bandura

• Albert Bandura is a contemporary psychologist specializing in developmental and educational psychology
• Much of Bandura's work centers around social learning theory
• Social Learning Theory has its roots in American learning theory and emphasizes laboratory experimentation
• Social learning theorists view personality as patterns of behavior learned through observing and being reinforced by others
• Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) developed from Social Learning Theory in the 1960s
• SCT posits that learning occurs in a social context with a dynamic interaction of person, environment, and behavior
• SCT emphasizes social influence and internal and external social reinforcement
• Observational Learning and Enactive Learning are two major kinds of learning
• Observational Learning:

  • Allows learning without performing behavior
  • By observing others, one can avoid responses that might lead to punishment or no reinforcement
• Enactive Learning:

  • Learning by doing and experiencing the consequences of actions
• Triadic Reciprocal Determinism involves Personal Factors, Environmental Factors, and Behavioral Factors influencing behavior
• Self-System refers to cognitive structures that provide reference mechanisms for behavior evaluation and regulation
• Self-Regulation:

  • People can manipulate their environments through reflective thought
  • Self-Observation, Self-Reaction, Judgmental Process are components of self-regulation
• Self-Reinforcement:

  • Setting personal standards of behavior and achievement
  • Rewarding or punishing oneself based on meeting or exceeding these standards
• Self-Efficacy:

  • Foundation of human motivation
  • Level of confidence in one's ability to perform a behavior
• Dysfunctional Behavior includes Phobias, Depressive Reactions, and Aggressive Behaviors
• Phobias: Severe fear affecting daily life, often learned through observation

  Depressive Reactions: Failure leading to depression and undervaluing of accomplishments

  Aggressive Behaviors: Range of behaviors causing harm to oneself, others, or the environment
• Processes of Observational Learning:

  • attention
  • retention
  • reproduction
  • motivation
• attention - In order to learn anything, a person have to be paying attention
• retention - You must be able to retain or remember what you had paid attention to
• reproduction - You have to translate the images or descriptions into actual behavior so you have to have the ability to reproduce the behavior in the first place
• motivation - Observational learning is most effective when learners are motivated to perform the modeled behavior
• self-system refers to the cognitive structures that provide reference mechanisms and to a set of sub-functions for the perception, evaluation, and regulation of behavior.
• self-system implies that people are capable of observing and symbolizing their own behavior and of evaluating it on the basis of memories of past reinforced or non-reinforced behavior as well as anticipated future consequences. 
• self-system involves self-regulation, self-reinforcement, and self-efficacy
• Self- Regulation - Although people have no independent self with the capacity to manipulate the environment at will, they are capable of some degree of self-regulation. By using reflective thought, they can manipulate their environments and produce consequences of their actions.
• Self-Reinforcement - We set personal standards of behavior and achievement. We reward ourselves for meeting or exceeding these expectations and standards, and we punish ourselves for our failures.
• components of self-regulation:

  • self-observation
  • judgemental processes
  • self-reaction
• Self-Observation – We must be able to monitor our own performance, even though the attention we give to it need not be complete or even accurate.
• Judgmental Process – Helps people regulate their behavior through the process of cognitive mediation. We are capable not only of reflective self-awareness but also of judging the worth of our actions on the basis of goal we have set for ourselves. 
• Self-Reaction – We respond positively or negatively to our behavior depending on how it measures up to our personal standards. We create incentives for our own actions through self-reinforcement or self-punishment. 
• Self-Efficacy - refers to the level of a person’s confidence in his or her ability to successfully perform a behavior. This is influenced by a person’s specific capabilities and other individual factors, as well as by environmental factors  
• types of dysfunctional behavior:

  • phobias
  • depressive reaction
  • aggressive behaviors
• Phobia - an irrational fear that can cause anxiety and avoidance of certain situations.
• observational learning - Learning new responses by observing the behavior of other people.
• vicarious reinforcement - Learning or strengthening a behavior by observing the behavior of others, and the consequences of that behavior, rather than experiencing the reinforcement or consequences directly
• Bandura believed that cognitive processes can influence observational learning. We do not automatically imitate the behaviors we see other people displaying. Rather, we make a deliberate, conscious decision to behave in the same way
• We can regulate and guide our behavior by visualizing or imagining those consequences, even though we have not experienced them ourselves
• modeling - A behavior modification technique that involves observing the behavior of others (the models) and participating with them in performing the desired behavior.
• according to bandura, direct reinforcement does not influence a person's behavior, but behavior it can be learned or changed only through direct reinforcement.