Vicar learning and its 4 factors

Vicar learning, also known as social learning, was described by psychologist Albert Bandura and today has great relevance within psychological studies on behavior.

How does the human being learn?, How does an individual adopt their attitudes? Bandura's theory tried to give an explanation to these issues.

Actually, there have been many psychologists who have tried to address this issue and One of the currents that possessed more strength was the learning by operating conditioning, whose maximum figure was Skinner, according to which you learn through rewards and punishments.

However, with Bandura's theory it is revealed that The human being can learn through observation, that is, social learning. This is known as vicarious learning.

What psychology had traditionally proposed, with figures such as Pavlov and Skinner, was that the human being learned for himself based on stimuli and responses, as well as through rewarded and/or punished behaviors, from which the individual could Repeat or not a certain behavior.

However, the vicarious learning proposed by Bandura showed that people can also learn for what they observe in the experience of others and this also revealed that there are cognitive processes involved in learning.

Content

• What is vicarious learning?
• Bandura experiment
• Factors of social learning theory
  • 1.     Attention
  • 2.     Retention
  • 3.     Reproduction
  • 4.     Motivation
    • Vicar learning effects
  • Bibliography

What is vicarious learning?

Vicar learning can be defined as the acquisition of new behaviors through observation.

Bandura's theory is interesting, since, as Arriaga-Ramírez points out, in his research entitled Conceptual analysis of learning and imitation, Between the presentation of a model and the execution of the behavior that is observed, a cognitive mechanism that mediates is necessary.

That is why the theory about Vicar Learning of Bandura gains notability, because, when this Canadian psychologist formulates his proposal, the theory that prevailed was the behavioral, with figures like Skinner and Watson.

It should be noted that, although it is true that Bandura can be recognized in its beginnings as a behaviorist, the fact that his experiments showed him that he himself is also true that he The stimulus and response mechanism was too simple to explain the complex learning process in which perception even participates.

Bandura experiment

The concept of vicarious learning was proposed by Bandura in 1977 as part of its social learning theory. However, this notion arose after several experiments.

If previous experiments had been carried out with animals - in the behavioral current - Bandura did so with preschool children and one of the most recognized has been that of the doll fool.

For this experiment, Bandura turned to groups of children in which Some observed that the doll was attacked, while another group observed how it could remain with peaceful attitude next to the doll.

So, The children reacted according to what they observed in the control group. That is, if they saw an aggressive attitude they imitated it, and the same happened if the observed behavior was of tranquility.

With this Bandura experiment he could demonstrate that obvious reinforcement is not necessary for a person to acquire a new behavior, but that it may be enough to observe another individual, or model.

If the execution of the behavior observed in the model produces a reward, this new behavior can be repeated on future occasions.

Factors of social learning theory

In the theory of social, vicar, observation, or modeling, there are several factors that are important. These are attention, retention, reproduction and motivation.

1.     Attention

It is important that the person sets their attention on behavior, which seems obvious, but if there are many distractors, this could negatively influence learning.

Innovative situations or scenarios will require greater attention that those who already know each other, so the concentration plays an important role.

2.     Retention

If the images observed are stored, that is, retained or remembered, then the behavior can be repeated. But, to retain, imagination and language are important.

3.     Reproduction

In order for behavior to be reproduced, the integration of symbolic aspects is necessary. If attention is paid and the information is retained, then there could be more possibility that the behavior was repeated. Practice is decisive for behaviors to be better imitated.

4.     Motivation

All of the above is not enough, unless the individual feels motivated and for this the expectations that are regarding the behavior are important, the visualization of what will happen if the behavior is carried out, as well as the previous learning.

In addition to these factors, the effects of vicarious learning are also important.

Vicar learning effects

Among the different effects produced by vicar learning, are the following:

• Instructor: The more intensity, the greater the possibility of reproducing the action;
• Inhibitory and disinhibitory: which is reflected if the individual observes negative consequences.
• Facilitation: If the behavior is simple, it will be repeated more easily;
• Increase in environmental stimulation: or the relevance that the environment charges when displaying a behavior, that is, whether or not it is.

It follows that Bandura tried to overcome the behavioral current with his proposal, While this was at the beginning thought as a technique to model behavior.

The perception: when the senses deceive

Bibliography

• Arriaga-Ramírez, J. C. P., Ortega-Saavedra, m. G., Reynoso, g. M., Olivares, f. H., Maldonado, e. J., Pictures, a. R., & Cruz-Morales, S. AND. (2006). Conceptual analysis of observational learning and imitation. Latin American Psychology Magazine.
• Iglesias, m. L. (2008). Observation and evaluation of the learning environment in early education: dimensions and variables to consider. Ibero -American Education Magazine.
• Ruiz-Ahmed, and. M. (2010). Vicar learning: educational implications in the classroom. Digital Magazine for Teaching Professionals.
• Sánchez, p. (2017). Albert Bandura and his social learning theory. Educational implications.