Bandura - Social Learning

Theory
By Saul McLeod, updated 2016

In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviorist
learning theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. However, he
adds two important ideas:

1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses.

2. Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of
observational learning.

Individuals that are observed are called models. In society, children are
surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family,
characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at
school. These models provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate, e.g.,
masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social, etc.
Children pay attention to some of these people (models) and encode their
behavior.  At a later time they may imitate (i.e., copy) the behavior they have
observed.
They may do this regardless of whether the behavior is ‘gender appropriate’ or
not, but there are a number of processes that make it more likely that a child will
reproduce the behavior that its society deems appropriate for its gender.
First, the child is more likely to attend to and imitate those people it perceives as
similar to itself. Consequently, it is more likely to imitate behavior modeled by
people of the same gender.
Second, the people around the child will respond to the behavior it imitates with
either reinforcement or punishment.  If a child imitates a model’s behavior and
the consequences are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the
behavior. 
If a parent sees a little girl consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you
are,” this is rewarding for the child and makes it more likely that she will repeat
the behavior.  Her behavior has been reinforced (i.e., strengthened).
Reinforcement can be external or internal and can be positive or negative.  If a
child wants approval from parents or peers, this approval is an external
reinforcement, but feeling happy about being approved of is an internal
reinforcement.  A child will behave in a way which it believes will earn approval
because it desires approval. 
Positive (or negative) reinforcement will have little impact if the reinforcement
offered externally does not match with an individual's needs.  Reinforcement can
be positive or negative, but the important factor is that it will usually lead to a
change in a person's behavior.
Third, the child will also take into account of what happens to other people when
deciding whether or not to copy someone’s actions.  A person learns by observing
the consequences of another person’s (i.e., models) behavior, e.g., a younger
sister observing an older sister being rewarded for a particular behavior is more
likely to repeat that behavior herself.  This is known as vicarious reinforcement.
This relates to an attachment to specific models that possess qualities seen as
rewarding. Children will have a number of models with whom they identify.
These may be people in their immediate world, such as parents or older siblings,
or could be fantasy characters or people in the media. The motivation to identify
with a particular model is that they have a quality which the individual would like
to possess.
Identification occurs with another person (the model) and involves taking on (or
adopting) observed behaviors, values, beliefs and attitudes of the person with
whom you are identifying.
The term identification as used by Social Learning Theory is similar to the
Freudian term related to the Oedipus complex.  For example, they both involve
internalizing or adopting another person’s behavior.  However, during the
Oedipus complex, the child can only identify with the same sex parent, whereas
with Social Learning Theory the person (child or adult) can potentially identify
with any other person.
Identification is different to imitation as it may involve a number of behaviors
being adopted, whereas imitation usually involves copying a single behavior.

Mediational Processes
SLT is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory
(i.e., behaviorism) and the cognitive approach. This is because it focuses on how
mental (cognitive) factors are involved in learning.
Unlike Skinner, Bandura (1977) believes that humans are active information
processors and think about the relationship between their behavior and its
consequences.
Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work.
These mental factors mediate (i.e., intervene) in the learning process to
determine whether a new response is acquired.
Therefore, individuals do not automatically observe the behavior of a model and
imitate it. There is some thought prior to imitation, and this consideration is
called mediational processes. This occurs between observing the behavior
(stimulus) and imitating it or not (response)

There are four mediational processes proposed by Bandura:

1. Attention: The extent to which we are exposed/notice the behavior. For a
behavior to be imitated, it has to grab our attention. We observe many
behaviors on a daily basis, and many of these are not noteworthy. Attention
is therefore extremely important in whether a behavior influences others
imitating it.
2. Retention: How well the behavior is remembered. The behavior may be
noticed but is it not always remembered which obviously prevents
imitation. It is important therefore that a memory of the behavior is
formed to be performed later by the observer.
Much of social learning is not immediate, so this process is especially vital
in those cases. Even if the behavior is reproduced shortly after seeing it,
there needs to be a memory to refer to.
3. Reproduction: This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model
has just demonstrated. We see much behavior on a daily basis that we
would like to be able to imitate but that this not always possible. We are
limited by our physical ability and for that reason, even if we wish to
reproduce the behavior, we cannot.
This influences our decisions whether to try and imitate it or not. Imagine
the scenario of a 90-year-old-lady who struggles to walk watching Dancing
on Ice. She may appreciate that the skill is a desirable one, but she will not
attempt to imitate it because she physically cannot do it.
4. Motivation: The will to perform the behavior. The rewards and
punishment that follow a behavior will be considered by the observer. If
the perceived rewards outweigh the perceived costs (if there are any), then
the behavior will be more likely to be imitated by the observer. If the
 vicarious reinforcement is not seen to be important enough to the observer,
then they will not imitate the behavior.

Critical Evaluation
The social learning approach takes thought processes into account and
acknowledges the role that they play in deciding if a behavior is to be imitated or
not. As such, SLT provides a more comprehensive explanation of human learning
by recognizing the role of mediational processes.
However, although it can explain some quite complex behavior, it cannot
adequately account for how we develop a whole range of behavior including
thoughts and feelings. We have a lot of cognitive control over our behavior and
just because we have had experiences of violence does not mean we have to
reproduce such behavior.
It is for this reason that Bandura modified his theory and in 1986 renamed his
Social Learning Theory, Social Cognitive Theory (SCT), as a better description of
how we learn from our social experiences.
Some criticisms of social learning theory arise from their commitment to the
environment as the chief influence on behavior. It is limiting to describe behavior
solely in terms of either nature or nurture and attempts to do this underestimate
the complexity of human behavior. It is more likely that behavior is due to an
interaction between nature (biology) and nurture (environment).
Social learning theory is not a full explanation for all behavior. This is particularly
the case when there is no apparent role model in the person’s life to imitate for a
given behavior.
The discovery of mirror neurons has lent biological support to the theory of social
learning. Although research is in its infancy the recent discovery of "mirror
neurons" in primates may constitute a neurological basis for imitation. These are
neurons which fire both if the animal does something itself, and if it observes the
action being done by another.