Albert Bandura's theory of social learning

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Albert Bandura is the author of one of the most popular theories of learning. Albert Bandura believed that reward and punishment were not enough to teach new behavior. Children acquire new behaviors by imitating the model. One of the manifestations of imitation is identification - a process in which a person borrows thoughts and feelings.

Albert Bandura's Theory provides an explanation of the ways in which people acquire a variety of complex behaviors in a social environment.

The main idea of the theory was expressed in the concept of observational learning or learning through observation.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​Альберт Бандура - автор одной из самых популярных теорий научения. Альберт Бандура считал, что награда и наказание недостаточны, чтобы научить новому поведению. Дети приобретают новое поведение благодаря имитации модели. Одно из проявлений имитации - идентификация - процесс, в котором личность заимствует мысли, чувства. Basic concept

Bandura suggests that there is a reciprocal (from the Latin. reciprocus - returning, reverse, mutual) relationship between behavior, subject and environmental variables. We are not driven by internal forces alone, nor are we pawns in a game dictated by a set of circumstances. We are influenced, but we also influence our environment.

Learning in humans is largely determined by the processes of modeling, observation, and imitation.

Much of human learning is accomplished without the traditional reinforcement required by the principles of operant and classical conditioning. People can learn in the absence of both reward and punishment. This does not mean, however, that reinforcement is irrelevant. In fact, once a behavior is mastered, reinforcement begins to play an important role in determining whether a given behavior will occur. Learning through observation is neither permanent nor automatic. Numerous factors influence whether such learning will occur in a given situation. These factors include the model's age and competence. A person's level of motivation can also improve or impair modeling, imitation, and observation. People observe and subsequently master a wide variety of social responses, such as aggression, sexual behavior, ways of emotional response, and much more.

Cognitive emphasis

In his interpretation of the phenomena of observational learning, Bandura proceeds from the widespread use of symbolic representations of events in the environment by people. Without recognition of such symbolic activity, it is extremely difficult to explain the incredible flexibility of human behavior. He formulates the thesis that changes in behavior caused by classical and instrumental conditioning, as well as suppression and punishment, are actively mediated by cognitions. Self-regulation processes also play an important role in human behavior: people regulate their behavior by visualizing its consequences. The formation of connections between stimulus and response is influenced by these self-control processes.

Walter Mischel continued the line of emphasizing cognitive factors in his analysis of a number of cognitive variables of social learning in humans. He argues that people differ in relation to several subject variables, and it is these differences that give rise to the wide variety of individual characteristics that can be observed in others.

These include:

• Different types of competence. They are sets of abilities that influence our thoughts and actions.
• People differ in their coding strategies — in the sense that they represent or symbolize environmental stimulation in different ways.
• Expectations or subjective probabilities that reflect the degree of likelihood that certain behaviors or events lead to certain outcomes.
• Subjective values: people differ in the price they attach to different outcomes.
• There are systems and plans for self-regulation: behavior is regulated based on individually set standards.

Behaviour change

Bandura's work has played an extremely important role in developing new approaches to therapeutic intervention. Most notable here was the use of modeling procedures to develop new cognitive and behavioral competence.

The roots of learning through observation can be traced to George Herbert Mead's work on imitation and vocal gestures. The subsequent analysis of imitation by Neil Miller and John Dollard served as an important starting point for A. Bandura. O. Hobart Maurer's work on sign learning and reward learning also had a strong influence.