Social Cognitive Theory (aka) Social Learning Theory & (the Process of) Observational Learning

1. Google Images
Dr Barbara Spears

2. From drooling dogs & pecking pigeons to complex
human behaviour
 Adequacy of behaviourist perspectives to explain:
 Reading?
 Problem solving?
 Friendliness?
 Aggression?
 Social Cognitive Theory:
 Social,
 Cognitive AND
 Behavioural factors play important roles in learning.

3. Looking Back......Behaviourism
Emphasis on experimental methods
 Focus on variables we can:
 Observe
 Measure
 Manipulate ( Drooling dogs, & pecking pigeons)
 CC: Respondent: Pavlov
 Autonomic; involuntary, reflexive
 Contiguous learning: stimulus : response
 OC: Operant: Watson/Thorndike/Skinner
 ABC
 Environmental experiences and behaviour
 Neglects:
 Influence of social and cognitive factors

4. Social and Cognitive factors in learning?
Social Factors? Cognitive Factors?
 Students observing their  Students’ expectations for
parents’ achievement success
behaviour
 What social factors have been  What cognitive factors have
important in your learning? been important in your
learning?

5. Moving Forwards
Albert Bandura
When students learn, they cognitively
 “represent” or
 “transform” experiences
Observational Learning:
 Cognitive processing
 Of information
 Displayed by models
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJNNtsJmZb4
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=688uHz6QYkQ
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmzDLzqQ-A0

6. Allegra, 4, plays dress-up, Malibu, California.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnGmjrdN-gU

7. Lily, aged 6
"Britney’s a role model. She’s
fashionable, and she has
movements that I like.
Britney, Christina Aguilera,
Destiny’s Child: They’re
role models ’cause they like
action and movement so
much".
Lily, then 5, shops at Rachel
London's Garden, where
Britney Spears has some of
her clothes designed. Los
Angeles, California
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jppUkWGKgls

8. Albert Bandura
Social Learning Theory
 Social Learning in children
 how children learn through observation
 Can learn new behaviour
 Can facilitate learner’s response repertoire
 Can inhibit or dis-inhibit responses

9. Bobo Doll Study (1965)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZXOp5PopIA

10. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/soccog/soclrn.html

11. http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/soccog/soclrn.html

12. Other studies....
.37
.31
.25 .24
.2
.1

13. Video Games and Violence?
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB6vTkvi9to
 http://ithp.org/articles/violentvideogames.html
 http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2003/10/ander
son.aspx
 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnew
s/9183385/Violent-video-games-are-fuelling-rise-in-
aggressive-behaviour.html

14. Google Images

15. Comparison Effect Sizes......

16. Observational Learning/ Modelling
 PROCESS of Learning In Social Settings
 Acquiring skills, strategies and beliefs by observing others
 Involves imitation
 But not limited to it
 Not an exact copy:
 But a general “form” applied
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp8G7IZ29MY&feature=fvw
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5URas0d1B7g
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIDIPh1HGY
 the functioning of OC in a social context
 Behaviour changes
 without first being rewarded
 for approximations to the behaviour (shaped)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjpBa_4tXmM

17. Four Fundamentals of the
(Observational, Social Cognitive) Learning
Process:
To Learn:
 Attention
 = pay attention first : attend to the model
 Retention
 Remember what you have paid attention to: code in memory
 Imagery and language
 Store what we have seen as mental images/verbal descriptions
 (Re)Production
 Translate images into behaviour
 Have to have the ability to reproduce
 (Reinforcement and) Motivation
 Only perform when motivated
 Past reinforcement
 Promised reinforcement (incentives)
 Vicarious reinforcement (seeing others)

18. Comparison :
OC & OL
 OC: views
 reinforcement is a direct cause of learning (ABC)
 OL: views
 reinforcement as motivation, not learning
learning occurs:
form a representation of the behaviour in memory,
&
reproduce it

19. Modelling
 the process of
 observing
 then imitating
 Direct:
 simple imitation
 Symbolic:
 books; TV; films
 Synthesized:
 copying portions of behaviour for different purposes
 Abstract:
 inferring a system of rules

20. Determinants
 Reinforcements and punishments:
 received by both model and observer
 Both appropriate and inappropriate behaviour can
be modelled
 Pro-social models have pro-social effects
 Consistency is vital regardless

21. To Whom do we Pay Attention?
Perceived Similarity
 Similar models
 more effective than different
 Several models
 Same-sex
 Peers

22. Alison, 17 years old
"Close to a hundred percent of my close friends have been on some kind of
prescription drug for depression or ADD or something like that. Dexedrine, Adderall,
Paxil, Wellbutrin, Depakote, Neurontin, Effexor, Prozac".
Joyce, 15, Elysia, 14, and Alison, then 14, at their friend's sixteenth birthday party,
Arlington, Virginia.

