Social Cognitive Theory 01 Pg. 1 Social Cognitive Theory Of Learning "Of the many cues that influence behavior, at any point in time, none is more commo n than the actions of others." (Bandura, 1986, p.206) Historical Overview In the early 1960’s, when many learning and instruction theories were being developed, Albert Bandura and his researchers rec ognized that many overlooked an impor tant aspect of learning, the observation of others. From this analysis began t he social-cognitive theory. I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVESA. Theories of Imitation · Imitation is an i nstinct -- Ob served actions elicit an instinctive drive to copy those actions. · Imitati on is limited by development -- Children imitate actions that fit with existing cognitive structures . · Imitati on is conditioned -- Behaviors are imitated and reinforced through shaping. Imitat ion bec ome s a gen era lized res po nse class . · Imitation is instrumental behavior -- Imitatio n becomes a seconda ry drive through repeated reinforcement of responses matching those of models. Imitat ion results in drive reduction. A. Rotter's Social Learning Theory · The social learning theory of Julian Rotter represents an integration of learning and p ersonality theories (Phares, 1976 ). According to Rotter, i ndividuals consider the likely cons equences of theiractions in a given situation and act based on their beliefs. · The theory is comprises f our major variables: a. Behavi or potentia l refe rs to the probabilit y that an indi vidual wil l act in a certai n fashi on relative to alternati ve behavi ors. b. Exp ecta ncy is t he ind ivid ual's b elie f co ncer ning the likeli hoo d th at a pa rti cul ar r ein forcem ent will occur as a consequen ce of a specif ic behavior. c. Rei nforcement value ref ers to how much the i ndividual va lues a parti cular outcome rel ati ve to other p otenti al outcomes. d. The psyc hologi cal situation impli es that the c ontext of behavior is important. The way i n which the individual views the situation can affect both reinforcement value and e xpectancy. · This relationship is symbolized as fol lows: BP=E & RV A. Bandura's Theory of Social Learning Social cognitive learning theory highlight s the idea that much o f human learning occurs in a social environment. By observing others, people acquire knowledge of rules, skil ls, strate gies, belief s, and attit udes. Individuals also lea rn about the usefulness and appropriateness of behaviors by observing models and the conseq uences of modeled b ehaviors and they act in accordance with their b elief s concerning the expected ou tcomes of acti ons. Social cognitive t heory is a direct response to Behaviorism. Bandura began building his theory ofsocial learning by identif ying 3 areas of weakness of Behaviorism: a. the limit ed range of behaviors possible f or research in a laboratory type sett ing b. the fa ct that thes e theo r ies w ere u nab le to a cc ount for t he a cq uisiti on of new resp onse s to situations c. that is deal t with only one type of learning, i.e., direct l earning, where the learner performs a response and exper iences the c onsequences. (Bandura referred to this t ype of l earning as instantaneous m atching. Bandura referred to indirect learning as delayed ma tchi ngwhere the learner obs erves reinforced behavior and later enacts the same type of behavior.
