Social Learning

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What is Learning? (Definition):

• The Social Learning theory defines learning as a construction of those behavior patterns which society expects through interacting, observing, and emulating others.
• Behavior (B), the Environment (E), and the internal events that influence Perceptions (P). This relationship (suggested by Albert Bandura) is known as reciprocal causation.
• The learning process extends to factors outside the individual (external behaviors and internal processing do not describe learning). Interactions with the environment are critical to learning and contain the information needed for the individual to construct knowledge—“to learn.”
• Social learning involves learning (constructing) a set of behaviors that the learner believes are acceptable and under what conditions they are not acceptable. Humans are social by nature, and learn by observing the behaviors of others as well as by observing the outcomes of those behaviors.

Major Assumptions of Social Learning:

• People learn by observing the behaviors of others as well as by observing the outcomes of those behaviors, i.e. consequences of a model behavior affect the observer’s behavior vicariously
• Learning can occur without a change in behavior, e.g. behaviors are not demonstrated unless there is a reason
• The consequences of behavior play a role in learning; e.g., expectation of reinforcement influences cognitive processing that promote learning
• Cognition plays a role in learning, e.g., attention, mental repeating to strengthen connections within the schema, memory codes, etc.
• Self-regulation plays a major role in learning, e.g., goals, self-observation, self-judgment, self-reaction.
• We move from the individual (behaviors and internal process) paradigm to learning as a shared function among person (internal person), behavior (external person), and environment.
• The nature of humans is social, therefore we learn through social interactions e.g. interactional conversation and observation, apprentice activities, collaboration/cooperation, reciprocal teaching
• Humans are intrinsically active and exploratory in  attempting to impose order, stability, and meaning on experience.

Key Terms:

• Learning: the construction of those behavior patterns (knowledge) which society expects. Cognition plays a role in learning, however, knowledge is NOT acquired as in cognitive development learning theory, learning is constructed through a processing of meaning making while the learner is engaged in reciprocal causation. Also, learning is a share function, occurring through social interactions with others. 
• Reciprocal causation: the process by which there is shared control between behavior (B), the environment (E), and the internal events that influence perceptions (P). Effects are produced by events rather than a prior set of causal external factors.  All three variables (B, E, and P) influence each other.
• Modeling and imitation: individuals that are being observed are called models, and the mimicking action of the models by the observers is called imitation.  People learn by observing the behaviors of others as well as observing the outcomes of those behaviors.  In other words, the consequences of a model’s behavior affects the observer’s behavior vicariously.  We can learn from: an actual person whose behavior serves as a stimulus for an observer’s response (also known as a live model); a symbolic model (cartoon, pictures, television, books); or verbal descriptions or instructions.
• Self-efficacy: plays a major role in learning, e.g., goals, self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reaction. It is the conviction that one can successfully execute behavior.  It is affected by the model’s characteristics, value of behavior, and success. This influences behavior in the following ways: choice of activities, quality of performance, and persistence in difficult tasks.  People are more likely to engage in certain behaviors if they have high self-efficacy.
• Self-reinforcement: the observer (learner ) increases a behavior independent of the consequences of the environment or observation, the emphasis (self-reinforcement) is through the perception of the learner.
• Self-regulation: a system that results in self-direction (towards positive/away from negative).  It develops as individuals create their own ideas about appropriate and inappropriate ideas, and choose their actions accordingly.  This can occur through both direct and vicarious reinforcement and punishment, and involves self-observation, self-evaluation, and self-reaction.  Self-established standards are NOT absolute.  This system also involves goal setting and self-evaluation.
• Social nature of learning: because the nature of humans is social, we learn through social interaction (e.g., interactional conversation and observation, apprentice activities, collaboration/cooperation, and reciprocal teaching).
• Vicarious reinforcement: when a model is observed being reinforced for a behavior, the observer (learner ) increases the behavior.

Theorists and Their Contributions:

• Albert Bandura (1925 - present):
• “Bobo doll experiment”
• People learn by observation (McLeod, 2011)
• Donald Meichenbaum:
• Five steps of self-instruction for student behavior

Key Principles of the Social Learning Theory:

• Reciprocal causation: the process by which there is shared control between behavior (B), the environment (E), and the internal events that influence perceptions (P). Effects are produced by events rather than a prior set of causal external factors.  All three variables (B, E, and P) influence each other.
• Learning: the construction of those behavior patterns (knowledge) which society expects. Cognition plays a role in learning, however, knowledge is NOT acquired as in cognitive development learning theory, learning is constructed through a processing of meaning making while the learner is engaged in reciprocal causation. Also, learning is a share function, occurring through social interactions with others.
• Self-efficacy: plays a major role in learning, e.g., goals, self-observation, self-judgment, and self-reaction. It is the conviction that one can successfully execute behavior.  It is affected by the model’s characteristics, value of behavior, and success. This influences behavior in the following ways: choice of activities, quality of performance, and persistence in difficult tasks.  People are more likely to engage in certain behaviors if they have high self-efficacy.
• Self-reinforcement: the observer (learner ) increases a behavior independent of the consequences of the environment or observation, the emphasis (self-reinforcement) is through the perception of the learner.
• Self-regulation: a system that results in self-direction (towards positive/away from negative).  It develops as individuals create their own ideas about appropriate and inappropriate ideas, and choose their actions accordingly.  This can occur through both direct and vicarious reinforcement and punishment, and involves self-observation, self-evaluation, and self-reaction.  Self-established standards are NOT absolute.  This system also involves goal setting and self-evaluation.

