Albert Bandura, born December 4, 1925 (Bandura 2013), is a very well known theorists in the world of psychology. A professor at Stanford University for much of his career, from 1953 until 2010, he has been recognized many times in this field (Bandura). His awards include, but are not limited to: the Lifetime Achievement award from the American Psychological Association, the James McKeen Cattell Award, the Grawemeyer Award and a Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Psychological Association (Olson, & Hergenhahn, 2012). He was also honored with the presidency of the American Psychological Association in 1973 (Olson, & Hergenhahn). Throughout his career he published six books, including Social Learning and Personality Development, and Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, and was editor of three additional works which centered around self-efficacy and modeling (Bandura). Though some of his theories have been criticized, they have had a huge impact on our understanding of learning and completely changed the way people looked at learning during his time.
One of the criticisms about Bandura’s theories is that it is too broad and covers too many topics (Olson, & Hergenhahn, 2012). Most learning theories before Bandura had a more narrow scope and tried to focus in on a single aspect of learning or of the environment, but Bandura focused on memory, personality, language, media influence and more (Olson, & Hergenhahn), all of which can influence a person’s ability to learn and how well they learn something. The biggest criticism against Bandura was about his contribution of the concept of reciprocal determinism. Reciprocal determinism is the idea that “the person, the environment, and the person’s b...
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... the current century that children learn from what they see and repeat the behaviors and words that they observe those in their environment doing, Bandura was the first to show that learning occurred even if imitation did not occur and that learning was not dependent on reinforcement like many earlier theorists, such as Miller and Dollard, believed (Olson, & Hergenhahn). He was the first to study observational learning and place importance on its implications as some theoritsts, such as Thorndike, Watson, and Piaget, completely ignored or disregarded observational learning (Olson, & Hergenhahn).
Works Cited
Bandura, Albert. (2013). In Marquis Who's Who in America. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/marquisam/bandura_albert Olson, M. H., & Hergenhahn, B.R. (2012). An introduction to the theories of learning (9th ed.)
(pp. 312-340). USA: Pearson
There are several types of learning styles that are recognised. The basic form, which is well known, is associative learning, making new associations between events in the envi...
...and observing the consequences. The role of self-efficacy is also emphasized by Bandura; self-efficacy underlies people’s faith in their own abilities. Self-efficacy can be developed by paying close attention to past success and failures, positive reinforcement and encouragement from others also plays a role in developing self-efficacy. The social cognitive theory is unique among other learned personality theories in that the emphasis places on the reciprocity between individuals and the environments they find themselves in. Learning theorists have been accuses of oversimplifying personality to such an extent that is has become meaningless, this is because they ignore many of the internal processes that are inherently human. These criticisms are blunted somewhat by social cognitive approaches because it explicitly considers the role of the cognitive process.
McLeod, S (2011) Bandura - Social Learning Theory Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html (Accessed: 15 November 2013)
According to Social Learning Theory, Bandura (1989) suggested cognitive factors cannot be overlooked if learning is needed to be understood. Bandura has also noted that while reward and punishment substantially shape one 's personality, cognition has as much impact as they do. Also, the principles of behavioural approach have mainly been tested on animals. It implies some findings may not be applicable to a human being, which as a creature is much more complex than an animal.
Bandura discusses the importance of observational learning. Bandura focuses mostly on how kids develop their habits based of their role models. Bandura shows this in the Bobo Doll Experiment. The Bobo Doll experiment consisted of 36 boys and 36 girls. They were then separated again into watching a video of a plastic doll called Bobo. Some children were separated by some adults aggressively beating up Bobo and the other half were calm adults. After they were showed the video, the kids were then shown to Bobo and the results matched the Social Learning Theory to the max. The kids that were show the aggressive videos were aggressive towards Bobo. Another Social Learning Theory can be told in my shoes because I have done something similar. I remember in fifth grade my older cousin would always ride his bike down the biggest hill without a helmet. I figured if he did and was okay, why can’t I? I learned the hard way and sliced my arm on a rock. Luckily I did not need stitches however, I did go to the doctors and got ointment for it. I still have the scar today. I feel like the Social Learning Theory has made an impact on my life because I have had the opportunity of having a role model. This role model has made a positive change to my life. Similar to Bobo, I have seen what negative role models have done for a person and how much it affects
Bandura’s theory uses the social- learning approach. This approach would explain that Antwone was a product of what he saw. This showed in the behaviors that he displayed. This approach derives from the behaviorist approach (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). Bandura would believe that one learns by observing what is taking place in his or her environment and the people that are around the individual (Schultz & Schultz, 2013). Modeling was very important to Bandura (Schultz & Schultz, 2013).
Schunk, D. H. (2000) Learning theories. An educational perspective. (3rd ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Krause, K, Bochner, S, Duchesne, S & McNaugh, A 2010, Educational Psychology: for learning & teaching, 3rd edn, Cengage Learning Australia, Victoria
There are four steps in the process of modeling for observational learning. They are attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. Attention is when you focus on what the person you are observing is doing. Retention is remembering what you observed. Reproduction is performing the behavior you observed, and motivation is wanting to actually do the behavior.(www.courses.lumenlearning.com) The psychologist that most strongly identifies with observational learning is Albert Bandura. He believed that observational learning was the result of cognitive processes that are, “actively judgemental and constructive,” not merely “mechanical copying.”(Bandura) According to Bandura there are three different models to observational learning. They are live model which is behavior in person, verbal model which is not doing a behavior but explaining or describing it, and symbolic model is when people or fictional characters demonstrating behaviors in books,
He further argued that some of the ancient method of learning which included punishments and laws of added support were relevant only to performance but did not lead to acquisition of knowledge. According to Bandura, one should not be limited within the boundaries of unpleasant physical sensations or sensual gratification so as to
Learning Theories Knowledgebase . (n.d.). Retrieved June 19, 2010, from Learning Theories Knowledgebase : http://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html
Coon, D., Mitterer, J. O., Talbot, S., & Vanchella, C. M. (2010). Introduction to psychology: Gateways to mind and behavior. Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
(McLeod) Bandura is best known for conducting the “Bobo Doll” experiment. He developed the social cognitive theory as well as the self-efficacy theory. The self-efficacy theory states one’s belief in his/ her own ability. Bandura found that people who believed in themselves were more likely to accomplish their goals. (Albert) He coined the “Behaviourist Model” in which the Stimulus (environment) > Black Box (which cannot be studied) > Response Behavior. And also the “Cognitive Model” which is the Input (in
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Rieber, R.W., & Salzinger, K.D. (1998). Psychology- theoretical-historical perspectives (2nd ed.). Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association. Wadeley, A. (1997).
Olson, M. H. & Hergenhahn, B. R. (2013). An introduction to theories of learning. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.