2.6: Bandura and Social Learning

Not all behaviors are learned through association or reinforcement. Many of the things we do are learned by watching others. This is addressed in social learning theory. We don't learn everything through association or reinforcement. We also learn through watching others.

Albert Bandura (1925-2021) was a leading contributor to social learning theory. He calls our attention to the ways in which many of our actions are not learned through conditioning; rather, they are learned by watching others (1977). Young children frequently learn behaviors through imitation

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Albert Bandura.[1]

Sometimes, particularly when we do not know what else to do, we learn by modeling or copying the behavior of others. A kindergartner on his or her first day of school might eagerly look at how others are acting and try to act the same way to fit in more quickly. Adolescents struggling with their identity rely heavily on their peers to act as role-models. Sometimes we do things because we’ve seen it pay off for someone else. They were operantly conditioned, but we engage in the behavior because we hope it will pay off for us as well. This is referred to as vicarious reinforcement (Bandura, Ross and Ross, 1963).Unlike the original behaviorists, Bandura (1986) suggests that there is interplay between the environment and the individual. We are not just the product of our surroundings, rather we influence our surroundings. Parents not only influence their child’s environment, perhaps intentionally through the use of reinforcement, etc., but children influence parents as well. Parents may respond differently with their first child than with their fourth. Perhaps they try to be the perfect parents with their firstborn, but by the time their last child comes along they have very different expectations both of themselves and their child. Our environment creates us and we create our environment.[2]

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Children observe a social model (an experienced chess player) to learn the rules of the game. (Photo Source: David R. Tribble, CC BY-SA 3.0.)

Bandura and the Bobo Doll Experiment & Today’s Children and the Media

Other social influences: TV or not TV? Bandura et al (1963) began a series of studies to look at the impact of television, particularly commercials, on the behavior of children. Are children more likely to act out aggressively when they see this behavior modeled? What if they see it being reinforced? Bandura began by conducting an experiment in which he showed children a film of a woman hitting an inflatable clown or “bobo” doll. Then the children were allowed in the room where they found the doll and immediately began to hit it. This was without any reinforcement whatsoever. Not only that, but they found new ways to behave aggressively. It’s as if they learned an aggressive role.

Children spend far more screen time today than in the 1960s. The amount of screen time varies by age. As of 2017, children 0-8 spend an average of 2 hours and 19 minutes. Children 8-12 years of age spend almost 6 hours a day on screen media. And 13- to 18-year-olds spend an average of just under 9 hours a day in entertainment media use.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmBqwWlJg8U

Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment

The prevalence of violence, sexual content, and messages promoting foods high in fat and sugar in the media are certainly cause for concern and the subjects of ongoing research and policy review.

Many children spend even more time on the computer viewing content from the internet. The amount of time spent connected to the internet continues to increase with the use of smartphones that essentially serve as mini-computers. And the ways children and adolescents interact with the media continues to change. The popularity of YouTube and the various social media platforms are examples of this. What might be the implications of this?[3]

Main Points about Social Learning

• Bandura noted that many behaviors are not learned through any type of conditioning, but rather through imitation.
• He believed that people are not only influenced by their surroundings, but that they also have an impact on their surroundings.

Attributions:

Child Growth and Development by Jennifer Paris, Antoinette Ricardo, and Dawn Rymond, 2019, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

[1] Image by Albert Bandura is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

[2] Exploring Behavior by Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0; Lecture Transcript: Developmental Theories by Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0

[3] Exploring Behavior by Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Bandura's Bobo Doll experiment by Everywhere Psychology, on YouTube August 28, 2012

References:

Rasmussen, Eric (2017, Oct 19). Screen Time and Kids: Insights from a New Report. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/screen-time-and-kids-insights-from-a-new-report

Photo source: David R. Tribble, CC BY-SA 3.0.