Publications used for collecting this material:

Bandura, A. (1977). Social Learning heor!.

"e# $or%: &eneral Learning Press.
Pa'ares, (. ()**+). Albert Bandura: Biogra,hical
S%etch.

Bandura, A. (19-.). Social (oundations of
hought and Action. /ngle#ood 0li1s, "2:
Prentice 3all.


Albert Banduras social
learning theory has become
perhaps the most influential
theory of learning and
development. Developmental
Psychology, 2!.
Contributions to Psychology
"avema#er$hughes.net
By% &ulie 'no"
(rs. )ita (arc*a#s (onday night class
Albert Bandura "as born December !,
+,2-, in a small .anadian to"n. /e "as the
last child of si0. /is early education consisted
of a small school "ith only t"o teachers.
1ater in life, Bandura enrolled in the
2niversity of British .olumbia, pursuing a
biological science ma3or. /e became
fascinated "ith psychology by shear accident.
4or#ing nights and commuting to school "ith
a group of students, he arrived earlier than
"hen his other classes started. 'o, to pass the
time, he too# a filler class in psychology,
eventually leading him to a love for
psychology.
5n +,!,, he graduated from the
2niversity of British .olumbia "ith a degree in
Psychology. Bandura earned his (.A. degree in
+,-+ and in +,-2, he received his Ph.D. in
.linical Psychology from the 2niversity of
5o"a.
5n +,-6, he "as offered a position at
'tanford 2niversity "here he continues to
"or# to this day. Bandura served in +,7! as
President of the APA, receiving the APAs
A"ard for Distinguished 'cientific
.ontributions in +,8, follo"ed in 2!, "ith
achieving the 9utstanding 1ifetime
The Bandura Biography
1925 through present day

Albert Bandura
The Social Learning Theory
Self-efcacy and Social Learning
Albert Banduras work is
considered part of the cognitive
revolution in psychology that began in
the late 1960s. His theories have had a
treendous ipact on!
Personalit! Ps!cholog!
0ogniti4e Ps!cholog!
/ducation
Ps!chothera,!
In addition to infuencing other psychologists,
Banduras social learning theory has had important
implication to the eld of education! Today, "oth
teachers and parents recogni#e the importance of
modeling appropriate "eha$iors! %ther classroom
strategies such as encouraging children and "uilding
self-efcacy are also rooted in social learning theory!
&rom Social &oundations of Thought and 'ction( '
Social )ogniti$e Theory, *+,-!
Steps involved in the observational learning &
modeling process:
Attention: "n order to learn# you need to pay
attention. Anything that distracts your attention
is going to have a negative e$ect on
observational learning. "f the odel is
interesting# you are far ore likely to dedicate
your full attention to learning.
Retention: %he ability to store inforation. %his
can be a$ected by a nuber of factors# but the
ability to pull up inforation later and act on it is
vital.
Reproduction: &nce you have paid attention to
the odel and retained the inforation# you
&bservational learning deonstrated that
people can learn new inforation without
Intrinsic Reinforcement.
'(ternal# environental reinforceent is
not the only factor to in)uence learning and
behavior. "ntrinsic reinforceent is a for
of internal reward# such as pride#
satisi*cation and a sense of
Learning does not necessaril!
lead to a change in beha4ior
5ental states are im,ortant
People can learn through
observation.
6bser4ational Learning
"n the +Bobo ,oll- studies# Bandura
deonstrated that children learn and
iitate behaviors they have observed in
other people. %he children in Banduras
studies observed an adult acting violently
toward a Bobo doll# they began to iitate
the aggressive actions they had previously
observed. He identi*ed three basic odels
of observational learning! a live odel#
Basic Social Learning Concepts
.hildren immediately began to beat the doll,
imitating the actions and "ords of the "oman in
the film.
:he study "as significant because
departed from behaviorisms insistence that all
behavior is directed by reinforcement or re"ards.
:he children received no encouragement or
incentives to beat up the doll; they "ere simply
imitating the behavior they had observed.
Bandura termed this phenomena observational
learning and characteri*ed the elements of
effective observational learning as attention,
retention, reciprocation and motivation.
Albert Banduras social learning theory
stressed the importance of observational
learning, imitation and modeling. 1earning
"ould be e0ceedingly laborious, not to mention
ha*ardous, if people had to rely solely on the
effects of their o"n actions to inform them "hat
to do, Bandura e0plained. /is theory integrates
a continuous interaction bet"een behaviors,
cognitions and the environment.
/is most famous e0periment "as the
+,<+ %Bobo Doll study. 5n the e0periment, he
made a film in "hich a "oman "as sho"n
beating up a bobo doll and shouting aggressive
"ords. :he film "as then sho"n to a group of
children. After"ards, the children "ere allo"ed
to play in a room that held a bobo doll. :he
While rooted in many of the basic concepts of traditional learning
theory, Bandura believed that direct reinforcement could not account
for all types of learning.
The Albert Bandura
Theory.