Social Learning Theory - PDF

0|P age  CONTENTS Biographical Background 2 Reconceptualising Reinforcement 3 Observational Learning 4 Reciprocal Determinism 7 Self-System...

0|P age  CONTENTS Biographical Background 2 Reconceptualising Reinforcement 3 Observational Learning 4 Reciprocal Determinism 7 Self-System 8 Self-System: Self-Observation 9 Self-System: Judgemental Process 9 Self-System: Reaction 10 Disengagement from Self-Evaluation 11 Self-Efficacy 12 A last look 13 Social Learning Theory | 1  BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND - Albert Bandura was born in Mundare, Alberta, Canada on December 4, 1925. - After high school he became an ordinary laborer of Alaska Highway in the Yukon. - He studied in the University of Columbia and received his bachelor degree in Psychology in 1949. - In 1952, he received his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa where he was under the influence of the behavioral tradition in learning theory. - In the same university, he met Virginia Varns, a nursing school instructor who became his wife. - He took a postdoctoral position at the Wichita Guidance Center in Wichita, Kansas. - Bandura transferred to Stanford University where he collaborated with a graduate student, Richard Walters. Together they wrote his first book, Adolescent Aggression in 1959. Social Learning Theory | 2 - In 1973, Bandura became the president of the APA and received the Award of Distinguished Scientific Contribution in 1980. RECONCEPTUALIZING REINFORCEMENT - Reinforcer/Reinforcement - Reinforcement is an informative and motivational operation rather than a mechanical response strengthener. - Actually, Bandura considered regulation as a more appropriate term than reinforcement. - In Observational Learning, a reinforcer serves as an antecedent rather than a consequent influence. - Skinnerian Learning Theory - A reinforcement acts backward to strengthen an imitative response. - Bandura - Reinforcement facilitates learning in an anticipatory manner by encouraging the observer to pay attention and to rehearse the observed behavior. - Social Learning Theory | 3 - Two Types of Reinforcement - Self-reinforcement - This occurs when an individual compares his/her behavior to internal standards. - If behavior meets standards, this results to pride. - If behavior does not meet standards, this results to guilt, shame or dissatisfaction. - Bandura said that any behavior has Two Consequences: - Self evaluation - External outcome - Two Types of Reinforcement - Vicarious Reinforcement - This takes place when an individual witnesses someone else experience reinforcing or punishing consequences for a behavior, and that individual anticipates similar consequences if he/she produces the same behavior. OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING - Observational Learning or Modelling is governed by Four Constituent Processes: - Attention - Retention - Production - Motivation Social Learning Theory | 4 - Attentional Process - People can’t learn anything unless they pay attention to and accurately perceive significant features of the to-be-modelled behavior. - A model that is vivid, attractive, competent, and seen repeatedly is more likely to catch attention. - What a person notices is influenced by his knowledge and orientation. - Therefore, the characteristics of the model and the observer both determine what will occur. - Retention Process - A behavior can’t be reproduced unless we remember it, code it in symbolic forms. - This is done through images and verbal representations in memory. - Memory is enhanced by rehearsal. - Production Process - The learner must be able to reproduce the behavior that has been observed, and this entails certain skills and abilities. - Feedback to the performer plays a crucial role in this process. - Motivational Process - A learned behavior will be enacted if it leads to certain incentives. - Performance of observed behavior is influenced by three kinds of Incentives: - Direct - When the behavior leads directly to a desired outcome - Vicarious - When it has been observed to be effective Social Learning Theory | 5  - Self-Administration - When it is self-satisfying - People can learn even novel responses by observing others. - The capacity to perform new behaviors that are observed before but never practiced is possible through our cognitive faculties. Images and verbal symbols can translate such observed behaviors into new patterns of behaviour from one’s self. - In human cultures, novel behavior is very frequently acquired by observing the behavior of others. - Three Effects of Exposure to Models - Acquisition of novel behavior - Eliciting the performance of similar responses already in the observer’s repertoire, which is more likely to happen if the behavior is socially acceptable. - When the model is performing a socially proscribed/unacceptable behavior: - Performer’s inhibition to perform the behavior is strengthened if the model is punished. - Performer’s inhibition to perform the behavior is weakened when the model is rewarded. - Classically conditioned