Social Cognitive Theories

by: Aniyah A. Saidar

Social Learning Theory

by Albert Bandura 

Albert BanduraAlbert Bandura (born December 4, 1925)

is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. For almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to many fields of psychology.

Social Learning TheoryLearning that occurs when a person 

observes and imitates another’s behavior.Also called as “Observational Learning”

Concepts of Social Learning Theory

Observational Learning- The individual learns from what he observed.Modeling- The process whereby the person learns imitating others who serve as models.Imitation- Behaviors are imitated from others usually from models. 

Elements of Observational

Learning*Attention - Mental focus or concentration. -Willingness of the child to observe and mimic the behavior of a model.

*Retention -To encode the behavior in the memory. -Ability to store information.

* Production -To actually perform the behavior observed.*Motivation     Reinforcement force that drives one to act.

Reinforcements According to Bandura

1. Past reinforcement: incentives we received for learning the behavior.2. Promised reinforcement: in other words the incentives we can imagine for doing something. 3. Vicarious reinforcement: seeing and recalling the model being reinforced in the past.

Bobo Doll Experiment

Bandura showed that children will alter their behavior by simply watching others. In one set of the bobo doll experiments Bandura used three groups of children.

Each group watched a film of a model behaving aggressively towards a “bobo doll.” But, each of the three films had a different ending:Group 1 Film Ending - The model in the film was praised for his aggressive behavior.Group 2 Film Ending - The model was sent to the corner and not allowed to play with toys.Group 3 Film Ending - The model simply walked out of the room.

When each group finished watching their film the children were allowed into a playroom

which included a bobo doll. Acts of aggression were noted. The results showed the group of children who saw the model punished for his aggressive

behavior had the lowest percent of aggression. The other two

groups had comparably higher aggression percentages.

Reciprocal Determinism- is a model composed of three factors that influence behavior: the environment, the individual, and the behavior itself.