Stephanie Salony
B00397265
March 10, 2013
Developmental Psychology
Of The Life Span
Douglas Butler

The Impact of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory On Today’s Children

There are many different psychologists who have varying views on the learning and development of humans. This paper will focus primarily on Albert Bandura’s Social Learning theory and his view between cognitive and behaviorist learning and how it impacts development today. His ideas essentially include three main abilities: attention, memory, and motivation. Also, how people learn from one another via: observation, imitation, and modeling.
“Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do.” - Albert Bandura (1977) To start, Bandura believed most human behavior is learned by watching other humans interact and perform. “Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.” (Bandura: 1977). For example, you will notice children constantly watching others, or particularly their parents, while they are cooking, doing a project, or interacting with others. Notice the child may start to mimic the parent and try to reenact what they just saw. This is what Bandura is explaining by watching the performance and later using it in your own life. He also explains how this also influences our personalities as well. Certain actions we may have observed we will never end up using ourselves because the situation never occurs where we would use it or it is not something we would do, possibly due to our personality. Bandura himself gave an example when he had children observe an adult interacting with a Bobo Doll. The adult was very aggressive when handling the doll and the children were only allowed watching the adult, but not joining in. When the children were allowed to finally enter the room, Bandura noted the children mimicking the adult in being hostile towards the doll, which they might not have done, if they did not see that interaction first. Yet, he did add, “just because something has been learned, it does not mean that it will result in a change in behavior,” meaning, not every child was abusive towards the Bobo Doll because they may have already developed sympathy, and had that interaction towards the doll instead. “Self-belief does not necessarily ensure success, But self-disbelief assuredly spawns failure.” -A. Bandura (From: Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control: 1997.) Furthermore, when one is observing, that means another must be doing the modeling. He noted how not all observed behaviors are successfully learned. A lot of the modeling may come from TV/media, teachers, and parents/siblings. Most teachers and parents recognize the importance of modeling proper behaviors because they know the children watching and listening are noting their every move, and absorbing it like a sponge. In order for the modeling method to be effectively learned, there are four abilities the child must be using: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. First, attention is the initial thing the modeler must acquire from the observer. In order for anyone, adult or child, to learn, they must be paying attention. Anything that may distract the observer is a harmful impact on their learning. The modeler must do their best to keep the attention of those watching. Secondly, the observer’s retention is just as vital as their attention span. They can watch all they want and be interested but if they are unable to store the information given, they will not be able to pull up the information processed for later usage. Now, once a child has passed the first two abilities they can move on to reproduction. They have paid attention, stored the info, and now they can reproduce what they saw or heard. We have all heard the old saying that practice makes perfect, and practicing really does help a child with mastering their abilities. Finally, they have been successful with the first three steps and can move onto motivation. The child has to be willing or wanting to reproduce what it was that was modeled for them. If they do not have the motivation then this task or project goes nowhere and is lost. For motivation to be successful, Bandura stated that reinforcement and punishment are vital for success. He gave an example: student A came to class everyday a little early and the teacher gave him extra credit for doing so. Student B noted the benefit that student A received and student B followed suit because there was something potentially in it for him, the extra credit was his reinforcement. “…the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations…” -A. Bandura (1994) Additionally, to all of the abilities: attention, memory, and motivation, along with: observation, imitation, and modeling, they can all be successful but they all go along with self-efficacy. In Bandura’s social learning theory, all of the above can go together in different ways for each individual as they develop their personality. One’s personality is immensely influenced by their social and environmental surroundings. Bandura goes on to state, “A person’s attitudes, abilities, and cognitive skills comprise what is known as the self-esteem”. One’s self-esteem, also know as self-efficacy, plays a very large role in how we take certain situations and react to what is going on. For example, in a hostile situation, one individual may run and hide and another person may turn and fight, it depends on their personality and self-efficacy. An individual may have the brute strength to defeat their enemy but growing up their elders told them they were not good enough or strong enough, and the individual believed them, now they have very low self-esteem and without trying they assume they will ultimately fail. Self-esteem is a big deal with a growing individual. Parents, teachers, siblings, etc., must acknowledge this and help their child grow up with an optimistic self-esteem so they can succeed in life. The quote above this paragraph means, a person’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in a particular situation. If a child starts early in their childhood building their self-esteem it will evolve throughout their life through new people they encounter, new abilities they may learn through observation, and new experiences and understandings. Strong self-esteem sees situations differently than weak self-esteem. Those optimistic about the situation can see problems to be conquered, have a sturdy sense of commitment to their activities or to joining clubs, will participate in social gatherings, and can recuperate more rapidly when they do fail at something. Those with pessimistic about the given situations may construe tasks to be impossible, avoid the task altogether, or believe it’s beyond their own capabilities- without even trying, and focus on their history of negative outcomes, which swiftly makes them lose confidence and they fall short before they even start. In conclusion, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory in the developmental process is still a good theory today versus in the past. He pressed the issue of how important it is for those modeling around a child to have positive reinforcement but still use punishment as a learning tool, and to be optimistic around the child, to help reinforce a strong self-efficacy for them to strive on and be successful. This is a great theory for parents to focus on while helping their child develop throughout the years.

References:
“Social Learning Theory (Bandura)”. Learning-Theories.com Knowledge Base and Webliography. (2013). http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html

Cherry, Kendra. “Social Learning Theory: An Overview of Bandura’s Social Learning Theory”. (2013)

Kail, Robert, John C. Cavanaugh. Human Development: A Life-Span View. 5th Ed. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning (2010, 2007).

Cherry, Kendra. “What Is Self-Efficacy?” (2013).

Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A Social Learning Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.