Social Learning Theory

Social Learning Theory



Albert Bandura is the major motivator behind the Social Learning Theory. One of the main things that he was concerned with was how cognitive factors influence development, but he confined his approach to the behavioral tradition. “Bandura’s work is related to the theories of Vygotsky and Lave which also emphasizes the central role of social learning” (Culatta, 2012).Like other behaviorists, Bandura believed that the cognitive development alone cannot explain changes in behavior in childhood and he also believed that the learning processes are primarily responsible for children’s development. However, he felt quite strongly that the cognitive abilities of a child affect learning itself. Bandura claimed that children’s learning is heavily reliant onobservation. “Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action” (Bandura, 1977). Who or what children observe and model themselves after has an impact on their lives. Initially parents are the models siblings first observe andeventually friends, teachers, sporting heroes, TV characters such as cartoon icons and just about anyone who children can replicate become part of their development until they are able to identify themselves.
Bandura would claim that the children, who have seen their parents being kind and caring to others, considerate for the environment and being benevolent to animals, would tend to do theequivalent and be considered as enchanting individuals. However, the child who has seen problems, faced with violence, constant arguments occurring, wrongdoing being punished by hitting, will tend to grow up being more aggressive. They will learn violent ways of addressing the world. In following this concept one would say correct to what has been previously said, but “learning would be exceedinglylaborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do” (Bandura, 1977). What is being said through this is that children are not as mature as adults and therefore have the ability to reorder themselves later in life when introduce to a different environment. Stating that a child who sees unlawful activity would probably channelhis or her actions differently as they mature and select new environments to live in. “Once a behavior has been learned, the person must use self regulation to ensure if he or she continues this behavior when confronted with external factors” (Tetreault, 2012).
In relation to the field of education we are reminded that teachers in the primary grades are the role models that set the atmospherefor the children learning academics. The attention that a child bestows toward the teacher may vary affecting the prevalence, complexity and the characteristics they will have. “In order to learn something by observation you must pay attention to the action being performed” (Sawyer, 2011). Students imitate on numerous accounts what their teacher does in the classroom. Often these same mimics arecarried out in their homes. When fostering new ideas or concepts to pupils, educators should choose carefully what their main philosophy is, keeping in mind that they are creating a pattern which will impact young innocent individuals. The interaction of socializing should be one of rich experiences. “However, human beings are not just mindless imitators; there is a cognitive aspect to sociallearning, in which people think about and process potential new behaviors” (Sawyer, 2012). By this we can understand that by working in groups, the students who have mastered a skill will or can model it for the ones who have not, enabling social learning.
Taking into account that the student has been relatively fairly paying good attention, Albert Bandura’s states that in his theory the child must...