Effective Social Learning Theories

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).

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

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.

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

In spite of the success of social learning theory, there are reasons for arguing that Bandura's approach is limited and that aggressive

Albert Bandura (1977), a psychologist, proposed social learning theory to integrate the behaviorism with the cognitive theory to explain why people behave in a certain way, irrespective of the type of environment they are in. Bandura tried to integrate the behavior, cognition, and the environment to postulate the social learning theory. Many academicians have seen Bandura as the neo-behaviorist theorist (positivist) despite the fact that he believed in self-help, self-regulation, and self-reflection. Albert Bandura goes beyond the behaviorist tradition of reward and punishment of behavioral reinforcement. He said that people learn not only by direct experiences, but also by vicarious learning (by observing), symbolic functioning (learning through conceptualization), and self-regulatory process (learning through self-direction such as rewarding oneself for certain behaviors), which is absent in ANT. He believed, unlike the network theorists, that most external influences affect behavior through the intermediary cognitive process. Social learning theory is helpful in understanding childhood development and human behavior in the cyber environment and “sociotechnical” environment of ANT and human ghosting. Social learning theory can also help in understanding impacts of technological developments on human beings. People learn from each other how to behave in a new environment. Social learning theory explains many childhood social, moral, and cognitive

Albert Bandura is one of the pioneers in the study of human development. His biographical background lays a good foundation for the basis of his work as a psychologist. His social cognitive theory will be examined in detail to highlight the effect that environment has on behavior. There are four basic features to the theory introduced by Bandura that will be discussed; (1) observational learning, (2) self-regulation, (3) self-efficacy, and (4) reciprocal determinism. All four features combined will prove to offer a keen insight into the environmental aspect of our behavior.

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).

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory is a theory that includes development theories in order to understand how children learn. Bandura’s theory is based on how people can learn by observing others, how internal mental states influence people, and how learning something does not change one’s behavior every time. Bandura was able to find out that people learn by three observational models. The first model is the live model which includes observing how someone demonstrates the behavior, the verbal instruction model which learning occurs through auditory directions, and the symbolic model where modeling occurs through media sources such as internet, movies, and books.

Albert Bandura, a 20th century American pszchologist, proposed a very important and probably the most influential theory of development and learning. He believed that: “Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions

Albert Bandura is one of the most well-known figures of Psychology. Bandura provided theories that gave insight on the fundamentals of human behavior and the mental process (Ortiz, 2015). He has had and continues to have a large impact on personality theory and therapy. Bandura is recognized for his unique behaviorist-like style that appeals to many individuals and practitioners. Other theorists respect Bandura for his action orientated and problem solving characteristics that led him to his contributes of social cognitive theory and the bobo doll experiment. Albert Bandura continues to be identified to be a part of the most influential psychologists of all time and is responsible to the education of many practitioners today.

“Self belief does not necessarily ensure success, but self disbelief assuredly spawns failure” (Bandura, 1997). Albert Bandura was affectionately described as the "jovial genius" by one of his former students for his wisdom, humility, and wonderful sense of humor. Albert Bandura believed that social learning formed the basis for personality development (Bandura, 1977). Bandura’s theory is perceived to be an “internal reward”, such examples include “pride, satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment” (Social Learning Theory: Understanding Bandura's Theory of Learning, n.d.). It is evident that internal thoughts and cognitions help connect learning theories with cognitive developmental theories. Bandura suggested that his concept surrounding the social learning theory could be considered a “social cognitive theory” (Social Learning Theory: Understanding Bandura's Theory of Learning, n.d.).

Social learning theory asserts that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction, even in the absence of motor reproduction or direct reinforcement. Famously adopted by Albert Bandura and his colleagues at Stanford University in the 1960’s, the development of social learning theory was revolved around a four step model. These four models included attention (the individual subject must attend to the media as well as witness aggressive behavior), retention (the subject must have the ability to retain the behavior seen in order to replicate for later retrieval), motor reproduction (the subject must be able to perform said behavior), and motivation (there

Bandura’s theory is essentially an agentic perspective, which views people as self-organizing, proactive, and self-regulating, as opposed to being reactive organisms shaped solely by environmental forces. His theory posits that human beings have a considerable amount of control over their own behavior, though they may exhibit variations on how effectively they exert it. Bandura believed that individuals can be, essentially, self-directed, at least to the extent that they are able to make goals and then track and evaluate their own progress.

The social cognitive theory was developed by Albert Bandura. According to Schunk (2016), Bandura developed the theory of observational learning to show how to acquire and perform diverse skills, behaviors, and strategies (p.118). Principles of the social cognitive theory are used to learn cognitive, motor,