The Social Learning Theory And Its Effects On Our Society

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

Throughout this course, we have explored a vast amount of theories, however, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (SLT) has been the one that intrigued me the most. Bandura’s SLT “strongly emphasized the importance of observational learning and cognitive variables in explaining human behavior (Powell, Honey, & Symbaluk 2017).” According to our readings Bandura agrees with the behaviorist learning theories of classical and operant conditioning, he proposes that the SLT is a result of both person and situation, which does not have the same effect from either component on their own (Powell, Honey, & Symbaluk 2017). One of his most well-known studies involves a bobo doll. In which Bandura demonstrates that when someone observes violent behavior it increases the chances of violence of the spectator, and

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 is the idea that observing other 's social interactions will shape the person 's behaviors. These observations can be from watching someone who is really close to you or can simply be from the media, which controls everyday life. Albert Bandura was one of the theorists who brought about this idea with his Bobo doll experiment. In this experiment, he would study the children 's behavior after they watched an adult act violently towards the Bobo doll. In the end, these children would observe these adults and would then mimic their actions in violently attacking the doll. This became the basic idea of the social

A man by the name of Albert Bandura came up with an experiment the studies the Social Learning theory; the experiment was called the Bobo Doll Experiment. In the early 1960’s, Albert Bandura conducted this experiment and in this experiment, he had children watch a video of an adult aggressively playing with toys, including a Bobo doll. This adult hit the bobo doll, knocked it down and jumped on the doll screaming “POW!” AND “Kick him!”

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).

Albert Bandura a Canadian psychologist that was curious to know whether or not humans learn through the actions of others (Berk, 2013, p.14). The social learning theory brings up the question whether, playing violent video games or watching violent films can provoke being violent. Charles Darwin a British naturalist observed an endless change among animal species and plants. He noticed, it’s impossible for an animal to be completely identical as another animal of the same species. Darwin found that early prenatal development is similar in various species, while other scientists doubted Darwin’s theory. This led to a trend focusing on child studies. Stanley Hall and Arnold Gesell both American psychologists, described development as a maturational process. A genetically destined series of events that unravels automatically, like a flower. This led to the normative approach, in that measures of behavior are derived from a sample of people and calculated to generalize a representation in development (Berk, 2013, p.11). Research later sought to figure out individualistic development rather than the general population. Sigmund Freud a Viennese physician constructed the psychosexual theory. It focuses on how parents control their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in their first few years, which is crucial for healthy personality development. The theory has three parts of the personality, id,ego and superego that combine during five stages. Erik Erikson improved Freud’s idea, in

Although a variety of factors are seen to influence alcohol consumption among students (especially college students), peer influence has surfaced to be one of the most dominant predictors of the initiation and continuation of alcohol use in an institution stetting (Borsari and Carey). Through the concept of social learning theory, it is clear that the effectiveness of peer influences is determined by peer relationships. Specifically, modeling and cognitive processes are able to describe how peer relation influences alcohol usage. Modeling occurs when an individual imitates or acquires new behaviors through observation of others (Maisto, Carey and Bradizza). Behaviors that are rewarded are more likely to be mimicked than those that are

The world has a problem with violence. It is not a new problem, and it not one that is likely to disappear soon. It is estimated that around 1.6 million people die of violence each year. Half of these deaths are attributed to suicide, while the other half are attributed to homicide, war and other conflicts combined. Historically, violence was seen as a social ill. Before the 1970’s, when genetic research began to take hold, most researchers believed that violence was caused by a number of social aspects. Even with our increased knowledge, there are still groups that view violence as a social ill. This is evident in the fact that there are groups like MAVAV, Mothers against Video Game Addiction and Violence, and Parents against Violence.

• Critics of the social learning Theory points the experiment that was carried out with the BOBO Doll

Furthermore, criminal behavior is often studied from the point of view of the social learning theory. Thus, Jeffrey (1995) argues that criminal behavior is learned from the social environment. Akers (1990), on the other hand, views criminality from the point of rational choice theory, arguing that social learning is not the only indicator of criminal behavior and that a choice made by a person who is being influenced by their immediate environment can deter from engaging in criminal activity. Building on Akers research, Bradshaw (2011) points out that social learning theory has its limits when it comes to criminology is not applicable many of the types of crime, specifically, corporate and state crime.

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.

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).

The strengths of this theory are that individuals can learn from different people. This is beneficial when dealing with older adults, because you can take someone who is within their age range and teach them how to use a new piece of technology or try a new activity. You can also introduce a younger perspective that may alter the way that the older adult looks at something with the possibility of creasing their quality of life. This also goes in reverse as well. Sometimes it is better to learn from someone with more knowledge in a subject, because you are able to obtain a different perspective. In the aspect of this project, which had plenty of older adults who were

Dr. Bandura was most popular for his observational learning theory, Bobo doll experiment. He interact different ethnicity school age children with a bobo doll in a room with a doors closed, giving privacy to the children, resulting different personality behaviors reflects. Some kids were playing with it; some were aggressive and violent with the bobo doll. A child who has violent in nature was noticed aggressive and violent towards the bobo doll, and the other side of the coin children who rose in a peaceful healthy nature, were playing and having connection with the doll. After the research, they collect personal background, family relationships and people they interact in daily basis, Dr. Bandura and his colleagues Dorie and Sheila Ross able to conclude learned behavior initiate with the people who they associate with mainly from family itself, also children learn through people around them.