GED 215
Question # 3: Explain social learning theory. What are the implications of this theory for child development?
As children develop, they will be going through changes in their capacities and behavior, because of biological growth processes and their interaction with their environment, which includes their social environment. According to the social learning theory, much of what we learn and do, especially as children, is acquired through a process of observation learning. This means we learn by observing events and other people, without any direct reward or reinforcement. This learning depends on four components: attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. This means, we must pay attention to what is going on around us, retain what we learn, be motivated to perform what we learn which leads to the reproduction of the same behavior that we observed in others.
Many have heard the term; we are a product of our environment or walks like a duck quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. These sayings are great examples for the social learning theory. As children grow and develop, they tend to learning from their parents, siblings, family members, coaches, teachers and friends. The environment they develop in can determine the person they will become as an adult. Generally a child will learn to be exactly like their surroundings or the exact opposite of their surroundings. A child that grows up in a household that is consumed with sports will generate athletes, but it can also generate an adult that wants nothing to do with sports. Growing up in an area with high gang activity can cause children to want to join gangs and learn that way of life. It also creates a first hand experience of what gang life is like and the environment gangs live in and cause a child to stay far away from gangs, because of what they learned while growing up in the negative environment consumed with violent activity.
Much of what we learn as we develop for children to adults
As children develop, they will be going through changes in their capacities and behavior, because of biological growth processes and their interaction with their environment, which includes their social environment. According to the social learning theory, much of what we learn and do, especially as children, is acquired through a process of observation learning. This means we learn by observing events and other people, without any direct reward or reinforcement. This learning depends on four components: attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. This means, we must pay attention to what is going on around us, retain what we learn, be motivated to perform what we learn which leads to the reproduction of the same behavior that we observed in others.
Many have heard the term; we are a product of our environment or walks like a duck quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. These sayings are great examples for the social learning theory. As children grow and develop, they tend to learning from their parents, siblings, family members, coaches, teachers and friends. The environment they develop in can determine the person they will become as an adult. Generally a child will learn to be exactly like their surroundings or the exact opposite of their surroundings. A child that grows up in a household that is consumed with sports will generate athletes, but it can also generate an adult that wants nothing to do with sports. Growing up in an area with high gang activity can cause children to want to join gangs and learn that way of life. It also creates a first hand experience of what gang life is like and the environment gangs live in and cause a child to stay far away from gangs, because of what they learned while growing up in the negative environment consumed with violent activity.
Much of what we learn as we develop for children to adults