Julian Rotter & Walter Mischel's Theories Essay

Social learning theory (SLT), cognitive approach, behaviorist approach, humanistic approach, psychodynamic approach and biological approach.

“Social learning theories focus on the effects of thought on action and action on thought” (Slavin, 2014). Social learning theories incorporates four observational phases, which are attentional phase, retention phase, reproduction and motivational phase. These four stages make up

DeLamater, John D., and Daniel J. Meyers. Social Psychology. 7th ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, May 20, 2010. Print.

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.

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.

The social learning approach as explained in P1, suggests that learn new behaviours and information by observing other that are around them. This is also known as observational learning.

Two prominent researchers, B.F. Skinner and Albert Bandura, have developed theories which provide differing perspectives and explanations regarding the learning behavior of individuals. The purpose of this writing is to explore the theoretical perspectives of Operant Conditioning Theory developed by B.F. Skinner and Social Learning Theory developed by Albert Bandura. An overview of both theories is presented, followed by a discussion of their similarities and differences.

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).

Social cognitive theory was developed by Albert Bandura (1986, 2012) and other psychologists. Social cognitive theory traditionally focuses more on learning by observation and on the cognitive processes that underlie personalities (Rathus, 2015). Additionally, social cognitive theorists see people influencing their environment as much as it influences them (Rathus, 2015). They also affirm that “variables” within people are to be considered to understand them. These can include knowledge and skills, ways of interpreting experiences, and systems and plans (Bandura, 2012). This theory focuses mainly on variables and observational learning of human behavior. Furthermore, this theory was placed third on the spectrum because of its relevance to both nature, and nurture perspectives.

well and it can be shown to affect the thought patterns people use, which in turn affect behaviour. All these are linking to Bandura Social Learning Theory“(Foundation of Psychology (2000)

A. Basic Concepts 1. Observational LearningThe Social Learning Theory says that people canlearn by watching other people perform the behavior. Observational learningexplains the nature of children to learn behaviors by watching the behaviorof the people around them, and eventually, imitating them. With the ―Bobo Doll‖ experiment(s) , Bandura included an adult who is tasked to actaggressively toward a Bobo Doll while the children observe him. Later,Bandura let the children play inside a room with the Bobo Doll.

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).

Learning is the relatively permanent change in behavior (Burns, 1995), and can come in the form of observable activities and internal processes. Explanations of what happens when these actions occur are known as learning theories. These theories include behaviorist, cognitivist, humanist, social learning and constructivist. In this essay behaviorist and cognitivists will be described, compared and contrasted in order to truly understand their approache.

In regards to social cognitive theory, one is looking at the fact that people learn by observing behavioral

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