How To Be an Active Leaner in a Group Environment

Albert Bandura is one of the pioneers in the study of human development. His biographical background lays a good foundation for the basis of his work as a psychologist. His social cognitive theory will be examined in detail to highlight the effect that environment has on behavior. There are four basic features to the theory introduced by Bandura that will be discussed; (1) observational learning, (2) self-regulation, (3) self-efficacy, and (4) reciprocal determinism. All four features combined will prove to offer a keen insight into the environmental aspect of our behavior.

Bandura has studied self-efficacy, which is the extent or strength of one’s belief in one’s own ability to complete tasks and reach goals. Self-efficacy can affect all types of behaviors like academics, social and recreational. A child might have the ability to accomplish a task, but if they do not feel like they are capable of doing so, then they may fail or may not attempt the task. For example, in a study difficult math problems were given to children with

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory describes the process through which people acquire new info, forms of behavior, or attitudes from others firsthand or vicariously. The likelihood of a behavior presenting itself will rely on the amount of reinforcement it receives and the value that the individual associates to it. While some behavior may be rewarded, others may produce unfavorable responses. An individual will learn from the consequences of these actions and when a similar situation arises, they will alter their behavior according to what was most successful in the past.

Bandura had developed the theory on social learning, this is based on we learn from one and another through

Albert Bandura's studies concluded that environment causes behaviour but that behaviour causes environment, too. He referred to this idea as "reciprocal determination," believing that an individual's actions and the actions of the world around him are intertwined. As his work progressed, he further stated that personality is an interaction of outside influences behaviour, and an individual's psychological processes. Bandura's early research work focused primarily on observational learning which is simply learning from observing the actions of others. He believed that once someone had witnessed another's behaviour, they may be inclined to adopt this behaviour as their own, ultimately building it into their personality profile. Parents who raise children in a caring, supportive environment can certainly contribute to their children's abilities to develop good self-esteem, enabling the children to better deal with outside situations and influences that they are sure to encounter in their life.

Bandura focused on perceived self-efficacy, which he defines as a belief in one’s own capability to organize and execute the course of action required to attain a goal. (Bandura, 1977).

For example; if James were to see a driver that did not stop at stop signs or speed through red lights, James is more likely to imitate the same behavior of a bad driver. If James were to see a good driver who watched for pedestrians, James is more likely to imitate the good drivers behavior. This is due to Observational learning. Since we learn from other people in our life, James probably has watched and learned tha habits of his parents or an older sibling. Chances are James will drive similar to whoever normally drives

Albert Bandura states “self-efficacy is the belief that one’s ability to influence events that affect one’s life and have control over the way these events are experienced. The theory of self-efficacy is a significant concept in the field of positive psychology since it has a direct relationship with the explanation on how a people’s cognition can affect how they think, behave, and motivate themselves. Albert Bandura presents his views on positive psychology in his chapter “An Agentic Perspective on Positive Psychology”. Albert Bandura states that the concept of self-efficacy is not an ability that certain individuals possess, instead he claims that all persons are capable of utilizing self-efficacy to control their circumstances. In Bandura’s

There are some differences between them as well, which are Bronfenbrenner‘s theories is also emphasis more in indirect influences and other wider factors; such as environment of a family, community or politic and economic issues. However, Bandura theory are more concentrated on children’s cognitive development, topic related to self-efficacy and he also emphasise and

Social learning theory suggests that people learn from one another, this can be through observation, imitation, media and modelling. This theory is often known as the behaviourist theory and cognitive learning theory because it consists of using attention, memory, behaviour and motivation. “Social learning theory advocates that individuals, especially children, imitate or copy modelled behaviour from personally observing others, the environment and the mass media”. (Gray and MacBlain, 2015). This is stating that a child will look up to someone they respect and class them as models, the child may imitate their behaviour and the way they act. If a child’s behaviour is then reinforced the behaviour will occur again. This theory consists of

The concept of interest is self-efficacy. This began in 1977 with Bandura’s social learning theory that was renamed social cognitive theory in 1986, of which self-efficacy was one of the major concepts of his theory. Self-efficacy makes a difference in how people will feel, think, behave, and motivate themselves. A low sense of self-efficacy can be associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and feelings of helplessness. Such individuals also have low self-esteem and become pessimistic about their accomplishments and personal development. In thinking terms, a strong sense of efficacy facilitates cognitive processes and performance in a variety of settings, including the quality of decision-making and academic achievement. When it comes to behavior, self-efficacy can be said to influence people’s choice of activities as self-efficacy levels can foster or decrease a person’s motivation. People with high self-efficacy approach difficult tasks as challenges and do not try to avoid them. People’s self-efficacy beliefs determine their level of motivation, as reflected in how much effort they will

During the class presentation by Dr. Felver on Septmeber 7th, the Social Learning Theory was discussed. Bandura’s social learning theory, states that people learn from one another via observation, imitation and modeling.

Bandura 's theory is based on social learning. He emphasises the importance of observing and modelling the behavior, attitudes and emotional reaction from others. Children from large families or children who attend day care may do this a lot, they will always be observing other children or their siblings behavior, attitude or emotional reactions even if they don’t intend to. ". In society, children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. Theses models provide examples of behavior to observe and imitate, e.g. masculine and feminine, pro and anti-social etc. http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html, accessed

Albert Bandura, a 20th century American pszchologist, proposed a very important and probably the most influential theory of development and learning. He believed that: “Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling: from observing others, one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed, and on later occasions

Albert Bandura is considered the developer of social learning theory, which is also known as social cognitive theory (Corey, 2013; Feist et al., 2013; Thoma et al., 2015). Badura’s theory, while based upon the principles of behaviorism, departs from the traditional behavioral model and leaves room for the exploration of unobservable mental states and their influence on behavior (Corey, 2013; Thoma et al., 2015). Social Cognitive theory bases its theory of learning on two types of learning processes: observational learning and enactive learning (Feist et al., 2013). In contrast to Skinner’s belief that reinforcement is required for learning, Bandura believes that learning is possible simply by observing the behavior of others; while reinforcement facilitates learning, it is not a necessary requirement (Feist et al., 2013). Enactive learning is learning through direct experience, and is similar to the concept of operant conditioning; people determine appropriate behaviors by evaluating their behavior and the potential consequences thereof (Feist et al., 2013). Where behavioral theory adopts the ABC approach to behavior, social cognitive theory uses a BPE approach known as Triadic Reciprocal Causation. In TRC, BPE stands for behavior, person variables, and environment (Feist et al., 2013). Within the TRC, the term person encompasses many variables including memory, judging, anticipation, gender, social position, physical attributes, and planning; the belief is that