The main concept of the social learning theory is that people learn behaviors by observing others. Therefore, an individual learns new behaviors by observing others in their surroundings. For instance, the chemistry students did want to know and behave in a way that gives them an advantage in viewing, understanding and explaining chemistry. Therefore, they copied the behavior of their lecturers because they thought that by doing so; they can be able to handle chemistry just like the lecturers do while teaching them.
There are some conditions that should prevail for an effective modeling and learning to take place. First, the learner has to pay attention to learn more from the model (Miller, 2016). Therefore, they should observe how the model talks, walks and does things among others. When they do this, they get to know which of the behaviors have functional values and are not complex to learn. As a result, the learner gets to understand their models whenever they pay attention to what the models repeatedly do. For example, the chemistry students would get to the front of class and attempt to teach chemistry as their lecturers did. When they do this, they try to speak, explain concepts and behave as their lecturers. Therefore, they found it necessary be like their lecturers to pass in chemistry.
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Secondly, effective modeling takes place if the learner has the capacity to retain what they have observed. They should not forget the key traits that their models possess as this would make their learning impossible. Therefore, the learners retain only those traits that prove to be beneficial to them. They do this through the use of symbolic coding, mental images, cognitive organization, symbolic rehearsal and motor rehearsal among others. Therefore, the learner can at times try to reason and do things the way their models do things. For instance, it was clear that some of the chemistry students in the University of California tried to even walk and talk like their lecturers. They attempted anything that their lecturers did. The learners wanted to know the behaviors that can boost their understanding of chemistry and thus their need to copy their lecturers. However, there are those that did well in copying the behaviors of their lecturers than others.
Thirdly, the learners have to be excellent in reproducing the behaviors they have learned from their models. Therefore, the students’ actions that imitate the way their lecturers do things emphasizes this point. They did all these to increase their chances of being like their lecturers and their success in learning chemistry. However, they did this as they assess how well they have achieved in mastering and showing the behaviors. The students did want to be able to do things like their lecturers and any success in doing so gave them morale to attempt showing other traits evident among their models. According to Bandura, the move by the learner to do things like their mentors is an indicator of learning in progress. Therefore, when models can realize this earlier, they can effectively change their behaviors to teach the learners good and positive behaviors. The lecturers did take notice of this behavior change among the students and attempted to teach the students to view chemistry positively and be objective in all they do. They did this by ensuring that they involved the students in class discussions and practical activities that encouraged their mutuality.
Fourthly, Bandura indicates that the learners should have the reasons as to why they copy their models. The reasons are often the things that motivate the learners to learn and be like their mentors. For instance, the key motivation among the chemistry students was to be able to pass chemistry. However, some wanted to be noticed by the lecturers and thus this group focused more on the relational goals with their lecturers. They wanted their lecturers to feel and appreciate their role in teaching and making them part of their class (Barr, 2010). Moreover, there are those that copied the traits possessed by their lecturers as a way to cope with the feelings of incapability in learning and handling chemistry questions. Therefore, they got some confidence from their behavior that resembled those of their lecturers. As a result, the conclusion that the goals of this social learning theory can be imagined incentives is true. The learner can proceed to learn and copy the behaviors of their models for just the thought that they will get an advantage in understanding chemistry. However, research has shown that those who copy their lecturers tend to outperform those who do not. The reason is that they are more encouraged to learn by their mastery and portrayal of traits similar to those of their lecturers.
Therefore, social learning theory has the environment causing behavior and behavior causing the environment. According to Bandura, this is termed as reciprocal determinism. The conclusion contradicts the behaviorists finding that the environment is only responsible for causing behavior. The social learning theory views this conclusion by the behaviorists as too simplistic. According to the students’ ability to create an environment through which they can learn and understand chemistry, their behavior causes their environment. They get to k now and behave in a way that can increase their chances of learning and understanding chemistry (Miller, 2016). The move confirms Bandura’s conclusion that behavior can also cause the environment. However, the students can be in a position to influence better their environment if they can perfectly learn and reproduce the traits similar to those of their lecturers.
Conclusion
The social learning theory is important in understanding how behavior is learned by observing and reproducing the qualities evident in a model’s behavior. The model represents the person a learner considers to possess the right behavior that is worth learning. For instance, the lecturers teaching chemistry in the University of California are models to their students. The students learn and try to reproduce their behaviors as a way to boost their understanding of chemistry among other targets (Barr, 2010). Therefore, social learning theory is a bridge between the bahaviorists and cognitive psychologists in that the theory has the elements of the two theories.
References
Barr, D.A., Matsui, J. & Wanat, S.F. (2010). Chemistry Courses as the Turning Point for Premedical Students . Advances in Health Sciences Education, 15 (1), 45-54.
Miller, B. & Morris, R.G. (2016). Virtual Peer Effects in Social Learning Theory. Crime and Delinquency, 62 (12), 1543-1569.
