Children Learn Through Imitation : Social Cognitive Theory Essay

Albert Bandura is one of the pioneers in the study of human development. His biographical background lays a good foundation for the basis of his work as a psychologist. His social cognitive theory will be examined in detail to highlight the effect that environment has on behavior. There are four basic features to the theory introduced by Bandura that will be discussed; (1) observational learning, (2) self-regulation, (3) self-efficacy, and (4) reciprocal determinism. All four features combined will prove to offer a keen insight into the environmental aspect of our behavior.

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

The two theories discussed here will be the Psychodynamic Theory and the Social Learning Theory. Psychodynamic theories include the wisdom of Freud and Jung. Freud discusses, defense mechanisms, understanding the ego as it relates to rational thinking and the superego in regard to mortality. Whereas the Social Learning Theory includes those works from Bandura, Watson, and Piaget among others. This theory will focus on imitation, observation and modeling another’s behavior to achieve a certain desired outcome. Although their conceptual theories differ, they both reflect, shape, and interpret the very essence of the human psyche and how we have evolved and developed over the years.

Beginning in the 1950’s, theorists began to shift learning theory’s focus from animals to social learning. The focus was to examine patterns of behavior by humans acting in a social world, and evaluate the cognitive structures that people use to interpret events. Social learning theory combines social learning and the study of cognition. The key concepts of Social Learning theory are: personality is influenced because of the individual’s interactions with the social environment, and people influence their own development through interactions with the environment. The theory uses a social-cognitive approach that is used by scientists and researchers.

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.

On the other hand, Bandura explains in his social cognitive theory (1986), which is build on earlier learning approaches, that developmental factors in children are more complex and involve more factors. Bandura‘s emphasis lies on the influences social experiences have on children‘s behaviour. Nevertheless, the theory also indicates that children do also play an active role by observing their environment. For example,

Social cognitive personality development has some similarity as behaviorism. Behavioral and Social learning theories consists of four characteristic: Behaviorism, Basic Principles of Conditioning, Social Learning theory, and Social-Cognitive Theory. Behavioral is regarded as “attitude change, language acquisition, psychotherapy, student-teacher interaction, problem solving, gender roles, and job satisfaction.” Social learning is regarded as “thoughts, morals, expectancies, and individual insights” (Burger, 2010). Social-Cognitive theory as described by Albert Bandura engages in thinking and symbolic learning from observation. Behaviorism holds that people are conditioned, or trained, to respond in certain ways by rewards and punishments. Bandura suggested that there must be a way that people can

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).

The social learning theory suggests that people learn new behaviors through observation of factors in their environment, by taking note of other’s

The social cognitive theory was developed by Albert Bandura. According to Schunk (2016), Bandura developed the theory of observational learning to show how to acquire and perform diverse skills, behaviors, and strategies (p.118). Principles of the social cognitive theory are used to learn cognitive, motor,

Bandura quickly learned that classical and operant conditioned theories could not explain human learning within its complex forms and he found that when someone possessed the required sills for certain behaviors, he or she could learn to extend a repertoire of skills by observing a model performing those behaviors. During the 1960s and 70s, Bandura showed through several studies that humans can learn through modeling. It was not until the 1970s that Bandura extended his theory into a sociocognitive one, and he theorized about a process called reciprocal determinism, which is behavior determined by the complex interaction of personal, behavioral, and situational or contextual factors; this is also called triadic reciprocality, meaning that behavior, cognitive processes, and environmental variables interact. Another aspect of Bandura’s theory is the concept of self-efficacy or a client’s perception that he or she can successfully perform certain behaviors to produced desired outcomes (Sapp,

Albert Bandura (1977), the originator of social learning theory, focused his research on the process of how people learn through observation. Social Learning stems from a cognitive and behavioral theory model. This is demonstrated through the well-known Bobo Doll experiment. The experiment entailed a child observing an adult being aggressive towards the Bobo Doll (Pavlov et al., 1961). The results indicated that children imitated the observed behaviors of being aggressive towards the doll (Pavlov et al., 1961).

Effective social learning theories do not just explain behaviors, they build bridges. Few experts believe that social or even biologically determined actions arise in isolation: they come about as a result of a variety of factors that may be located inside or outside of the subject, but eventually they come together in combination. It is this recognition that has formed the basis (at least in retrospect) for the long-lasting impact of Bandura's social learning or now social cognitive theory of behavior. It is a theory that can be its own agent for building a better self (Bandura, Agentic, n.d.).

Albert Bandura Born 1925 social learning theorist accepts the principle of conditioning but believe there are other ways of learning such as learning by watching. Social learning theorists think that people also learn by observing others. This is called ‘observational learning’. Early years workers have seen children copy other children or adults. This is spontaneous children will naturally learn by copying rather than someone showing or teaching them. Research shows that children and young people can only copy something but not others. Cognition seems to play an important part in this as children need to be able to notice the activity and also be able to remember it fully. Bandura calls this ‘social cognitive theory’

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.