emotional response - Not only do observers exposed to the emotional reactions of a model experience similar reactions, but they may also begin to respond emotionally to stimuli that produced these reactions from the model. Social Learning Theory | 6  RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM - 1) Personal influences (cognitive/metal/psychical/psychodynamic, etc.), 2) environmental force, and 3) behavior function as interdependent rather than autonomous determinants. - Three Ways to conceptualize interaction of individual and situation/environment: - Unidirectional Interaction - Bidirectional Conception - Reciprocal Determinism - Unidirectional Interaction - Persons and situations are independent entities that combine to generate behavior. - Bidirectional Conception - Persons and situations are interdependent causes, but behavior is seen as a consequence that does not figure in the causal process. - Reciprocal Determinism - Behavior, environment, and person all function as interlocking determinants of each other. Social Learning Theory | 7 - Personality Approach - Focuses on the traits and patterns of the person - Learning Approach - Focuses on the environment reinforcers - Interactionist Approach - Considers the contribution of the person and situation to the behavior mmm - Reciprocal Determinism - Behavior, environment, and person all function as interlocking determinants of each other. SELF-SYSTEM - This refers to the cognitive structures that provide reference mechanisms and to a set of subfunctions for the perception, evaluation, and regulation of behavior. - Self-Observation - Judgmental Process - Self-Reaction Social Learning Theory | 8 Self-system: self-observation - Performance Dimensions - Quality - Rate - Quantity - Originality - Sociability - Morality - Deviancy - Regularity - Proximity - Accuracy - Self-Observation - We observe our behavior, noting such factors as quality, quantity, and originality. - The more complex the behavior and the more intricate the setting, the more likely that the observation will have inaccuracies. Self-system: judgemental process - Personal Standards - Challenge - Explicitness - Generality Social Learning Theory | 9  - Referential Performance - Standard Norms - Social Comparison - Personal Comparison - Collective Comparison - Valuation of Activity - Highly regarded - Neutral - Devalued - Performance Attribution - Personal Locus - External Locus Self-system - Judgemental Process - Behavior generates a self reaction in the form of judgments about the correspondence between behavior and personal standards. - We use as reference a. past behavior, b. norms, c. social comparison. - Self judgement is enhanced when we choose people with less ability for comparison. - We are more critical to our behavior when the activity is something important to us. Self-system: self reaction - Evaluate Self-Reactions Social Learning Theory | 10  - Positive - Negative - Tangible Self-Reactions - Rewarding - Punishing - No Self-reactions - Self-Reaction - Favorable appraisals generate rewarding self-reactions, unfavorable judgements generate punishing responses, and behaviors without personal significance don’t generate any reaction. - Studies of children showed that those exposed to models with low standards rewarded themselves more indulgently than those who observed strict models. DISENGAGEMENT FROM SELF-EVALUATION - Reprehensible Behavior - Moral Justification, palliative comparison, euphemistic labelling - Displacement/diffusion of responsibility - Detrimental Effects - Minimizing, ignoring, misconstruing the consequences - Displacement/diffusion of responsibility Social Learning Theory | 11  - Victim - Dehumanization - Attribution of blame Self-Efficacy - The expectation that one can, by personal effort, master a situation and bring about a desired outcome. - Therapeutic change results from the development self-efficacy. - Two Components: - Efficacy Expectation - Conviction that the person can successfully produce the behavior required to generate the outcome - Outcome Expectation - Refers to a person’s belief that a given behavior will lead to a particular outcome. - Major Sources of Efficacy Information - Performance Accomplishment - This is the most effective method to induce mastery since they are based on actual mastery experience. - Vicarious Experience - Modelling that leads to successful outcome is most effective - Multiple models are more effective than a single model. Social Learning Theory | 12  - Verbal Persuasion (encouraging) - This source is popular but may be less effective than the other strategies - Emotional Arousal - It can trigger a perception of low efficacy since it triggers anxiety. A LAST LOOK - Bandura emphasized the role of imitation in personality development. - He introduced the concept of vicarious learning, which is a ubiquitous phenomenon in real life. - Bandura’s theory does not elaborate on the importance of maturation, motivational factors, and conflict. - There seems to be a lack of concern with the system aspect of human personality. Social Learning Theory | 13