Social Learning Theory

1. Social Learning Theory

2. Three Key Concepts • Observational learning can be more than just mimicking • Children are self-regulatory • Triadic reciprocal causation provides a model for behavior change

3. Self-Regulation • By observing the consequences of behaviors, children regulate themselves • By reward and punishment, also.

4. Observational Learning • Children learn to play games with complex rules by watching others play. They infer the rules and strategies

5. Triadic reciprocal causation • Person (P) • Behavior (B) • Environment (E) • A person who behaves well may elicit positive responses • Peer pressure, parental pressure • Physical appearance P B E

6. Five Skills (as a child matures, she/he gets better at these) • Symbolization • Vicarious learning • Self-regulation • Self-efficacy • See the future consequences of present behaviors

7. Self-efficacy • How effective a child feels about her/him self determines the child’s behavior • If you think you are not good a something you might choose not to attempt something that requires it. • A slight over estimation of ones effectiveness seems to be helpful. • This one area that clearly speaks to teachers

8. Vicarious Learning • By observing what happens to someone else, children learn new behaviors. • Someone is punished for doing something, so child learns, maybe, not to do that. • Someone is rewarded for a certain behavior so …

9. Symbolization • The ability to abstract from observations – The model does such and such and the following occurs to if anyone does such and such the following is likely to occur. • The ability to apply learning to new situations

10. Four Components of Observational Learning • Attention • Retention • Production • Motivation

11. Notes • Children react negatively to hypocrisy • Children do best if they slightly overestimate their efficacy • Children are greatly influenced by models • Girls model themselves after female role models • Children of color need role models that look like them.

12. Notes Continued • Children learn to “generalize” from a model to be able to apply it or its behavior to other situations.

13. Models and Symbols • Models must capture a child’s attention • Child must be able to “generalize” the model’s behavior. (Convert it to symbols) (e.g. aggressive behavior) • Children can deduce an abstract rule from a series of experiences. (past tense use “ed” at end) (Most kids learn the rules of a game by playing the game and experiencing the rules

14. More on Models And Observation • Demonstrate the appropriate behavior. • Ask learner to mimic behavior • Repeat the above two steps a few times • Observe and praise or correct performance