Social Learning Theory On Behavior Essay

With reference to chosen theory of learning (behaviourist, social learning) discuss its application to patient education in context of general nursing.

Although, gender typing might be considered an external factor, gender schema theory suggests that children are pre-programmed to construct or establish beliefs about the sexes. The child will formulate gender-stereotyped preferences and demeanors from others. One example could be picture day at school and the child formulates that girls wear dresses and boys wear slacks by observing those around them. Another example can be when children are on the playground where girls are more likely to be seen playing house and boys playing war. Since gender schema theory is an information processing approach, it further explains that environmental strains and a child’s cognitions work together to pattern gender-role evolution.

Children learn as early as age two what it means to be a “boy” or a “girl” (Aina & Cameron). This is described as gender identity, a person’s sense of self as male or female. Gender stereotyping emerges hand in hand with the development of gender identity in Early Childhood (Halim). Gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes and activities of males and females. When babies are born they are either put in pink or blue, as they grow up they still maintain the same “gender” colors. As young children start to socialize, they are playing with either “girl” toys or “boy” toys. When they get older they

Once a child is born, he or she learns to view the world based on the behaviors of others. The child’s primary caregivers, usually the parents, and others present in the child’s environment, such as siblings, peers, teachers, and even the media, contribute to the development of the child’s perception of himself, those around him, and society overall. This concept is called socialization. “The way we are, behave and think is the final product of socialization” and it is through socialization that we “learn what is appropriate and improper for both genders” (Crespi, 2004). This concept of gender socialization leads to the inescapable

Behaviorism and social learning theory are examples of two mechanistic theories that focus on explaining children’s behavior. Social learning theory emphasizes observational learning and imitation. On the other hand, behaviorism is rooted in focusing on how the environment impacts development. The environment shapes the child’s development as the child strives to adapt to the environment. Both theories deal with explaining behavior and consist of similarities, but are composed of different elements of explaining behavior.

Many cultures and communities that exist around the planet, and each one has their own gender roles and social norms. People within these communities are raised barakaided by these stereotypes since the day they are born. The categories for these genders are passed on from generation-to-generation making them more difficult to defy. Children in their early childhood begin connecting the building blocks of specific characteristics to certain genders unknowingly because of the environment they are exposed to. With everything from children’s toys to snack packages displaying gender specific characteristics is what is leading to gender stereotypical terms that are heard on a day-to-day basis in common areas. The consequences to such classifying

Gender- role stereotypes are well-ingrained cognitive schemes we use to interpret and categorize behaviors as either being masculine or feminine. As early as age two and three, children are able to recognize and label themselves as either male or female; around age four or five children have already started to prefer activities defined by the culture as appropriate for their sex and they also begin to prefer to engage in play activities with same-sex peers (Bem, 1981). In the past, researchers have come up with proposals and theories that attempt to explain this phenomenon. “The gender schema theory proposes that the phenomenon of sex typing derives, in part, from gender-based schematic processing, from a generalized readiness to process

Coltrane and Adams argue images of others and we are largely developed by gender stereotypes, which provide a baseline for cultural differences between men and women. It has also been argued that early cognition about gender is influenced more by the overall delegation of gender in society rather than the gender portrayal occurring within individual families said by O’Brien. Researchers remain interested in the topic of gender largely because of its pervasive influence on social attitudes and behavior of an individual, as well as evidence that children's perceptions of gender limits their options open to them.

In order to determine whether or not stereotypes have an impact on a child’s development, we must look at the roots at which their ideas on gender develop. At the age of two, toddlers will begin to use stereotypes during play; girls are to play with “feminine” toys and boys “masculine” toys. This raises the question; where do children learn stereotypes? Stereotypes are mainly influenced by parents or guardians, who they themselves have ideas on what gender is, all taught by societal standards we seem to uphold. They choose what is appropriate for girls and boys to wear, play with, watch, participate in, and act. All these things begin to influence a child’s interests and choices. Children are also influenced by their peers. Gender

Social learning theory is when an person can learn from another individual’s behaviour via imitation, modelling and observation. This theory can be a model for this policy because others can learn from observing other drug users using a safe environment for the legal use of their drugs. This creates a safe environment because it allows drug users to have a safe and smart environment, where they can use and disposal their rubbish in the correct way. This can create a snowball effect and many drug users can learn from observing others using these safe rooms. This theory shows that drug users learn from these faculties and that it is a safe environment with emergency staff on site and keeps the use of drugs out of the public’s eye.

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).

Also social learning theory can be applied to peer group influence to increase risk of drug use. This social learning theory argued that various deviant behaviors are associated with deviant peer groups (Akers, 1998; Sutherland, 1948; cited in Rebellon and Gundy, 2006, p.515). It is coincides with delinquency theory that the relationship with delinquent peers appears as a primary indicator of illicit drug misuse. (Akers, 1998; Akers, Krohn, Lanza-Kaduce, & Radosevich, 1979; Akers & Lee, 1996; Akers & Lee, 1999; Damphousse & Kaplan, 1998; Duncan et al., 1994; Duncan et al., 1995; Esbensen & Elliott, 1994, cited in Rebellon and Gundy, 2006, p.515). The study also concluded that peer pressure and drug use in siblings are major risk factors for

The Behavioral Learning Theory believes that behavior is learned from either the environment, the people in the individual's life, the media, or society as a whole. This theory contradicts the Biological theory, which states that criminals are "born to be bad" and that criminal behavior is inherited. The behavioral theory looks at the environment as well as society's impact on how an individual acts which might be the reason for criminal behavior. This theory blames the environment as well as the individual by saying it is a learned behavior and that it also was a choice they made. A basic assumption is that behavior is learned and modeled by individuals, groups, the media, and society as a whole.

Another form of social influence is obedience. Obedience occurs when an individual acts in response to an order by a person in authority whether that order goes against what they know to be right or not. This can be done to gain acceptance or to avoid punishment. Obedience accounts for a large amount of the medication errors that happen in hospitals each day. An example of this is a nurse following a doctor’s order even when the doctor’s orders go against her professional obligations. This was demonstrated in an experiment conducted by C. Hofling. In Hofling’s experiment 22 nurses who worked at a hospital were contacted by a staff doctor that they did not know. They were told to give twice the highest dose of a drug to his patient. If the nurses did what they were told they would be going against three different rules. First, they were not to accept doctor’s orders over the phone. Second, the dose called for by the doctor was double the maximum for that drug. Third, the medication was not on their authorized list of medications. Of the 22 nurses 21

Social learning and Gender-schema has been two theories that have been rambling the minds of many. One thought that runs through my mind is how do children develop their roles of identities? Many say that the reason why a girl acts like a girl and boy acts like a boy is because the punishment that they have received for doing certain things, as well as the rewards that have been given to them as they do good. “This theory states that children learn their gender roles by receiving rewards or punishments, and throughput observations and imitation” (Zoe Jackson 2014). If a little boy walks into a toy store and picks out a barbie doll that first reaction that a parent might give is a loud “no”, this might trigger the mind of the little boy and he will come to a realization that what he has done was not a good thing. Rather if it is a little girl that did well in school her reward might be a doll. A little boy might get punished for liking or even playing with something that