LEARNING 1.3

LEARNING 1.3

[SOCIAL & COGNITIVE LEARNING]

In Social Learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.  

Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. Individuals that are observed are called models. In society children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school.

There is a fair amount of influence on development generated by learned behavior displayed in the environment in which one grows up. It might seem that social learning only takes place in human beings. However, many different species of animals are capable of observational learning. For example, a monkey in the zoo, sometimes imitates human visitors or other monkeys.

Children will have a number of models with whom they identify. These may be people in their immediate world, such as parents or elder siblings, or could be fantasy characters or people in the media. If a child imitates a model’s behavior and the consequences are rewarding, the child is likely to continue performing the behavior.  If parent sees a little girl consoling her teddy bear and says “what a kind girl you are”, this is rewarding for the child and makes it more likely that she will repeat the behavior.  Her behavior has been reinforced (i.e. strengthened).

COGNITIVE LEARNING/ SOCIAL COGNITIVE LEARNING

Cognitive learning/ Social Cognitive Learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge and skill by mental or cognitive processes-the procedures we have for manipulating information 'in our heads'. "Cognitive learning is the result of listening, watching, touching, contemplating or experiencing." In cognitive learning, the individual learns by listening, watching, touching, reading, or experiencing and then processing and remembering the information.

Cognitive learning might seem to be passive learning, because there is no motor movement. However, the learner is quite active, in a cognitive way, in processing and remembering newly incoming information.