Social Learning Theory

Learning is a remarkably complex process that is influenced by a wide variety of factors. As most parents are probably very
much aware, observation can play a critical role in determining how and what children learn. As the saying goes, kids are very
much like sponges, soaking up the experiences they have each and every day.
Because learning is so complex, there are many different psychological theories to explain how and why people learn. A
psychologist named Albert Bandura proposed a social learning theory which suggests that observation and modeling play a
primary role in this process.

Bandura's theory moves beyond behavioral theories, which suggest that all behaviors are learned through conditioning, and
cognitive theories, which take into account psychological influences such as attention and memory.

What Is Social Learning Theory?

During the first half of the 20th-century, the behavioral school of psychology became a dominant force. The behaviorists
proposed that all learning was a result of direct experience with the environment through the processes of association and
reinforcement. Bandura's theory believed that direct reinforcement could not account for all types of learning.

For example, children and adults often exhibit learning for things with which they have no direct experience. Even if you have
never swung a baseball bat in your life, you would probably know what to do if someone handed you a bat and told you to try to
hit a baseball. This is because you have seen others perform this action either in person or on television. 

While the behavioral theories of learning suggested that all learning was the result of associations formed by conditioning,
reinforcement, and punishment, Bandura's social learning theory proposed that learning can also occur simply by observing the
actions of others

His theory added a social element, arguing that people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people.
Known as observational learning, this type of learning can be used to explain a wide variety of behaviors, including those that
often cannot be accounted for by other learning theories.

Core Concepts

There are three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. First is the idea that people can learn through
observation. Next is the notion that internal mental states are an essential part of this process. Finally, this theory recognizes that
just because something has been learned, it does not mean that it will result in a change in behavior.

"Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own
actions to inform them what to do," Bandura explained in his 1977 book Social Learning Theory.

Bandura goes on to explain that "Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from
observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions, this coded information serves
as a guide for action."

Let's explore each of these concepts in greater depth.

People Can Learn Through Observation

One of the best-known experiments in the history of psychology involved a doll named Bobo. Bandura demonstrated that
children learn and imitate behaviors they have observed in other people.

The children in Bandura’s studies observed an adult acting violently toward a Bobo doll. When the children were later allowed
to play in a room with the Bobo doll, they began to imitate the aggressive actions they had previously observed

Bandura identified three basic models of observational learning:

 A live model, which involves an actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behavior.
 A symbolic model, which involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films, television programs,
or online media.
  A verbal instructional model, which involves descriptions and explanations of a behavior.

As you can see, observational learning does not even necessarily require watching another person to engage in an activity.
Hearing verbal instructions, such as listening to a podcast, can lead to learning. We can also learn by reading, hearing, or
watching the actions of characters in books and films.

It is this type of observational learning that has become a lightning rod for controversy as parents and psychologists debate the
impact that pop culture media has on kids. Many worry that kids can learn bad behaviors such as aggression from violent video
games, movies, television programs, and online videos.

Mental States Are Important to Learning

Bandura noted that external, environmental reinforcement was not the only factor to influence learning and behavior. And he
realized that reinforcement does not always come from outside sources. Your own mental state and motivation play an
important role in determining whether a behavior is learned or not.
He described intrinsic reinforcement as a form of internal rewards, such as pride, satisfaction, and a sense of accomplishment.
This emphasis on internal thoughts and cognitions helps connect learning theories to cognitive developmental theories. While
many textbooks place social learning theory with behavioral theories, Bandura himself describes his approach as a 'social
cognitive theory.
Learning Does Not Necessarily Lead to Change

So how do we determine when something has been learned? In many cases, learning can be seen immediately when the new
behavior is displayed. When you teach a child to ride a bicycle, you can quickly determine if learning has occurred by having
the child ride his or her bike unassisted.

But sometimes we are able to learn things even though that learning might not be immediately obvious. While behaviorists
believed that learning led to a permanent change in behavior, observational learning demonstrates that people can learn new
information without demonstrating new behaviors.1
Key Factors for Success

It is important to note that not all observed behaviors are effectively learned. Why not? Factors involving both the model and the
learner can play a role in whether social learning is successful. Certain requirements and steps must also be followed.

The following steps are involved in the observational learning and modeling process:

 Attention: In order to learn, you need to be paying attention. Anything that distracts your attention is going to have a
negative effect on observational learning. If the model is interesting or there is a novel aspect of the situation, you are
far more likely to dedicate your full attention to learning.
 Retention: The ability to store information is also an important part of the learning process. Retention can be affected
by a number of factors, but the ability to pull up information later and act on it is vital to observational learning.
 Reproduction: Once you have paid attention to the model and retained the information, it is time to actually perform
the behavior you observed. Further practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement.
 Motivation: Finally, in order for observational learning to be successful, you have to be motivated to imitate the
behavior that has been modeled. Reinforcement and punishment play an important role in motivation.
While experiencing these motivators can be highly effective, so can observing others experiencing some type of
reinforcement or punishment. For example, if you see another student rewarded with extra credit for being to class on
time, you might start to show up a few minutes early each day.

