sociallearning

Social learning is a theory of learning that suggests people can acquire new behaviors, skills, and information by observing others, rather than solely through direct experience with rewards and punishments. It emphasizes cognitive processes such as attention, memory, and motivation, and recognizes the influence of social context on what individuals learn.

The theory was developed by Albert Bandura in the 1960s as an extension of behaviorism, incorporating cognitive elements. Bandura’s Bobo doll experiments demonstrated that children could imitate observed aggressive behavior without direct reinforcement. The framework evolved into social cognitive theory, which highlights reciprocal determinism, self-efficacy, and the idea that learning can occur through observation, imitation, and modeling as well as through direct experience.

Core mechanisms include four processes: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. A model, whether a real person, a character in a video, or verbal instructions, must be noticed, remembered, and translated into action by the observer. Observers may be reinforced vicariously through the consequences experienced by others, and their beliefs about their own abilities (self-efficacy) influence whether they attempt and persist in a behavior.

Applications of social learning span education, workplace training, parenting, and media literacy. In the digital age, online tutorials, social networks, and collaborative learning communities expand opportunities for observational learning. Limitations of the theory include the need for sufficient attention and cognitive resources, potential neglect of biological factors, and cultural variations that affect which models are observed and valued.