Social Learning Theory:

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

• Role modeling is the central concept of the theory

• According to early social learning theory, much of learning occurs by observation,
watching other people and discerning what happens to them.
• Learning is often a social process, and other individuals, especially “significant others,”
provide compelling examples or role models for how to think, feel, and act .

1. Attention Phase
• A necessary condition for any learning to occur.
• Research indicates that models with higher social status and competence are
more likely to be observed, although learners have their own characteristics
(needs, self-esteem and competence) maybe be more significant determiner of
attention.
2. Retention phase
• Involves the storage and retrieval of what was observed.
3. Reproduction phase
• A learner copies the observed behavior.
• Mental rehearsal, immediate reenactment and corrective feedback strengthen
reproduction of behavior.
4. Motivational phase
• Focuses on whether the learner is motivated to perform a certain type of behavior.
• Reinforcement or punishment for a role model’s behavior, the learning situation
and the appropriate mass of the subsequent situation where the behavior is to
displayed affect the learners performance.
The social learning theory extends the learning process beyond the educator–learner relationship
and the learner’s direct experiences to the larger social world.

In health care, social learning theory has been applied to staff training and to interventions that
address public health problems such as teenage smoking and alcoholism among the elderly
(Akers, 1989, 1996). The major difficulty is that this theory is complex and not easily
operationalized, measured, and assessed.