Albert Bandura

• Albert Bandura is a contempora

ry psychologist specializing in d
evelopmental psychology and e
ducational psychology. Much of
his work centers around social l
earning theory. He is one of the
most widely-cited psychologists
of all time.
• Albert Bandura was born in Alberta, Canada, in the
small town of Mundare. He was the youngest of six
children, two of whom died in youth, one from a hu
nting accident and another from the flu pandemic.
Bandura’s parents were hardworking and self-educa
ted. They instilled in him a joy for celebrating life an
d the importance of education
• Born on December 4, 1925
• Died on july 26, 2021
• His primary education was explorative and practical
, as the school he attended was led by only two tea
chers and had limited resources for educational ma
terials
• After finishing school, Bandura went to the Yukon t
o help protect the Alaskan Highway from sinkholes.
eachers
• Bandura entered the University of British Columbia
and stumbled onto his career by choosing a psychol
ogy class as a filler for his curriculum. to
• While at the University of Iowa, Bandura studied un
der Kenneth Spence and was influenced by his pred
ecessor, Clark Hull. Bandura began experimenting w
ith imagery, reciprocal determinism, and representa
tion.
• He began to develop a set of theoretical and analyti
cal skills and was able to offer psychologists a new a
pproach to the evaluation of the mental process, as
ide from the traditional model of psychoanalysis.
• Bandura is known for his social learning theory. He i
s quite different from other learning theorists who l
ook at learning as a direct result of conditioning, rei
nforcement, and punishment. Bandura asserts that
most human behavior is learned through observati
on, imitation, and modeling.
• Bandura developed his social cognitive theory from
a holistic view of human cognition in relation to soc
ial awareness and influence. He emphasized that be
havior is guided by a combination of drives, cues, re
sponses, and rewards. For example, a child might h
ave a drive to eat candy, and this desire can be reinf
orced if the parent responds by eating candy with t
he child or rewards the child with praises for eating
candy.
Learning Through Observation
: Live, Verbal, and Symbolic
• Bandura is famous for his studies of children observ
ing adults who acted aggressively toward a doll. Aft
er the children viewed this behavior, they were give
n dolls to play with. Can you guess how they interac
ted with the dolls? You’re right. They imitated the a
ggressive actions that they observed earlier.
• But Bandura took the meaning of “observation” eve
n further. In addition to a “live” model, he explored
a “verbal” instructional model, whereby if certain e
xplanations and descriptions were presented, then l
earning was enhanced. I am sure you can think of a
n example of when someone patiently explained so
mething to you in a way that helped you to learn it.
That’s the perfect example of a verbal instructional
model.
• He also studied “symbolic” models, where characte
rs (fiction/non-fiction) in movies, television progra
ms, online media, and books could lead to learning.
This means that students could learn from watching
a movie or television program, listening to any num
ber of online media sources (e.g., podcasts), or fro
m reading a book. They envisioned how the charact
ers reacted and how they felt, etc. This, in turn, tau
ght them how to react and feel in similar life situati
ons.
The Importance of Motivatio
n and Mental State
• Bandura claims that observation alone may not be suffici
ent enough to incur maximal learning; a person’s motivati
on and their mental state also influence learning. Bandur
a agreed with the behavioral theorists who noted that ext
ernal reinforcement shapes learning, but he also acknowl
edged that learning is not always a result of external reinf
orcement. He claimed that learning is a result of intrinsic
reinforcement as well. For example, a student might learn
something because of their pride, for a sense of satisfacti
on, or to fulfill a feeling of accomplishment. This factor of
learning intrinsically connects Bandura’s learning theory t
o those of other cognitive-developmental theories.
Learning Doesn’t Always Le
ad to a Behavioral Change
• Behaviorists argue that learning leads to a permane
nt change in behavior. However, Bandura showed t
hat observational learning can occur without the le
arner demonstrating any new behavior. In other w
ords, you can observe, imitate, or model something
but you might not learn it. He explored the questio
n of what needs to happen for an observable behav
ior to be learned (in addition to observation) and cit
ed four necessary steps: attention, retention, repro
duction, and motivation.
What are the implications for Social Lea
rning Theory on teachers and student lea
rning?
• Certainly, this theory can be used to teach positive
behaviors to students. Teachers can use positive rol
e models to increase desired behaviors and thus ch
ange the culture of a school. Not only will individual
students benefit from positive role models in and o
ut of the classroom, but the entire class and studen
t body will do so.
• Other classroom strategies such as encouraging chil
dren and building self-efficacy are rooted in social le
arning theory. For example, if a teacher is positive
with their students and they encourage them, this p
ositive energy and verbal encouragement, in turn, h
elps build self-efficacy, the belief in one’s abilities to
succeed in various situations
• In conclusion, observation plays a very powerful rol
e in learning. It not only helps teach students but h
elps them to successfully understand, retain, and ap
ply their learning to their lives so they can learn and
achieve even more. For this, we thank Albert Bandu
ra for his Social Learning Theory contribution

• Reference: https://educationaltechnology.net/socia
l-learning-theory-albert-bandura/