LEARNING THEORY 1

Social Learning Theory

Kathy Jensen

Educational Psychology 302

Dr. Gabe Mydland

How do people learn? What factors play into learning? Is learning dependent on the

environment of the classroom, or is it dependent on the student's’ internal drive to learn? Is it a

combination of the two? Some theorists have tried to define how people learn. B. F. Skinner

based his behaviorism theory on the idea that learning occurs during the interaction between

people and their environment. Other theorists base their theories around the idea that people

construct their ideas based on many different pieces of information, this is known as

constructivism. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory focuses on how people learn from one

another (Ormrod, 2018). The following will discuss the different elements of the Social Learning

Theory and how they can be implemented in the classroom.

The Social Learning Theory has been explained as the connection between behaviorism

and cognitivism. It focuses on observational learning through the way of modeling and explains

human behavior as results of the interaction between the person, environment, and behavior

(Social, 2016).

One of the main concepts of the Social Learning Theory is the idea that human behavior

is the result of a person’s character, environment, and behavior. This is referred to as reciprocal

determinism (LaMorte, 2016). This means that the way a person acts is influenced by their

environment – who they are around, the social atmosphere, their physical surroundings – by their

internal self – their feelings, thoughts, previously observed behaviors – and their own behavior.

These stimuli are constantly feeding off one another to determine how an individual will behave.
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The Social Learning Theory defines learning through acts of observing others. Modeling

is the demonstration of a behavior for another person, or it is when a person imitates a behavior

they have observed. One of the major elements necessary for successful modeling to occur is

attention; for a person to learn from or remember an event or task, it needs to capture their

attention. Learning is not a passive act, it requires a person to pay attention to what they want to

learn. Attention is needed to get information from the sensory register to the working memory

(Ormrod, 2018). Many factors play into how much attention a person pays to a specific event,

like the prevalence, complexity, or value of the event along with the individual’s characteristics.

Attention is critical to learning, an individual pays attention to the information they find

important or relevant to themselves. Retention also plays a major factor in the effectiveness of

modeling. Retention is the ability to remember what the individual’s attention was focusing on

(Social, 2016). It involves the encoding of information from the working memory to the long-

term memory (Ormrod, 2018). The next step to successful modeling is reproduction, which is the

ability to pull the information out of the long-term memory when a similar stimulus/event

occurs. Physical ability can limit this step. If a person witnesses a behavior they would like to

reproduce, for example an old woman watching a high schooler running a hundred-yard dash, he

old woman can not run a hundred-yard dash even if she wanted to. This is one example of a

physical limitation; some people lack the physical ability to complete a given task and therefore

cannot reproduce the behavior (McLeod, 2016). The final part of effective modeling is

motivation, for a person to do anything they need to be motivated. According to “Simple

Psychology,” many factors affect a person’s motivation. When a person considers reproducing a

behavior he/she previously witnessed, they consider the consequences of the behavior. If the

consequences were positive, the person is more likely to reproduce the behavior than if the
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consequences were negative. Also, if the reward for reproducing a behavior is not important to

the person, they will not reproduce the behavior. These four principles of modeling play a major

role in Bandura’s Social Learning Theory.

Bandura believed that people learn through observational learning. If a behavior is

modeled successfully by an instructor, coach, professor, etc, and the individual is physically and

mentally capable, the individual will be able to reproduce what he/she has observed. Bandura

tested this theory with the famous Bobo Doll experiment. In the experiment he showed some

children a model who acted aggressively toward a Bobo doll, he showed some children a model

who acted non-aggressively toward a Bobo doll, and he had a group of children that did not see a

model. He then observed the children and their behavior toward the Bobo doll. The children who

were shown an aggressive model were far more aggressive toward the Bobo doll than the other

two groups. The experiment also showed that children are much more likely to imitate model’s

they identify with, i.e. girls imitate women and boys imitate men (McLeod, 2014).

Another element of observational learning revolves around vicarious reinforcement and

vicarious punishment. Vicarious reinforcement is when an individual observes another complete

a desired behavior and then receive a desired stimulus, this encourages the individual observing

to engage in the desired behavior. I saw an example of this while observing at the Madison

Middle School. Mr. Waba was teaching sixth grade math using a curriculum that allowed

students to work at their own pace, this made it so the students would not all test at the same

time. When a student received a one-hundred percent on their test, the whole class would dance

to a disco ball for a minute. This encouraged the other students to work toward hundreds on their

tests. Vicarious punishment is similar, it occurs when an individual observes another engage in
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an undesired behavior and then receive a punishment. This discourages the observing individual

from engaging in the undesired behavior.

