Social learning theory

INTRODUCTION

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

            Albert Bandura is a social psychologist. At the time of doing his Ph. D in 1952 ,  Bandura developed the social learning theory. Introducing his theory Bandura writes “we do not blindly respond to environmental stimuli rather we pick and choose from many environment options, basing our decisions on our own sights and  experiences’ . A person learns through observation. A student observes others behavior and learns through that observation. Early experiments on observational learning by E. L. Thorndike and J. B. Waston on cats, dogs and monkeys conducted that learning results not only by observation but from direct experiences.

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Social learning theory is based on the belief that changes in one’s behavior are due to observation and imitation. To imitate others is rather a natural human tendency. It is a theory of learning and social behaviour which proposes that new behaviours can be acquired by observing and imitating others. It states that learning is a cognitive process that takes place in a social context and can occur purely through observation or direct instruction. Learning also occurs through the observation of rewards and punishments.

                                     In social learning theory, Bandura agrees with the behaviourists’  learning theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas;  

v Mediating processes occur between stimuli and responses.

v Behaviour is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

                       Albert Bandura agreed with Miller and Dollard about the importance of imitation. In his book ‘Social Learning and Personality Development’, they have stressed two points. First, merely observing another person might be sufficient to lead a learned response. Second observational learning may not necessarily lead to imitation. Here, the observational learning is a complex phenomenon and not mere imitation.

BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT                                                            

                                               Bandura (1961) conducted a study to investigate if social behaviours (i. e. aggression) can be acquired by observation and imitation.

SAMPLE

    Bandura and Ross and Ross (1961) tested 36 boys and 36 girls from ihe Stanford University  Nursery School aged between 3 to 6 years old.  

METHOD                

   A lab experiment was used, in which the independent variable was manipulated in three conditions;

v Aggressive model shown to 24 children

v Non - aggressive children model shown to 24 children

v No model shown- 24 children

STAGE 1: MODELING

         In the experimental conditions children were individually shown into a room containing toys and played with some potato prints and pictures in a corner for 10 minutes while either:

1.     24 children (12 girls and 12 boys) watched a male or female model behaving aggressively towards a toy called a ‘ Bobo doll’. The adults attacked the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner – they used hammer in some cases, and in others threw the doll in the air and shouted.

2.     Another 24(12 girls and 12 boys) children were exposed to a non- aggressive model  who played in a quiet and subdued manner for 10 minutes.

3.     The final 24 children (12 girls and 12 boys) were used as a control group and not exposed to any model at all.

STAGE 2: AGGRESSION AROUSAL

All the children were subjected to ‘mild aggression arousal’. Each child was taken to a room with attractive toys. A soon as the child started to play with the toys the experimenter told the child that these were the experimenter’ s  very best toys and she has decided to reserve them for the other children.

STAGE 3: TEST FOR DELAYED IMITATION

·       The next room contained some aggressive toys and some non- aggressive toys.

·       The child was in the room for 20 minutes and their behavior was observed and rated through a one way mirror.

·       Other behaviors that didn’t imitate that of the model were also recorded.

RESULTS

v Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative  aggressive  responses than those who were in the non- aggressive or control groups.

v There was more partial and non- imitative aggression among those children who has observed aggressive behavior, although the difference for non- imitative aggression was small.

v The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal aggressive responses if the model was female. However, the exception to this general pattern was the observation of how often they punched Bobo, and in this case the effects of gender were reversed.

v Boys were more likely to imitate same sex- models than girls. The evidence for girls imitating same sex- model is not strong.

v Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls. There was little difference in the verbal aggression between boys and girls.

OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

                   Observational learning describes the process of learning through watching others, retaining the information and then later replicating the behaviours that were observed. Observational learning is sometimes also referred to as shaping, modeling, and vicarious reinforcement. While it can take place at any point in life, it tends to be the most common during childhood as children learn from the authority figures and peers in their lives .Observational learning also plays an important role in the socialization process, as children learn how to behave and respond to others by observing how their parents and other caregivers interact with each other and with other people.

MEDIATIONAL PROCESS

     Social learning theory is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory and cognitive approach. Bandura believes that human beings are active information processor and think about the relationship between the behavior and its consequences. 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 mediational processes. This occurs between observing behavior (stimulus) and imitating it or not (response).

    There are four meditational  processes proposed by Bandura:

       i.          ATTENTION :

    It is very obvious that if learning is observational, paying attention to a model’s behaviour is of utmost importance. It is concluded through experiments that similarity between the model and the observer, such as same age, same sex, etc, is effective in better learning.

     ii.           RETENTION

  However, 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.

    iii.          REPRDUCTION

  This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just demonstrated. We see much behaviour on daily basis that we would like to be able to imitate but this is not always possible.

    iv.          MOTIVATION

    The will to perform the behavior. The rewards and punishment that follow a behavior will be considered by the observer.

EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

a)     Students often learn a great deal simply by observing other people.

b)     Describing the consequences of behaviours can effectively increase appropriate behaviours and decrease inappropriate one.

c)     Modeling provides an alternative to shaping for teaching new behaviours.

d)     Teachers and parents must model appropriate behaviours and take care that they don’t model inappropriate ones.

e)     Teachers should expose students to a variety of other models.

f)      Students must believe that they are capable of accomplishing school tasks.

g)     Teachers should help students set realistic expectations for their academic accomplishments.

h)     Self regulation techniques provide effective methods for improving behavior.

CONCLUSION

                   People learn through observing others behavior, attitudes and outcomes of those behaviours. Social learning theory explains human behavior in terms of continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioural and environmental influences. People learn the best in their own way, some people learn best from experience. Others learn best from people telling them what to do and how to do it.