Albert Bandura’s study of learning and development was centralised around the core idea that learning is formulated in a social environment mainly by observing others. This theory argues that learning occurs by interacting with other people and observing people’s actions as well as the consequences of their attitudes and behaviour. This essay explores Bandura’s Social Learning Theory as well as how it helps us understand learning in the context of the classroom.
Bandura “discussed human behaviour within a framework of triadic reciprocality.” (Shunk, 2012, p.119).Triadic reciprocality is divided into three components: the environment, cognition and behaviour (Shunk, 2012, p.119). These factors are dependent on each other. The environment influences cognition, cognition influences behaviour and behaviour influences environment. However there is variation in which is the dominating factor. (Shunk, 2012, p.120).
In social learning theory: Learning is largely an information processing activity in which information about the structure of behaviour and about environmental events is transformed into symbolic representations that serve as guides for action. (Bandura, 1986 as cited by Shunk, 2012, p.121). According to Shunk (2012), the process of learning can be applied through enactive learning or vicariously. Enactive learning is performing an action and reacting to the consequence of the action. Observing the reward and punishment resulting from the consequence of a person’s actions are how people establish whether they should repeat