MLE1
TABELLA, ROSALIE GRACE M. 4/BEED
Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura
What is Social Learning Theory?
SLT is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory (behaviorism) and the
cognitive approach. This is because it focuses on how mental (cognitive) factors are involved in
learning.
Unlike Skinner, Bandura (1977) believes humans are active information processors and think
about the relationship between their behavior and its consequences.
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory suggests that people learn new behaviors by observing
and imitating others.
The theory emphasizes the importance of observational learning, where individuals acquire
knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs by watching the actions of others and the consequences
that follow, leading to the modeling and adoption of observed behaviors.
Assumptions
Social learning theory, proposed by Albert Bandura, emphasizes the importance of observing,
modeling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others.
Social learning theory considers how both environmental and cognitive factors interact to
influence human learning and behavior.
In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviorist learning theories
of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:
1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.
2. Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.
Mediational Processes
Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work. These mental
factors mediate (i.e., intervene) in the learning process to determine whether a new response is
acquired.
Therefore, individuals do not automatically observe the behavior of a model and imitate it. There
is some thought prior to imitation, and this consideration is called the mediational process.
This occurs between observing the behavior (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response).
There are four mediational processes proposed by Bandura (1969, 1971, 1977). Each of these
components is crucial in determining whether or not imitation occurs upon exposure to a model:
1. Attention
Attentional processes are crucial because mere exposure to a model doesn’t ensure that
observers will pay attention (Bandura, 1972).
The model must capture the observer’s interest, and the observer must deem the model’s
behavior worth imitating. This decides if the behavior will be modeled.
The individual needs to pay attention to the behavior and its consequences and form a mental
representation of the behavior.
For a behavior to be imitated, it has to grab our attention. We observe many behaviors on a
daily basis, and many of these are not noteworthy. Attention is, therefore, extremely important in
whether a behavior influences others to imitate it.
2. Retention
Bandura highlighted the retention process in imitation, where individuals symbolically store a
model’s behavior in their minds.
For successful imitation, observers must save these behaviors in symbolic forms, actively
organizing them into easily recalled templates (Bandura, 1972).
How well the behavior is remembered. The behavior may be noticed, but it is not always
remembered, which obviously prevents imitation.
It is important, therefore, that a memory of the behavior is formed to be performed later by the
observer.
Much of social learning is not immediate, so this process is especially vital in those cases. Even
if the behavior is reproduced shortly after seeing it, there needs to be a memory to refer to.
3. Motor Reproduction
This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just demonstrated. We see much
behavior daily that we would like to be able to imitate, but this is not always possible.
Our physical ability limits us, so even if we wish to reproduce the behavior, we sometimes
cannot.
This influences our decisions whether to try and imitate it or not. Imagine the scenario of a 90-
year-old lady who struggles to walk while watching Dancing on Ice.
She may appreciate that the skill is desirable, but she will not attempt to imitate it because she
physically cannot do it.
Motor reproduction processes use internal symbolic images of observed behaviors to guide
actions (Bandura, 1972). An observer internally replicates a behavior using these symbols as a
reference, even if it’s not externally shown (Manz & Sims, 1981).
4. Motivation
Lastly, motivational and reinforcement processes refer to the perceived favorable or unfavorable
consequences of mimicking the model’s actions that are likely to increase or decrease the
likelihood of imitation.
The will to perform the behavior. The observer will consider the rewards and punishments that
follow a behavior.
If the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs (if any), the observer will more likely
imitate the behavior.
If the vicarious reinforcement is unimportant to the observer, they will not imitate the behavior.
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