Social Learning Theory's Major Concepts

Social Learning Theory (SLT) is based on a series of many psychological concepts, some generally familiar to educators (like "reinforcement") and some not (like "reciprocal determinism"). Most of the published works on SLT are lengthy and research oriented. Therefore, SLT can seem complex and complicated to educators. In attempts to present it simply and clearly, only the key concepts will be explored in depth.
Table 1, excerpted with minor modifications from "Theory at a Glance: A Guide for Health Promotion Practice" (1997), presents definitions and applications for each of the six key concepts. Examples of the six key concepts as they apply to sexuality education are presented in Table 2.
Table 1
Concept Definition Application
1. Expectations Individual 's beliefs about likely results of actions. Incorporate information about likely results of advised action.
2. Observational Learning Individual 's beliefs based on observing others like self and/or visible physical results of desired behavior. Point out others ' experience, physical changes; identify role models to emulate.
3. Behavioral Capability Knowledge and skills needed to influence behavior. Provide information and training about action.
4. Self-Efficacy Confidence in ability to take action and persist in action. Point out strengths; use persuasion and encouragement; approach behavior change in small steps.
5. Reciprocal Determinism Behavior changes resulting from interaction between person and environment; change is bi-directional. Involve the individual and relevant others; work to change the environment, if warranted.
6. Reinforcement Responses to a person 's behavior that increase or decrease the chances of recurrence. Provide incentives, rewards, praise; encourage self-reward; decrease possibility of negative responses that deter positive changes.
For examples of what the six key concepts look like when applied to family life/sexuality education, review Table 2 below:
Table 2

Concept

Bibliography: so, the research uses social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) as a conceptual framework to investigate how these factors may impact attitudes and intentions to use marijuana--both campaigns. Stephenson et al. (1999) assess the effectiveness of antimarijuana ads targeting high sensation seekers often fragmentary in nature. For example, lines of research include a focus on features of the individual such as sensation seeking (Everett & Palmgreen, 1995; Palmgreen et al., 2002; David et al., 2006), or on examining unintended effects of interpersonal conversation about marijuana within teens‘ social networks (David et al., 2006) Rhodes et al., 2002; Symons et al., 2003; Brickell et al., 2006; Everson et al., 2007). Studies within the exercise, drinking, and drug domain consistently find attitude to be the most frequent primary predictor of intention. For instance, Hagger et al., (2007) demonstrated that attitude significantly predicted intentions for exercise, dieting, and 3 binge drinking. Finally, specifically for issues of sensation seeking and marijuana use, attitude was found to be the strongest predictor of intentions (Donohew et al., 1990, Donohew et al., 1994). A review of one prominent U.S lifetime marijuana use, and roughly six percent report use in the past month (14.6 million) (National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2005) grade students have remained relatively stable over the past 5 years (Johnston et al., 2003) despite the fact that the United States has allocated billions of dollars to fight the problem (Hornik et al., 2001) decreasing (Hornik et al., 2001), this has not prevented the United States from allocating a great deal of money to attempt to curtail it