Instructional Theories:

- Modeling (transmission of information to the observer) can be done through expository instruction and demonstration.

• Direct and vicarious reinforcement are supported through collaborative and cooperative learning, apprenticeships, reciprocal teaching, and observational learning activities.
• Informational effects (arousal and incentive) help support meaning making and attention.
• Eliciting of new patterns of behaviors can be achieved from modeling and scaffolding prompts.
• Self-awareness, reinforcement, regulation, and goal setting can be done by prompting the learner to think about their own learning processes, the context of learning, etc.
• Allowance for the learner to abstract meaning can be achieved through learner reflection and meaning making.

Conditions of Social Learning Theory:

• Attention:
• In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that detracts your attention is going to have a negative effect on observational learning. If the model interesting or there is a novel aspect to the situation, you are far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning. (Cherry, 2013)
• Retention:
• The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning. (Cherry, 2013)
• Reproduction:
• Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement. (Cherry, 2013)
• Motivation:
• In order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation. While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing other experience some type of reinforcement or punishment. For example, if you see another student rewarded with extra credit for being to class on time, you might start to show up a few minutes early each day. (Cherry, 2013)

Reciprocal Causation: 

• According to Bandura, behavior can also influence both the environment and the person. Each of the three variables: environment, person, behavior influence each other. (Amarasing, 2006)

References:

• “Social Learning Theory Concepts and Definitions” Word Document by Tiffany A. Koszalka
• Cherry, Kendra (2013) http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/sociallearning.htm
• Amarasing, Poonwilas (2006) http://www.southalabama.edu/oll/mobile/theory_workbook/social_learning_theory.htm#terms
• McLeod, Saul (2011) http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

Learning Situation:

• A baseball coach is teaching his player how to properly field a ground ball. The player is having a hard time getting the simple steps down of fielding a ground ball since he has not been getting in front of the ball and the ball has been going past him each time. The coach and the player are both out on the field together with another coach hitting ground balls to them. The coach takes the glove from the player and has the other coach hit him a ground ball. He gets into the proper positioning to field the ground ball and puts his glove down in the correct spot as the ball hits directly into his glove. After a couple of times watching his coach do this, the player then tries to do what his coach just did. He holds the glove the same way as his coach did, he is in the same stance as his coach was in, and he approached the ground ball the same way. Although it wasn’t perfect the first few times, you could tell that the player was improving as some of the ground balls were finding the center of his glove. The coach would critique and make corrections after each repetition. When the player would successfully field the ground ball, the coach would cheer and tell the player he did a great job. This continues as the player practices over and over the same way his coach showed him how to field the ground ball, and the coach would critique the player and give him feedback after each repetition.
• Model: The coach fielding the ground ball is the model.
• Resilient self efficacy: The player continues to practice what the coach taught him even though he may not do it correctly a few times and hasn’t done it correctly in the past, the player still goes on and tries his best even though he may fail.
• Self regulation: The player knows that his performance in the past has been poor, therefore he understand that he needs to be taught by a coach in order to get better at fielding the ground ball. 
• Rehearsal: After the coach teaches the player how to field the ground ball, the player isn’t going to just immediately do it correctly. He is going to have to rehearse the action of fielding the ground ball multiple times.
• Personal agency: Since the player is getting help from his coach he is wanting to change the way he fields a ground ball. He has control over himself and how he chooses to do so. Whether he is successful or he isn’t, it is all up to how he takes the teachings and applies them from here on out.

Observation Checklist:

Observation	Level of Occurrence: 1 - low, 5 - high	Comments
The task that was learned by the player involved the player having to reproduce what he was taught.
The coach led the player through the instruction step by step.
The coach gives feedback, critique, and reinforcement to the player.
The environment around the player enables what is learned to be retained later on.
The player attempts to field the ground ball. Whether he is rewarded or not will depend on if he did it correctly.
The coach first modeled the correct, successful behavior needed to field the ground ball.
The player is left alone to practice on fielding the ground ball. There is little to no interaction with the coach.

Reflection:

  After having studied and learned about the Social Learning theory, and it being the last and final theory we learned about, I can see how all of the learning theories can tie together in some ways. The Social Learning theory and Cognitivism are different from Behaviorism because  they both explain how we don’t have to see something in order to learn about it. Instead, we can infer about what is going on around us.

  The major aspect of the Social Learning Theory that I took away form learning about it is that our knowledge is constructed and not just thrown into a huge database-like system in our heads. I remember in a lecture this semester talking about how our brains construct knowledge and categorize everything that we retain through learning as being the difference that separates us from computers. To think that something as simple as just constructing knowledge is what separates our minds from being computers is quite baffling. But it really is not that simple. There are many complex ideas that go into how our mind works and how we obtain knowledge according to the Social Learning theory. Such as, being able to make our own opinions about what is going on around us.

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