23. To Whom Do we Pay Attention?
Perceived Competence
 Interaction with perceptions of similarity to impact a
model’s effectiveness
 More competent is likely to be imitated than less
competent

24. Competence?
 Olympians
 Football players
 Soap Stars
 Who in the Class????

25. (Re)production &Motivation :
Acquisition and Performance
We may all know more than we show
 While learning may have occurred,
 it may not be demonstrated (Re/Produced)
 until the situation is right (Motivated)
 May acquire new skill/behaviour:
 but may not perform it until motivated

26. Bandura Believes:
Traditional behavioural views are
 accurate, but incomplete
Social Learning Theory
 Extended behavioural explanations
 Recognised mental/psychological factors
Social COGNITIVE Theory
 Links:
 the functioning of OC;
 in a social setting;
 with the role of cognition in processing information

27. Social Cognitive Theory
 Emphasises internal processes:
 thoughts are always influencing actions and
 actions are always influencing thoughts (Bandura,
1986)
 Children:
 Think about what they do;
 about what we want them to do
 those thoughts affect what they actually do.

28. Reciprocal Determinism
Human behaviour can be explained
in terms of the reciprocal influences of
 Person/Cognitive
 Environmental Cognitive
 Behavioural factors
Behaviour Environmental
Internal and External factors are important
 Interact and influence others
 Interaction of forces = reciprocal determinism

29. 3 key aspects
 That contribute to the interactive processes in his
ideas about human behaviour and cognitive
functioning:
1 Observation: Vicarious Conditioning
2 Language: Symbolic Processes
3 Self talk: Self regulation

30. Vicarious Conditioning
 Observation of the consequences of actions
 influences the motivation to enact the behaviour
 Others are rewarded or punished
 we modify our behaviour
 as if we had received the consequences

31. Teaching and the Classroom?
All aspects of the classroom have an impact on learning:
Internal (cognitive and personal); observation and
modelling; vicarious learning.
Social Cognitive Theory can be used for:
 Teaching new behaviours/attitudes
 Encouraging existing behaviours
 Changing inhibitions
 Directing Attention
 Arousing Emotions

32. Cognitive Behaviour Approaches
Confucius:
“If you give a man a fish...you feed him for a day...If you
teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime...”
Cognitive Behaviour Approaches:
 Emphasise getting students to
 Monitor
 Manage
 Regulate their own behaviour

33. Self-Regulation (Model from Santrock, 2008, p 251)
Self Evaluation
and Monitoring
Monitoring
Goal Setting
outcomes and
and Strategic
refining
Planning
strategies
Putting a plan
into Action and
Monitoring it

34. Self-Efficacy
“The belief in one’s capabilities to organise and
execute the sources of action required to manage
prospective situations”
(Bandura, 1986)
Bandura & Schunk (1981) and Schunk (1984)
 self- efficacy judgments are thought to affect
achievement by influencing an individual's
 choice of activities,
 task avoidance,
 effort expenditure, and
 goal persistence.

35. Sef-Efficacy
 Henk and Melnick (1995)
 four basic factors to predict how students estimate their
capabilities as a reader:
 performance
 past success,
 amount of effort,
 need for assistance,
 patterns of progress,
 task difficulty,
 task persistence, and
 belief in the effectiveness of instruction,
 observational comparison,
 social feedback and
 physiological states.

36. Summary
Strengths
 Bandura extended behavioural theories:
 Internal (cognitive & personal)
 External (environmental or contextual) factors influence
learning
 Learner makes an active contribution to behaviour change
 Focus on the role of observation and imitation heightened
awareness of the impact of such media as TV, video, e-games
 Vicarious learning can have both positive and negative
impacts on behaviour

37. Summary
Limitations
 The conditions under which vicarious learning occurs
have been questioned:
 Why do children imitate the behaviours of some and not
others?
 How can you be sure that desirable behaviours modelled
have impact, whilst undesirable behaviours are ignored
and forgotten?

38. Links
 http://teachnet.edb.utexas.edu/~lynda_abbott/Social.html

 http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm