Bandura social learning theory

To most of us at some point in our lives, they have pointed out or just mentioned the resemblance we have to parents. This resemblance highlights the premise that the origin of behaviors is not only due to biological factors, but also by the exhibition or influence of external stimuli "our environment in general" (family, friends, television programs or online content and cultures ). The Bandura social learning theory explained in this online psychology article.

1. Bandura and behaviorism
2. What is Bandura's social learning theory
3. Bandura social learning theory: examples
4. Books about Bandura theory

Bandura and behaviorism

Albert Bandura was born in Canada, in 1925. Psychologist and writer which was influenced by the reading or reference of the work social learning and imitation of Miller and Dollard (1941). One of his main ideas is that the theories of conditioning do not completely explain the acquisition and realization of a behavior.

At the beginning of 1950, Bandura began with a research program of the factors that influence or influence social behavior.

Bandura affirms that observation allows people to learn without carrying out any behavior. The main idea of ​​social theory is the assumption that People learn by observing other people's behavior, In this sense, Bandura differs from Skinner that argued that behavior from its own experience is the basic element of psychology. Here you can read the B theory.F. Skinner.

It also states that reinforcement is not essential for learning, although reinforcement facilitates learning, it states that it is not a necessary condition for it.

What is Bandura's social learning theory

Albert Bandura, a supporter of a social-cognitive approach, argues human behavior in the interaction between the subject and its environment.

This author exposes observation learning, in which each of us has a repertoire of people we take as a reference In different areas of our life (parents, teachers, public characters, friends). In this approach a model is chosen; later we go to the observation and finally we memorize and observe whether it will be used to imitate or not.

The observation and a model for the behavior are carried out is not enough; The model must be attractive and of interest to the person modeled. This occurs thanks to the ability to see ourselves in the behaviors of others.

The 4 steps in the modeling process of Bandura theory

1. Attention: The care of the modeling or apprentice person must be focused on the model otherwise the learning will be interrupted.
2. Memory: The individual must retain what is observed and then execute it.
3. Reproduction: the behavior is launched and the person must be able to imitate that behavior, not necessarily the same but must carry it out.
4. Motivation: In this part it is necessary to know that he led the person to the realization of the behavior. ¿What do you want to achieve imitating? Maybe you want to reach the same state of your model.

Motivation is a key step or aspect when starting learning what you want to imitate. It is essential that there are reasons or reasons to want to learn something, otherwise it is difficult to focus the attention, retention and reproduction of behaviors.

Learning reasons according to Bandura's theory

According to Bandura, there are several reasons why we want to learn something, then the different types of reasons exposed by the social learning theory are shared:

1. Past reward or punishment (Past reinforcement/classic behavior), happens when we have performed a behavior and we receive something good in return. We reproduce it again if there is the same reward.
2. Promised reinforcement or punishment (incentives), expectations of what you want to achieve. They are all possible future benefits that motivate us to want to learn.
3. Vicar reinforcement or punishment, What we observed that achieved the model from which we learned. In the following article you will find the definition and examples of vicaria learning.

The negative motivations (punishments) that were also mentioned can also exist and leads us not to imitate certain behavior: 1. past punishment; 2. promised punishment (threats) and 3. Vicar punishment.

This theory exposed Bandura, teaches us then that The environment in which we develop will strengthen or weaken The development of our skills and will also depend on that we can mobilize in different environments or social contexts by allowing more learning diversity and developing different skills depending on the environment that we select.

The essence of observation learning is imitation; But it also implies adding and subtracting from the observed behavior and generalizing from this observation, in other words, it entails cognitive processes and does not consist of simple mimetics or repetition. It is more than repetition or matching other people's acts, entails the symbolic representation of information and storing it for future scenarios.

Factors that determine the learning modeling of bandura

According to Albert Bandura, the factors that determine learning are:

1. The characteristics of the model: people tend to observe people with high social position rather than those of low level, competent more than those not qualified and more to those who have some power.
2. The characteristics of the observer: These are the ones that influence the probability that imitation occurs. Generally, people with low social positions tend to frequently imitate behavior or even the absence of self -identification or perceive as an individual being with own characteristics leads to continuous repetition of models.

Bandura social learning theory: examples

Bandura's theory states that learning is achieved through cognitive imitative processes: copy or avoid certain behaviors.

For example:

• A child who observes his parents arguing, imitates them, processes him in his behavior and reflects in his environment.
• Also seeing someone burn his hand with a stove will make him later carry out the approach of the fire to the fire.
• If a partner is a good student and is successful, we are likely to imitate this behavior.

Books about Bandura theory

Albert Bandura has written different books focused on his theory:

• Social learning and personality development (1963)
• Aggression: Analysis of social learning (1973)
• Social Learning Theory (1977)
• Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory (1986)

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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