The Influence Of Social Learning Theory On College Students

As many teenagers enter college, they begin to experiment with many things. Although not all students participate in underage drinking, it is evident that a vast majority do. Drinking is not the problem. The main problem occurs when students resort to binge drinking. In the

Social control theory and social learning theory are two theories that suggest why deviant behavior is chosen to be acted upon by some individuals and not others. Both take a different stance on the issue. Social control theory suggests people’s behavior is based on their bonds to society, if they have strong bonds to society they conform and if not they have a tendency to act out or become involved in criminal or deviant behavior. Social learning theory suggest that through vicarious learning people learn from observing others and based on what the observe make the choice of whether to copy those actions to obtain desired results or chose not to if

The fundamentals of the social learning theory significantly describe offenders and their criminal behavior which is learned based on observation and imitation. A researcher by the name of Albert Bandura along with coworkers tested the social learning theory with several experiments on children and their imitation of aggression based on what they saw and were exposed to. Bandura’s focus was to prove that human behavior such as aggression is learned through social imitations and copying the actions of others. Walters (1966) gives details about the Bobo doll experiment and explains its purpose related to learning a violent behavior based on observation. In the experiment, the tested subjects were children of both sexes, ranging from the ages of three to six years. Some of the children were exposed to a non-aggressive adult, while the other children were placed in a room with an aggressive adult who would both physically and verbally attack the Bobo doll. The control group in the experiment was not exposed to any adult. During the second phase of the experiment, the children were left in a room by themselves with the toys, and watched to see if they would demonstrate the aggressive behavior like that of which they observed adults doing earlier. Walter (1966) describes the results as “children who had been exposed to an aggressive model showed more imitative physical and verbal

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 consumption of alcohol as a habitual behavior has long been associated with the American collegiate experience, despite the many known negative consequences a student who partakes in drinking can encounter. Because of the danger drunken students pose to a college’s reputation and the safety of its surrounding areas, much research has been done concerning the collegiate party and drinking scenes. This research mostly studied the demographics of the student body, so strategies developed to curtail the illegal or overconsumption of alcohol could be targeted towards the specific groups that demonstrated the highest likelihood of participating in these acts. When the strategies were implemented, however, there was little decline in the number of college students who chose to party and drink (Vander Ven 2011). This failure did not point toward a flaw in the research data, but instead a lack of research into the benefits a collegiate drinker receives that are rewarding to the point he or she cannot resist. This is the topic of Getting Wasted: Why College Students Drink Too Much and Party So Hard by Thomas Vander Ven.

Every year, approximately 6,000 to 22,000 students die on college and University campuses (qtd. in CintroÌn X), and thousands of these deaths can be attributed to alcohol over-consumption (A Sober Assessment of High-Risk Drinking on College Campuses). If there are not appropriate steps taken to address the situation, minors will continue to lose their lives as a result. As individuals enter college, it is likely that they will be exposed to alcohol, whether they meet the legal drinking age or do not. Many of these college students, specifically freshmen, are experiencing freedom for the first time in their lives and it can be relatively easy for them to get carried away, resulting in irresponsible decision making which often involves alcoholic

Strengths of social learning theory include the ease of implementing an optimistic and appropriate behavior modification to counter maladaptive behaviors in place, it is applicable to various behaviors, it is easy to understand, and it integrates social and cognitive skills through observation and practice. This theory is considered empowering as it helps individuals identify for themselves appropriate behaviors through observation and practicing the desired behavior. Weaknesses of this theory are that it does not take into account individual interpretations of situations, it does not relate to all behavioral differences, and it focuses more on what is happening in the situation rather than explaining why the situation is occurring.

Social learning theory and social bonding theory are two theories that may be compared and contrasted because they both overlap and differ. Although these theories have their similarities and differences, one theory may prove to be more convincing in terms of applying the theory to the understanding of crime and delinquency.

