Bandura
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[edit] Albert Bandura Biography
http://www.supercable.es/~abusaid/personalidad/imagenes/bandura.jpg
Albert Bandura was born in Alberta, Cananda in 1925 in a very small town called Mundare. There were only 20 students total in his high school. As an undergraduate in college he attended the University of British Columbia where he happened upon an introductory psychology class he needed to fill some time in his school schedule. He was taken with the subject and ultimately graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology. He proceeded on to graduate school at the University of Iowa where he studied clinical psychology. At the University he met and studied with Robert Sears, one of the pioneers of social learning theory. After Bandura graduated he joined the faculty at Stanford university where he remains to this day. In 1974 he was elected president of the American Psychological Association.
Albert Bandura developed a social learning theory to help explain problems he saw with B.F Skinners behavorialism model of learning. He did studies in the 1960's and seventies that led him to believe behavior was not just a reaction to environmental stimuli, but could also be learned from watching a model perform the behavior and then that behavior could be copied. He believed that learning could be cognitive as well.
Bandura found behaviorism too simplistic for the phenomena he first started observing -- aggression in adolescents -- and so decided to add a little something to the formula: He suggested that environment causes behavior, true; but behavior causes environment as well. He labeled this concept reciprocal determinism: The world and a person’s behavior cause each other.
Example: A student watches his father as he mows the lawn. He watches how his father goes through the neccessary steps to start the mower and how his father mows the yard. Without any environmental feedback the boy can then start the mower and mow the lawn. Cognitive Learning.
Bandura made a break with theorist B.F. Skinner and made a major contribution to the understanding of learning and behavior in the classroom. Unlike [1] Piaget and Skinner, Bandura thought learning could take place in a cognitive manner by way of observational learning. In his Social Learning Theory the environmental [reinforcement] is not the only method for learning. He believed students could learn by watching a Model. He stated that cognitive learning could be achieved by vicarious reinforcement or "by observing the behavior of others we can learn the probable consequences of behavior by watching what happens to others. He did agree with Skinner as to the importance of reinforcement in learning and behavior.
There are four components of observational learning for Bandura and all have implications for teachers in the classroom.
1. Attentional Process- For the student to learn he/she must watch and
pay attention to the model and the behavior being modeled.
2. Retention Process- some method usually verbal or visual must be used
so information can be retained in symbolic form.
3. Motor Reproduction Process- the student must have the nessecary
motor and cognitive skills to reproduce the modeled behavior.
4. Reinforcement and Motivational Processes-
a. Motivation is imbedded and reinforced by the consequences
b. Students are likely to learn if they value the consequence
c. Positive reinforcement and praise are valued over punishment
d. Students can be reinforced vicariously
[edit] Educational Implications for the Classroom:
1. Students who are actively engaged will perform better and be less
distracted if the behavior being modeled is attention getting.
Models should be respected, like the student if possible, have
prestige,
and should be shown as successful. (Models who are punished should be
avoided)
2. Students do not always have to be actively engaged an attention getting
model will produce learning and behavior.
3. Classroom behavior and performance will increase if the teacher
increases a students self-efficacy. (See
below for ways Bandura suggests increasing self
efficacy.) This requires the teacher to keep tasks just beyond the
students current ability.
4. Students can learn vicariously and so describing goals and
consequences give students a reason to undertake a certain
behavior or activity.
[edit] Educational Implications for Aggression in the Classroom:
One of Bandura's most famous experiments is sometimes called theBobo doll experiment. Bandura wanted to test how children would react to vicarious reinforcement. Each child initially watched a film where an adult male engaged an inflatable punching doll aggressively. The model sat on the doll, kicked the doll, punched the doll, and spoke offensively to the doll. The children were divided into three sub-groups and for each of the three groups the ending changed.
1. Group 1- Aggression rewarded, the children saw the model rewarded for
his aggressive behavior at the end of the film.
2. Group 2- Aggression punished, the children saw the model punished for
his aggressive behavior
3. Group 3- Aggression no-consequences- the children saw the model
receive no positive or negative reinforcement for his
aggressive behavior.
After watching the film Bandura placed the children in a room with lots of attractive toys that they weren't allowed to touch. The children became angry and frustrated. The children were then put into a room with the Bobo doll and other toys and observed how they reacted. "Bandura's results indicated that those who had seen the model punished for his aggressive behavior exhibited significantly fewer imitations than did those in the other two groups." In fact, 88% of the children imitated the aggressive behavior. He also found no difference between the amount of aggression exhibited by the other two groups. "The observation that 'nothing bad happens this time' prompts imitation just as readily as does vicarious reward." In addition to this, Bandura's experiment showed the staying power of modeling aggression. Eight months after the Bobo doll experiment, 40% of the children still showed the same aggressive behavior that they did in the experiment.
