The Social Learning Theory: Predetermined And Explain How People Learn

Pavlov’s experiment also demonstrates how nature will interact with nurture through his discovery canines salivate not just at the smell of food, but also at the sound of footsteps bringing the food. The canines were able to connect the smell and audio stimuli together to learn when one comes, such as the footprints, a reward will follow, such as the food. In human development, an individual will link stimuli together in order to adapt to his or her living environment. Some examples of individuals being shaped through experiences include the white coat syndrome and learning to speak. In the first example, a patient associates the sensation of fear with a doctor or nurse; therefore, his or her blood pressure rises when he or she sees the appearance of a white coat (Berger, 40). In the second example, a babbling toddler learns to associate the non-sensible sounds “ma-ma” or “ba-ba” with his or her mother or bottle as they each make their welcomed appearances (Berger, 172). Therefore, a person’s survival depends on whether or not he or she has associated fear with potentially harmful stimuli, or acceptance for desirable stimuli.

Learning is a fascinating concept. Everyone does it and everyone always has, but not everyone explores its eclectic process. That being said, through the course of history, it has been studied vehemently. Ivan Pavlov, a behaviorist, had some groundbreaking research on subclass of learning called classical conditioning. Coming across it incidentally, he discovered that dogs would salivate not only from eating food, but anything associated with them getting fed. Anything unnatural in their feeding process, he termed as the conditioned stimulus, which would result in the conditioned response of them salivating (Daniels). Though classical conditioning seems rather simple and commonsensible, the information psychologists have gathered from it has been revolutionary. It has shown psychologists the very basics of how we learn and adapt as organisms and opened the door for other studies (Myers 268). According to psychologists, learning is the process of acquiring new and relatively enduring information or behaviors (Myers 268).

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in Australia (NSW Government Health, 2017), with around 1.9 million people using it per year (National Drug Strategy Household Survey, 2010). If a person is caught using, selling or giving cannabis to someone else they can face substantial fines and penalties including a prison sentence. This essay will argue that social learning theory best explains cannabis use in Australia, and other Western nations. I will be outlining the health impacts of cannabis on individuals and showing how socioeconomic status (SES) and age are highly influential factors in determining cannabis use. I will then define social learning theory and argue why it’s the most appropriate theory in explaining cannabis use causation.

Learning is more than a person sitting at a desk and studying off a book. Everything that we do is a result of what we have learned. We respond to things that happen to us, we act and experience consequences from our behavior, and we observe what others say and do. Psychologists explain our many experiences with basic learning processes.

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

Learning is defined as a permanent change in attitude or behaviour that occurs as a result of repeated experience (Sims & Sims, 1995). Understanding one’s learning style has many advantages as it

Each of us learn in different ways. I for one am a hands on learner. I learn best by getting my hands on things and seeing how things work. I am not very good at learning things by simply reading a book and taking a test. Although most of my schooling is just that. Many things influence our learning as well, such as environmental. These can include reinforcements, observations, associations, and punishment. Some of the primary learning theories I will discuss will be classical conditioning, operant conditioning and observational learning.

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.

The social aspect of the theory stems from the assumption that behavior is learned through this direct process of conditioning, observation and experience results

1. Which theory of the development of gender differences do you think helps explain the most differences in genders? Why do you think this theory explains the most?

The main division in learning theories is between behavioural theorists and cognitive theorists. Behaviourists claim that people learn by trial and error through associating stimuli with responses whereas cognitive theorists believe people learn through associating memories and ideas as part of a problem-solving process (Jones 2006:411).

Learning is a multifaceted perception unique to each individual. In looking to address the intricacies of learning, there have been a multitude of learning theories established over the centuries. To this day new theories are developed and traditional theories continue to be developed and expanded upon. (Swinburne Online, 2016)

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).

     Psychologists have preformed many studies and proposed many theories regarding learning. Learning can be defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior that is due to past experience.

This essay will compare and contrast three key theories of learning; Behaviourism, Cognitive Learning Theory and Constructivism.