Alcohol is one of the most commonly used drugs in the United States today. Sixty-three percent of Americans over the age of 18 said they have consumed alcohol at least once in the past year, (National, 2001). A survey, conducted by the Core Institute, of 55,026 college students, ranging from freshmen to seniors to non-seeking degree students, from across the United States showed that 84.1% of students consumed alcohol at least once a year and that 72.1% of students

“The acquisition of binge drinking upon entering college has not been systematically examined considering individual and environmental factors” (Weitzman, Nelson, and Wechsler 2003). It is likely that risk factors for college binge uptake mirror its correlates as well as risks for problem drinking among adolescents, including young age at onset of drinking and peers with heavy drinking norms and behaviors. The authors make sure that their research has reliability by making sure that when determining how college students pick up binge drinking stays the same with the same environments leading to this and. Then when asking these college students about binge drinking the authors would expect a similar response to the information they have obtained from their research. To make sure that their research has validity also they figured out what type of environments were causing college students to binge drink but even though every student could not drink as much so the authors came as close as they could to have valid research. “Wet environments including social, residential, and market surroundings in which drinking is prevalent and alcohol cheap and easily accessed” (2013). This is proving how the author’s observations reflected their area of interest and making their information a lot stronger and factual. The type of data that the authors used were S-data because they sent out a questionnaire to college students and used what the college students answered for their research and put that information in a table showing the statistics more closely. The questionnaire contained

357). This intervention aims to reduce both frequency and amount of alcohol consumed regularly by college students. The study focuses primarily on… “Specific subgroups of university populations such as mandated undergraduates, fraternity and sorority members, and incoming freshman” (Amaro, 2010, p. 357). The intervention consisted of two sessions ranging from 45 minutes to 60 minutes in length and “the student was given alcohol self-monitoring cards to complete with the study nurse between the first and second sessions” (Amaro, 2010, p. 358). On the second session students received a personalized feedback packet that contained different data such as their readiness to change, their alcohol consumption, and other things like their belief about alcohol consumption (Amaro, 2010, p. 358). In order to ensure proper intervention procedures nurses were sat in on by other nurses to ensure proper protocol (Amaro, 2010, p. 358). After completing this intervention students were asked to have one follow-up 6 months later and … “there was a significant decrease in participants’ reports of past 6-month alcohol use…” (Amaro, 2010, p. 358).

That when you go off to college it's time to not only get a degree, but also a time to drink and socialize at parties. In the end, alcohol is glamorized and often enough abused. Ultimately alcohol becomes so much of a social norm that students do not realize how and when alcohol is abusive. Therefore the problem is how to inform students in a socially acceptable manner of how and when alcohol becomes abusive to their own well being. This reports seeks to explore all aspects of alcohol abuse related to college students through definitions and statistical problems of alcohol abuse in hopes of ultimately providing solutions to increasing the wellness at Georgia Southern University.

In Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine, shows that alcohol is a serious issue on campus universities. Especially being a binge drinkers, who are the cause of deaths, lack of interest in college, and even rape. However, university presidents are concerned about the student’s behavior on campus with alcohol use. They attend to provided leadership groups that help with students on alcohol abuse,

Trying to understand why crime happens if a very important concept. Throughout history, criminologist have debated on which theory of crime is most accurate. Currently, social bond and social learning theory are two of the leading theories in the criminological world. Between these two theories there are a variety of differences and similarities. In addition to these theories Gottfredson and Hirschi have published a book where they use the concept of self control to describe crime. Analyzing these three theories can be important to understanding the current criminological world.

In 1961, the infamous Bobo doll experiment was conducted by Albert Bandura, leading him to create social learning theory. This experiment entailed a group of adults beating up a Bobo doll while children watched. After the adults were finished, the children were let into the room with the Bobo doll. It was observed that the children were copying the adult's behavior beating the Bobo doll. SOURCE. This experiment that Bandura conducted shows that we humans learn social behaviors from observing others. This theory has been applied to criminal justice in that juvenals learn deviant behavior from others actions that they observe. According to Siegel &Welsh (2015). “Social learning theory suggests that adolescents learn the techniques and attitudes of crime from close and intimate relationships with the delinquent peers; delinquency is a learned behavior” (p. 155). This means that the Juvenal, depending on what behaviors of crime and delinquency that their friends and family have will