SOCIAL LEARNING

THEORY
 Social Learning Theory
 Human beings are social animals .They live in society and enjoy social elements . In
the course of enjoying social elements they learn much knowledge through observing
others and also through direct experience.
 This theory emphasizes that people can learn through observation of others behavior
and direct practical experience.
 People can learn through watching models such as parents, family, seniors, peers,
teachers, managers, celebrities and other reference group.
 Explains the effect of the combination of cognitive , behavioral and environmental
forces of learning
Three core concepts
 Bobo Doll Experiment : Modeling of Aggression

 Albert Bandura,1925,Alberta
 Major motivator behind social learning theory
 Famous for his Bobo doll experiment in 1950’s
 Popular belief that learning was a result of reinforcement
 In the experiment ,Bandura presented children with adult models of violent
behavior and non-violent behavior towards the Bobo doll.
 Children observed either an adult model behaving aggressively(violent)
towards a doll or an adult engaging in non-aggressive(non-violent) behavior
towards doll.
 Children exposed to the aggressive model were more likely to imitate the
aggressive behavior towards the doll and the control group was rarely
violent towards the doll.
Process of Social Learning
Attention process
o Beginning stage of social learning
o Individuals need to give more care while observing others
o Individuals need to pay attention to the behavior (consequences)-from a mental
representation of the behavior (active participation)

Retention Process
o State of acquiring knowledge by observing others
o Knowing the basic concept of subject matter presented and understanding the
information and being able to retain the information as well.
o How well the behavior is remembered
Reproduction Process
o Concerned with self practice and gain practical knowledge
o This is the ability to perform the behavior that the model has just demonstrated
o Learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement
o Practice makes a person perfect and develops efficiency for completion of task

Motivation/Reinforcement process
o Concerned with encouraging repetition of learning behavior that gives positive outcome.
o When a response of accomplishment of task is followed by :
With desirable consequences-positive reinforcement
With undesirable consequences-negative reinforcement
o The rewards and punishment that follow a behavior will be considered by the observer.