Observational Learning
Biography
Albert Bandura was born in Alberta, Canada in 1925. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of British Columbia in 1949. From there he went to the University of Iowa where he earned his Ph.D. During these years he was influenced by Behaviorist perspectives and became interested in learning theory. He conducted research and taught at Stanford University from 1953 to the present.
Theory
Bandura's early work in the 1960's represents one of the bridges from behaviorism to cognitive models for learning. Observational learning is the process of learning by observing a model and then duplicating a skill, process, strategy, or task that is demonstrated by the model. This occurs without overt instructional activity, and the model may not even know he/she is serving as an instrument of learning for the observer. According to Bandura, this type of learning is an information processing activity.
Factors that influence observational learning:
1. Attention - the learner must have his/her senses directed at the model
2. Retention, coding, and storing the patterns so they can be retrieved. This may include vivid imagery an verbal descriptions.
3. Motor reproduction - kinesthetic and neuromuscular patterns are practiced with successive iterations until the model's behavior is approximated by the observer.
4. Reinforcement and incentives- propel the learner to attention, practice and retention.
Observe ---> Acquire Info about World ---> make cognitive reps (VAK) ---> guide for action
Bandura's models evolved over approximately 25 years of his career. By 1986 the model appeared as a three-part model with the thee parts interacting and influencing each other. According to Bandura, expectations are important in this model.
B = behavior
p(C) = personal/cognitive
E = environment
Learning Theory Bibliography
Bandura, 1986
Lefton, 1997
Merriam & Caffarella, 1991
Santrock, 1988