Social learning theory

Social learning theory explains behavior as learned through observation and imitation, alongside direct experience with reinforcement and punishment. Its scope ranges from individual behavior to social interaction.

Observational learning: Learning by watching another person’s actions and their consequences. This is the theory’s central route for acquiring behavior without performing it first.
Albert Bandura: A Canadian-American psychologist whose research established observational learning as a major account of behavior. Bandura developed the theory through experiments on imitation and later accounts of agency.
Classical conditioning: Learning in which a stimulus comes to elicit a response after being paired with another stimulus. It explains learned associations directly, unlike learning by watching a model.
Social cognitive theory of mass communication: An application of Bandura’s framework to how media portrayals can influence behavior and beliefs. It applies modeled behavior and observed consequences to media effects.
Cognitive learning theory: A family of theories explaining learning through mental processes such as perception, memory, and reasoning. It shares the theory’s attention to mental processes but covers learning beyond social models.
Modeling (psychology): The process by which an observer learns or changes behavior by watching a model. Models provide the actions that observers can imitate.
Bobo doll experiment: A set of experiments in which children who saw adults behave aggressively toward a doll later imitated aspects of that behavior. The experiments supplied influential evidence that children learn actions by observing models.
Operant conditioning: Learning in which consequences alter the likelihood of a behavior recurring. Its account of direct consequences supplies one part of the theory’s explanation.
Health behavior change: The process of adopting, maintaining, or stopping behaviors that affect health. Observed role models and confidence in one’s abilities can shape health-related action.
Social constructivism: An account of learning in which knowledge develops through social interaction and cultural practices. It emphasizes collaborative meaning-making, rather than modeled behavior and reinforcement.

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