not a necessary requirement (Feist et al., 2013). Enactive learning is learning through direct experience, and is similar to the concept of operant conditioning; people determine appropriate behaviors by evaluating their behavior and the potential consequences thereof (Feist et al., 2013). Where behavioral theory adopts the ABC approach to behavior, social cognitive theory uses a BPE approach known as Triadic Reciprocal Causation. In TRC, BPE stands for behavior, person variables, and environment (Feist et al., 2013). Within the TRC, the term person encompasses many variables including memory, judging, anticipation, gender, social position, physical attributes, and planning; the belief is that

Based on Bandura’s social learning theory, human development is continuous. This concludes that people are constantly changing, developing, gathering skills, watching and performing. Using Ben as an example, he gradually learned certain things in the ESL classroom. As I previously mentioned, writing was very difficult for him upon arriving to the U.S. Ben first learned how to hold a pencil properly, overserving from others and pictures that we provided to him, then he learned how to write his ABC’s, next he learned how to spell his name, and lastly proceeded to form words and write out short paragraphs independently. This demonstrates a smooth process, which Ben had to perform before attempting to write short papers in class.

The observational learning is about the process in which people learns by just observing other people behaviors. This completely relates to the learning process of the students within the school system. It is significant information to be familiar with in order to teach student in effective and adequate matter. Since children are born are constantly observing how people around them behave. It is here when children begin to imitate and internalized the behavior attitude to repeat the observe behavior. Moreover, as an educator in the secondary education level I will take advantage of this useful learning theory to incorporate its benefits in the classroom setting.