Banduras Social Learning Theory essays

Bandura's Social Learning Theory essays BACKGROUND OF SOCIAL LEARNING AND COGNITIVE THEORY Social learning and imitation was proposed by Miller and Dollard but rejected ideas of behaviorism related by association. It was a theory of learning, however, that did not account for new responses or the processes of delayed and non-reinforced imitations. Bandura widened the not yet developed parts of social learning theory in his book Social Learning and Personality Development written in 1963. It was not until the 1970s, that Bandura discovered there was something missing to the present day learning theories as well as his own social learning theory. The missing link to his theory were self-beliefs. This was identified in his writing Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Albert Bandura discovered the big debate in dealing with the concept of behaviorism. He felt that it was inadequate for describing complex human functioning and that it is a persons environment that causes behavior. He argued that the cause and effect relationship between environmental forces and behavior outcomes are reciprocal, that peoples environments and their behavior simultaneously create and affect each other. In his publication of Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory he stresses that people have certain understandings that allow them to have a certain amount of control over their feelings, actions, and thoughts. Bandura wrote, what people think, believe, and feel affects how they behave. This understandings or beliefs are based on five ideas: symbolizing, self-regulatory, self-reflexive, vicarious and forethought. They are also referred to as his five human competencies. As a result, human behavior is made from a combination of outside influences an d these five ideas. Banduras social learning or cognitive theory is best explained in three categories: observational learning, self-regulation, an...