Real World Applications

Social learning theory can have a number of real-world applications. For example, it can be used to help researchers understand
how aggression and violence might be transmitted through observational learning. By studying media violence, researchers can
gain a better understanding of the factors that might lead children to act out the aggressive actions they see portrayed on
television and in the movies.

But social learning can also be utilized to teach people positive behaviors. Researchers can use social learning theory to
investigate and understand ways that positive role models can be used to encourage desirable behaviors and to facilitate social
change.
A Word From Verywell
In addition to influencing other psychologists, Bandura's social learning theory has had important implications in the field of
education. Today, both teachers and parents recognize how important it is to model appropriate behaviors. Other classroom
strategies such as encouraging children and building self-efficacy are also rooted in social learning theory.

As Bandura observed, life would be incredibly difficult and even dangerous if you had to learn everything you know from
personal experience. Observing others plays a vital role in acquiring new knowledge and skills. By understanding how social
learning theory works, you can gain a greater appreciation for the powerful role that observation plays in shaping the things we
know and the things we do.

The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development

Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development suggests that children move through four different stages of mental development.
His theory focuses not only on understanding how children acquire knowledge, but also on understanding the nature of
intelligence. Piaget's stages are:
  Sensorimotor stage: birth to 2 years
 Preoperational stage: ages 2 to 7
 Concrete operational stage: ages 7 to 11
 Formal operational stage: ages 12 and up

Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like little scientists as they perform
experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As kids interact with the world around them, they continually add
new knowledge, build upon existing knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information.

How Piaget Developed the Theory

Piaget was born in Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his first scientific paper when he was
just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred
Binet and Theodore Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test.

Much of Piaget's interest in the cognitive development of children was inspired by his observations of his own nephew and
daughter. These observations reinforced his budding hypothesis that children's minds were not merely smaller versions of adult
minds.

Up until this point in history, children were largely treated simply as smaller versions of adults. Piaget was one of the first to
identify that the way that children think is different from the way adults think.

Instead, he proposed, intelligence is something that grows and develops through a series of stages. Older children do not just
think more quickly than younger children, he suggested. Instead, there are both qualitative and quantitative differences between
the thinking of young children versus older children.

Based on his observations, he concluded that children were not less intelligent than adults, they simply think differently. Albert
Einstein called Piaget's discovery "so simple only a genius could have thought of it."

Piaget's stage theory describes the cognitive development of children. Cognitive development involves changes in cognitive
process and abilities. In Piaget's view, early cognitive development involves processes based upon actions and later progresses
to changes in mental operations.
The Stages

Through his observations of his children, Piaget developed a stage theory of intellectual development that included four distinct
stages:

The Sensorimotor Stage

Ages: Birth to 2 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 The infant knows the world through their movements and sensations
 Children learn about the world through basic actions such as sucking, grasping, looking, and listening
 Infants learn that things continue to exist even though they cannot be seen (object permanence)
 They are separate beings from the people and objects around them
 They realize that their actions can cause things to happen in the world around them

During this earliest stage of cognitive development, infants and toddlers acquire knowledge through sensory experiences and
manipulating objects. A child's entire experience at the earliest period of this stage occurs through basic reflexes, senses, and
motor responses.

It is during the sensorimotor stage that children go through a period of dramatic growth and learning. As kids interact with their
environment, they are continually making new discoveries about how the world works.

The cognitive development that occurs during this period takes place over a relatively short period of time and involves a great
deal of growth. Children not only learn how to perform physical actions such as crawling and walking; they also learn a great
deal about language from the people with whom they interact. Piaget also broke this stage down into a number of different
substages. It is during the final part of the sensorimotor stage that early representational thought emerges.
Piaget believed that developing object permanence or object constancy, the understanding that objects continue to exist even
when they cannot be seen, was an important element at this point of development.

By learning that objects are separate and distinct entities and that they have an existence of their own outside of individual
perception, children are then able to begin to attach names and words to objects.

The Preoperational Stage

Ages: 2 to 7 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 Children begin to think symbolically and learn to use words and pictures to represent objects.
 Children at this stage tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from the perspective of others.
 While they are getting better with language and thinking, they still tend to think about things in very concrete terms.

