Social Cognitive Views of Learning

Social cognitive theory expands social learning theory to include cognitive factors such as, beliefs, expectations, and perceptions of self.  It is a dynamic system that explains human adaptation, learning, and motivation.  Social cognitive theory combines parts of behavioral and cognitive theories.  According to the social cognitive theory, one can learn by observing, and learning is an internal behavior.  Both cognition and motivation are required for learning.  Reciprocal influences include personal, environmental, and behavioral factors.  All three factors influence and are influenced by each other.

According to Albert Bandura, children learn by observing and modeling the behaviors of others.  He conducted an experiment using a Bobo doll to prove his theory.  Watch the video below to learn more about the Bobo Doll experiment and the social cognitive theory.

As you learned from watching the video, the BoBo Doll experiment did conclude that after children watched adults hitting the Bobo Doll aggressively, they were more likely to play aggressively also.  It is important to remember that children do learn from adults.

According to an article by Alex Hatcher (2015), http://lpd.nau.edu/keep-it-social/ , "learning is social (Hatcher)."  We are exposed to so many things that we can learn from, simply by observing.  The conditions for effective modeling rely on attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.  "While we are vying for our students’ attention, we are also competing with many other attention-grabbing things, such as their mobile phones, their friends, entertainment websites, or even their own internal thoughts (Hatcher)."  There are so many distractions in today's society that can impact a student's learning.  However we must limit the distractions while in the classroom.  "Not only do students have to pay attention in order to successfully model, they also need to remember what they were paying attention to (Hatcher)."  Then, children need to reproduce these behaviors and motivate others.  

It is important as a teacher to know what all impacts your students learning, and then try to remove any distractions. Understanding how the social cognitive theory works can help when in the classroom.  As a future educator it is important to model good behavior for our students at all times.  It is also just as important to help a child become motivated.  Motivation plays an important role in the social cognitive theory.