Psychology Personality Albert Bandura\'s Observational Learning Theory,

Psychology Personality

Albert Bandura's observational learning theory, often referred to as the social learning theory has now become one of the most influential theories regarding learning and development. Bandura believed that it was not just reinforcement due to which learning occurred, there was something greater. He suggested that people can learn by watching and observing others behaviors and actions.

Observational learning can take place at any stage during a person's life. However, it is of utmost importance when an individual is a child. Bandura suggested that learning occurs without any instructional activity taking place and that there are three key concepts which lie at the heart of his theory. One concept was, as mentioned already, people learn through observation. Albert Bandura is famous for his Bobo doll experiment in which he showed how children observe and then imitate exactly the same behavior that was done by someone else. In this experiment he basically let a group of children watch adults behaving violently with a Bobo doll. Later when the children were allowed to play with the doll, they did not play with it in the literal sense but rather took up the same behavior as the adults i.e. behaved violently. (Feist & Feist, 2009)

The second concept which is important to this theory is that the mental state of a person is very important when it come to learning. It is not just reinforcement from the external surroundings which encourages a person to learn, but intrinsically there is a force of accomplishment and pride which keeps a person going.

The third and the last concept which is key to this theory is the fact that learning may not always lead to a change in behavior. What this basically means is that people can learn new things without altering the way they behave and may not necessarily carry on with demonstrating what they've learnt.

The observational theory is a mix of both cognitive factors as well as behaviorist ones. When Bandura concluded his studies he determined that there are three models which fit observational learning- Live model: an actual person carries out an act, Verbal instruction model: verbal description of a behavior and the Symbolic Model: a behavior is depicted through a real or fictional person via books, television etc.

There are majorly four factors which ensure that observational learning has been successful. Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. In order for a person to learn something he or she must be fully attentive and must remember or retain what he or she has observed. He must then be able to replicate or copy the action that was remembered and finally there must be a motivating factor present within the person to actually carry out the learned behavior. (Feist & Feist, 2009)

Albert Bandura's observational learning theory is an extension of B.F Skinners operant conditioning theory. However, though an extension, both theories are very different. Bandura's theory differs from Skinners operant conditioning theory such that Skinner believed that once people learn particular behaviors they can be reinforced to perform the same or punished to bring about a certain desired response. He classified responses into three categories, neutral operants which are not likely to bring about a change in behavior, reinforcers; those that increase the chances of a particular action to be performed and punishers which decrease the chances. Bandura, on the other hand, believed reinforcement had no role to play in the process of a person's learning. (Feist & Feist, 2009)

In order to understand the role of family and friends in reinforcement, punishment and extinction, it is first important to have a basic understanding of what these terms are along with the theory that they support which is the operant condition theory.

Operant conditioning was a term coined by psychologist B.F Skinner. He believed the reason that certain behaviors were caused was the external environment and that the thoughts and beliefs of people internally were not the cause of behavior. Operant conditioning is a form of learning which happens by either rewarding or punishing someone for a certain behavior. It is in its simplest terms a way of changing ones behavior. (Feist & Feist, 2009)

When behaviors are desired, they are reinforced positively or in other words rewarded so that the particular desired behavior is repeated in the future. Positive reinforcement is as if something is being added to your behavior and hence the likelihood of it being repeated again. There are different kinds of positive reinforcers which are used to increase the occurrence of behaviors. However, it is important to realize the situation in which an individual is in should be used to determine which reinforce is being used. There are natural reinforcers which happen as a result of a particular behavior for example if an athlete practices hard for a race and ends up winning the gold, the reinforcer in this case is the gold medal that he won. Another kind of positive reinforcer is the token reinforcer which is a token that can be exchanged for something of value for example winning a coupon that entails a person to a free meal at any restaurant. There are also social reinforcers which are those commonly used by parents, friends, teachers etc.

When a certain behavior is undesired and one want to decrease the likelihood of that behavior from being repeated again, punishment occurs. Here, something pleasant which was present before the behavior occurred is removed or something that is unpleasant is added in order to weaken the undesired action.

A third kind of operant conditioning is extinction. Here a behavior is weakened by not experiencing anything positive after the behavior occurs or by not experiencing anything that is negative. Basically each time a particular behavior is performed and a response which was previously received is not received any more it is likely that the behavior will weaken and eventually come to an end. (Feist & Feist, 2009)

In all the three operant conditioning types mentioned above: positive reinforcement, punishment and extinction, family and friends play a vital role. We can understand this role by unique examples for each scenario. When a child is growing up begins to learn things from his surrounding, there are many things that the parents may wish he continues to do. For example if the child is a good singer and his parents continuously praise him at his talent it may encourage him to take up singing classes at school and possibly take it up as a profession in the future as well. This is an example of positive reinforcement and how family plays a role in it. (Feist & Feist, 2009)