Social Learning Theory

by Albert Bandura

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
Social Learning Theory
 also called observational learning

 emphasizes learning through observation of others

 stressed the importance of observational learning, imitation and modeling

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 Albert
•Bandura
Born on December 4, 1925
• Canadian, American
• Studied at University of British Columbia and University of Lowa

• Researched and taught at Stanford University

• Elected president of American Psychological Association in 1974
• Famous for research on social learning theories

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 “..most learning is gained by
people’s perception and thinking
about what they experience. They
learn by copying the examples of
others around them.”
- Albert Bandura 

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
History of Social Learning Theory
1961 and 1963
Albert Bandura conducted a series of experiments to determine whether social
behaviors (aggression) could be accrued by observation and imitation

1977
Supported by his findings in the Bobo doll experiments, Bandura developed
the social learning theory

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
The Bobo Doll Experiment by
Bandura

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 Bobo Doll Study Participants

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 Bobo Doll Study Method
The experiment involved exposing children to two different adult
models; an aggressive model and a non-aggressive one.
After witnessing the adult's behavior, the children would then be
placed in a room with the model and were observed to see if they
would imitate the behavior they had witnessed earlier.

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
The Bobo Doll Experiment by
Bandura

video watched by the children

children who performed the behavior that they

had observed
Joanna Marie H. Villanueva
PED 701
 Bobo Doll Study Results
 Children who observed the aggressive model made far more imitative
aggressive responses than those who were in the non-aggressive or
control groups.

 There was more partial and non-imitative aggression among those

children who had observed aggressive behavior, although the
difference for non-imitative aggression was small.

Boys imitated more physically aggressive acts than girls.

There was little difference in the verbal aggression
between boys and girls.
Joanna Marie H. Villanueva
PED 701
 Bobo Doll Study Results
 The girls in the aggressive model condition also showed more
physical aggressive responses if the model was male, but more verbal
aggressive responses if the model was female. However, the
exception to this general pattern was the observation of how often
they punched Bobo, and in this case the effects of gender were
reversed.

 Boys were more likely to imitate same-sex models than

girls. The evidence for girls imitating same-sex models
is not strong.

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 Bobo Doll Study Conclusion

Bobo doll experiment demonstrated that children are able to learn

social behavior such as aggression through the process of
observation learning, through watching the behavior of another
person.

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
Basic Social Learning Concepts
 Observational Learning 

 Intrinsic Reinforcement

 The Modelling Process 

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 Bandura’s (1989) Model of Reciprocal
Determinism
Behavior

Bandura’s
Social Learning
Theory Environme
Personal ntal
Factors Factors

Joanna Marie H. Villanueva

PED 701
 Thank
you!
Joanna Marie H. Villanueva
PED 701