The foundations of language development may have been laid during the previous stage, but it is the emergence of language that
is one of the major hallmarks of the preoperational stage of development
Children become much more skilled at pretend play during this stage of development, yet continue to think very concretely
about the world around them. 
At this stage, kids learn through pretend play but still struggle with logic and taking the point of view of other people. They also
often struggle with understanding the idea of constancy.
For example, a researcher might take a lump of clay, divide it into two equal pieces, and then give a child the choice between
two pieces of clay to play with. One piece of clay is rolled into a compact ball while the other is smashed into a flat pancake
shape. Since the flat shape looks larger, the preoperational child will likely choose that piece even though the two pieces are
exactly the same size.
The Concrete Operational Stage
Ages: 7 to 11 Years

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes

 During this stage, children begin to thinking logically about concrete events
 They begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a short, wide cup is equal to that in a
tall, skinny glass, for example
 Their thinking becomes more logical and organized, but still very concrete
 Children begin using inductive logic, or reasoning from specific information to a general principle

While children are still very concrete and literal in their thinking at this point in development, they become much more adept at
using logic. The egocentrism of the previous stage begins to disappear as kids become better at thinking about how other people
might view a situation.
While thinking becomes much more logical during the concrete operational state, it can also be very rigid. Kids at this point in
development tend to struggle with abstract and hypothetical concepts.

During this stage, children also become less egocentric and begin to think about how other people might think and feel. Kids in
the concrete operational stage also begin to understand that their thoughts are unique to them and that not everyone else
necessarily shares their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

The Formal Operational Stage

Ages: 12 and Up

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems
 Abstract thought emerges
 Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and
abstract reasoning
 Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information
The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of
abstract ideas. At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more
scientifically about the world around them.
The ability to thinking about abstract ideas and situations is the key hallmark of the formal operational stage of cognitive
development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and reason about hypothetical situations are also critical abilities
that emerge during this stage. 
It is important to note that Piaget did not view children's intellectual development as a quantitative process; that is, kids do not
just add more information and knowledge to their existing knowledge as they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is
a qualitative change in how children think as they gradually process through these four stages. A child at age 7 doesn't just have
more information about the world than he did at age 2; there is a fundamental change in how he thinks about the world.

The Formal Operational Stage

Ages: 12 and Up

Major Characteristics and Developmental Changes:

 At this stage, the adolescent or young adult begins to think abstractly and reason about hypothetical problems
 Abstract thought emerges
 Teens begin to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political issues that require theoretical and
abstract reasoning
 Begin to use deductive logic, or reasoning from a general principle to specific information

The final stage of Piaget's theory involves an increase in logic, the ability to use deductive reasoning, and an understanding of
abstract ideas. At this point, people become capable of seeing multiple potential solutions to problems and think more
scientifically about the world around them.
The ability to thinking about abstract ideas and situations is the key hallmark of the formal operational stage of cognitive
development. The ability to systematically plan for the future and reason about hypothetical situations are also critical abilities
that emerge during this stage. 
It is important to note that Piaget did not view children's intellectual development as a quantitative process; that is, kids do not
just add more information and knowledge to their existing knowledge as they get older. Instead, Piaget suggested that there is
a qualitative change in how children think as they gradually process through these four stages. A child at age 7 doesn't just have
more information about the world than he did at age 2; there is a fundamental change in how he thinks about the world.

Assimilation

The process of taking in new information into our already existing schemas is known as assimilation. The process is somewhat
subjective because we tend to modify experiences and information slightly to fit in with our preexisting beliefs. In the example
above, seeing a dog and labeling it "dog" is a case of assimilating the animal into the child's dog schema.

Accommodation

Another part of adaptation involves changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new information, a process known as
accommodation. Accommodation involves modifying existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new
experiences. New schemas may also be developed during this process.

Equilibration

Piaget believed that all children try to strike a balance between assimilation and accommodation, which is achieved through a
mechanism Piaget called equilibration. As children progress through the stages of cognitive development, it is important to
maintain a balance between applying previous knowledge (assimilation) and changing behavior to account for new knowledge
(accommodation). Equilibration helps explain how children can move from one stage of thought to the next.

A Word From Verywell

One of the most important elements to remember of Piaget's theory is that it takes the view that creating knowledge and
intelligence is an inherently active process.
"I find myself opposed to the view of knowledge as a passive copy of reality," Piaget explained. "I believe that knowing an
object means acting upon it, constructing systems of transformations that can be carried out on or with this object. Knowing
reality means constructing systems of transformations that correspond, more or less adequately, to reality."

Piaget's theory of cognitive development helped add to our understanding of children's intellectual growth. It also stressed that
children were not merely passive recipients of knowledge. Instead, kids are constantly investigating and experimenting as they
build their understanding of how the world works.