What is Social Learning Theory? Who created Social Learning Theory? And is Social Learning Theory a behavioral theory? These questions and more will be answered here!
Social Learning Theory was developed by Alberta Bandura. He was a psychologist who contributed to our understanding of many ideas, like Social Learning Theory. Bandura was a professor at Stanford University where he taught social science in psychology.
When it comes to Social Learning Theory, the American Psychological Association’s definition states that “learning is largely or wholly due to modeling, imitation, and other social interactions”. To say this another way, Social Learning Theory states that people learn from watching others. They watch how the other person behaves and what results that other person’s behaviors result in.
It may be helpful to recognize that behaviors—both positive and negative—can be passed on through Social Learning Theory. An example of this might be how there are words or phrases that are used in a culture and the use of these are not questioned. However, these words or phrases are actually derogatory toward another group of people.
For example, Rosenthal provides the example of the words maam and sir. There was a point in time where these honorifics were expected. To not use them may result in scolding, and the appropriate use of them may result in praise. However, these phrases only acknowledge a gender binary, and they also assume the other person’s gender.
With other theories, they will emphasize genetics, tendencies, or traits that people have. As you may have gathered, Social Learning Theory does not focus on those but instead puts more emphasis on the environment a person is in.
As we’ve discussed Social Learning Theory, we have talked about it in terms of one person observing any other person. And while the theory does assume that learning can happen through observing any other person, the learning is seen to be the most powerful when a person observes someone else they like, view as powerful, or otherwise admire.
If we look at this in terms of a counseling group, if one person in the group tends to be more of a leader or otherwise more prominent for the group, others may learn through that person modeling appropriate group behaviors.
From Social Learning Theory, we can gather one of the ways that culture develops. Often, culture is not something that is explicitly taught. Instead, it is something people learn and take in from observing the people around them. As people within the culture continue to behave in similar ways, others in the culture continue to do so as well.
Norms are behaviors that are expected by others within the group. This means that if people do not behave in the way that is expected based on the culture, they will likely be seen as different at best, or criticized in other cases. This is part of how culture is developed according to Social Learning Theory.
A final note on Social Learning Theory comes from Albert Bandura himself. Often, the theory will be labeled or categorized as a behavioral theory. However, Bandura did not consider that accurate. His view was that, while the theory does involve observing another person’s behavior, it is better considered a more cognitive theory. His reasoning for this was that once the observation of another person’s behavior occurred, the actual change that occurred for the observer is a cognitive process.
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