SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY IN RELATION TO CRIME

learning is defined as “a persisting change in human performance potential as a result of the

learner’s interaction with the environment” (driscoll, 1994, pp8-9). Learning is also elucidated by
Weinstein and meyer (1986) as “the relatively permanent change in a person’s knowledge or behavior
due to experience”. On this point, shuell (1986) clarified learning as “an enduring change in behavior, or
in the capacity to behave in a given fashion, which results from practice or other forms of experience”.
Learning theories see the environment as the major force in development. In the context of the study,
albert bandura is arguably the most eminent living psychologist. Scholars categorized learning theories as
behaviorism, social learning theory and social cognitive learning theory.

Social learning theory is increasingly cited as essential component of sustainable natural resource
management and the promotion of desirable behavioral change. According to the researcher of this study
I gathered, this theory is based on the idea that they learn from their interactions with others in social
context. Separately, by observing the behavior of others, people assimilate and imitate that behavior,
especially if their observational experiences are positive ones or include rewards related to the observed
behavior. According to bandura, imitation involves the actual reproduction of observed motor activity.
This theory has been called a bridge between behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theory
because it encompasses attention, memory, and motivation. Based on the observational learning
conducted by bandura in 1961 with his famous experiment known as bobo doll experiment, the study
patterns of behavior, at least in part, by social learning theory, and that similar behaviors were learned by
individuals shaping their own behavior after the actions of model. The experiment is among the most
lauded and celebrated of psychological experiments. The study was significant because, it departed from
behaviorism’s insistence that all behavior is directed be enforcement or rewards. The children received
no encouragement or incentives to beat up the doll; they were simply imitating the behavior they had
observed. For that reason, in his theory he added a social element Arguing that people can learn new
information and behaviors by watching other people.

In conclusion, I chose this theory of bandura because social learning is a process that perhaps
started even before and Social learning happens anywhere and anytime. As a student, I am also learning
from people I interact with like my teachers, friends, preachers, family, and strangers. even toddlers can
learn from what he/she observed from her/his parents. In this theory, I have learned that Through social
learning, it enables me to identify the good and the bad behavior that I am going to adopt. This theory
makes me realized that even how negative the situation you have encountered or observed, it always
ended up within us on how to deal with it like even if the situation has a possible negative impact to a us,
we should know how to make things positively. If I were given the chance to make a theory, it will be
entitled as “the environment and a child’s early social learning process theory” that is somehow related
to my favorite theory of bandura, the social learning theory. My theory will be focused on a child’s starting
point of learning where it started first on its home because, Home is responsible for molding a child before
he/she started to explore one day his/her environment.