Observational learning and the different elements of modeling can be implemented in the

classroom in a variety of ways. One way a teacher can help students pay attention to the

important parts of a lesson could be to supply a set of guided notes. The guided notes would not

only help the students pay attention, but it would also help the information be encoded from the

working memory to the long-term memory - retention. Another way for teachers to implement

observational learning in their classrooms is to do examples. Examples are one way for students

to understand material, they provide students a reference when they are struggling to reproduce

the information. Examples also give insight into the teacher’s thought process while doing a

math problem or writing an essay which helps the students to imitate their behaviors.

Another major element of the Social Learning Theory is the focus on self-efficacy and

self-regulation. Self-efficacy is an individual’s belief that they can successfully complete a task.

Self-regulation is when a student or learner takes their learning into their own hands. Social

Learning theorists believe it is important for people to have high self-efficacy so they can

become self regulating learners. (Ormrod, 2018). Teachers can promote self-efficacy and self-

regulation in their classrooms in many ways. For a student to feel as though they can

successfully complete the task at hand, a paper, a worksheet, a project, the student needs to feel

some sense of control over the task. The teacher can meet the student's’ need for control by

giving the student an appropriate amount of time to complete the task as well as providing

concrete instructions and expectations for the assignment. Another way a teacher can promote

self-efficacy in the classroom is to promote an “it is okay to fail” environment. If the students

feel like the teacher will not punish them for failing to complete a task correctly, the students are
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more willing to try. To promote self-regulation in students, a teacher can gradually give the

students more responsibility throughout the year, this will help them to baby-step their way to

independence and self-regulation. Promoting self-efficacy in the classroom is a way to

implement different elements of the Social Learning Theory in the classroom.

Implementing the Social Learning Theory in the classroom can be done in many ways. In

a classroom that is applying the Social Learning Theory, the teacher is typically a model for

positive behavior. The teacher effectively models behavior by capturing the student's attention,

helping the students with retention, providing opportunities for reproduction, and motivating

students to successfully imitate a behavior. The teacher can capture attention by making the topic

seem fun, explaining real-world applications for the material, and relating the information to the

students. Retention can be promoted by citing connections between new and old material the

students can relate to (Ormrod. 2016). Teachers have many opportunities to incorporate

reproduction through a wide range of topics. For example, material covered in a math lesson can

be incorporated into a later social studies lesson. This would show connections between two

subjects along with showing the application of the material. The teacher can motivate students in

different ways, for many student’s grades are a motivator, for others praise is a motivator. A

classroom teacher will find what motivates the students to learn the material. Likewise, a teacher

can incorporate the Social Learning Theory by promoting self-efficacy in the classroom. A

teacher could have the students write down three things on a sheet of paper that they do not like

about themselves, then have them rip up the paper. On another sheet of paper have the students

write down three things they are good at, have them carry around that sheet of paper. This

activity promotes self-efficacy. The different elements of the Social Learning Theory can be

incorporated in a variety of ways in the classroom.

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The Social Learning Theory has many different elements that make it an effective theory

to implement in the classroom. Reciprocal determinism, the effect of an individual’s character,

environment, and behavior on the behavior of the individual, helps to explain the behavior of

people. Effective modeling helps to define how individuals learn within the context of the theory.

Self-efficacy helps to promote a positive atmosphere in the classroom. Self-regulation helps

students become independent and responsible. The Social Learning Theory is an effective theory

to implement in the classroom.

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Bibliography

McLeod, S. (2014). Saul McLeod. Retrieved November 12, 2017, from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/bobo-doll.html

McLeod, S. (2016). Saul McLeod. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from

https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

LaMorte, W. W. (2016, April 28). Retrieved November 12, 2017, from

http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/

BehavioralChangeTheories5.html

Ormrod, J. E., & Jones, B. D. (2018). Essentials of educational psychology: big ideas to guide effective

teaching. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Social Learning Theory Bandura Social Learning Theory. (2016, September 14). Retrieved November 11,

2017, from https://www.learning-theories.com/social-learning-theory-bandura.html

Staff, T. (2017, September 03). Bandura's 4 Principles Of Social Learning Theory. Retrieved November 11,

2017, from https://www.teachthought.com/learning/principles-of-social-learning-theory/