Bandura & Walters stressed that antisocial aggression originates from the disruption of a child's dependency relationship to his parents...lack of affectional nurturance lacks close dependent ties to parents, without a model there is no internalizing standards (Bandura & Walters (1959) Adolescent Aggression, p. 32).MJB
[edit] What leads to Self-efficacy:
Bandura's theory on self-efficacy says that the ability to learn new skills and information is influenced by an individual's feeling of self-efficacy. Unlike self-esteem self-efficacy can differ greatly from one subject or performance area to another. Someone may have high self-efficacy concerning learning how to draw and low self-efficacy concerning Science. According to Bandura's theory the two most powerful sources of self-efficacy are the learners' previous experiences with similar tasks and from observations. Persuasion and verbal support along with the student's physiological state also contribute to self-efficacy.
Note: Self-efficacy is usually task specific, a student may have high self-efficacy on one task or subject and low self-efficacy on another. Bandura
believes the higher the self-efficacy the student has for the specific task the more likely that student will be to succeed at that given task. It is the teacher or models job to help the student achieve that high self-efficacy. Knowing that self-efficacy judgments are not always related to the individual's actual ability should encourage a teacher to work on increasing a student's self-efficacy.
For a very nice biographical writing about Bandura please see:
http://www.emory.edu/EDUCATION/mfp/bandurabio.html
[edit] Critics and their Rationale
Some critics of Bandura contend that behavior has been found to be more consistent than his theory suggests--which focuses a great deal on the situation. Some researchers have also argued that the theory lacks attention to biological or hormonal processes.
Probably of most significance is the criticism that the theory is not unified. Concepts and processes such as observational learning and self-efficacy have been highly researched but there has been little explanation about the relationship among the concepts.
From "Learning from demonstrations: the role of visual search during observational learning from video and point-light models.":
"Although Social Learning Theory has been examined in a motor skills context (e.g. Carroll and Bandura, 1990), a fundamental criticism is that Bandura's theory was developed as an explanation of social rather than motoric learning. The mechanisms of social and motoric learning are likely to be very different. For example, social learning involves a gross form of imitation in which the measure is a dichotomous split between the behaviour being present or absent after exposure to the model. Motoric modelling is entirely more specific in nature, since both the precise outcome of the behaviour and the way in which the outcome is achieved are of interest."
[edit] Personal Experiences
Personal Testimony: Another implication for teachers of the observational learning theory is that teachers must be very careful how they behave in and out of school because students will see and model that behavior, whether good or bad. I have discovered this implication in my own teaching experience. Student are always watching their teachers to see if they will act in the same way that they tell the students to act. I remember from my school days that I had a lack of respect for teachers who would tell us we should do one thing, and then go do the opposite. For this reason, I made a promise to myself that I would never ask my students to do something that I was unwilling to do myself. I have, for the most part (!), kept that promise, and my students notice it. They have commented on it, and have told me that it makes them respect me more. My students have also told me that my willingness to join them in what I tell them to do makes them more willing to obey me and model my behavior.
Elizabeth Giger
I use to teach with someone that came into the district the same year I did. He was not the best teacher in my opinion. He had the philosophy of do what I say and not as I do. So, he would ask students to sit in the chair, but he could sit on the tables. He would not allow gum by the students, but he could chew it. This type of modeling is not positive for the students. Adults should be setting the example, not trying to prove the students are wrong, or just simply say "I am the adult and when you get to become an adult, you may do these things."
When I think of the observational learning theory an example outside of the actual classroom comes to mind, but I think that it is important in backing up the relevance of this theory. I have played and coached softball for many years, and the biggest factor in teaching the fundamentals of the sport fall back on observation. You can preach and explain the fundamentals over and over again, but when it comes down to it your players or teammates are looking towards what you do as an example of how to play. Weeks of explanation on using two hands to catch the ball can be eliminated by you (the coach) letting your players see you catch with only one hand. "Practice what you preach" and you will be successful, is my theory.
Lindsey Hamma
[edit] References:
Bandura, Albert, Handbook Of Socialization Theory And Research,Social- Learning Theory Of Identificatory Processes, (Chicago:Rand-McNally),1969, p. 29.
Crain, William, Theories Of Development: Concepts and Applications, Fifth Edition, (Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education), 2004. p. 197
http://des.emory.edu/mfp/bandurabio.html
http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/bandura.html
Isom, Margaret, The Social Learning Theory. November 30, 1998.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bandura
Pervin, L., & John, O. (2001). Personality: Theory and research (8th ed.). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Chapters 13, 14. Cited from http://condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu/~hhartman/SOCIAL%20COGNITIVE%20APPROACH%20TO%20PERSONALITY%20ALBERT%20BANDURA%20(1925-).htm
Horn, Robert R. ; Williams, A. Mark ; Scott, Mark A. (2002) Learning from demonstrations: the role of visual search during observational learning from video and point-light models. Retrieved 4/29/08 from http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6814038_ITM.
