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Social Cognitive Theory: Psychological Analysis

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Social Cognitive Theory: Psychological Analysis
Albert Bandura was a psychologist who came up with what is known as the “Social Cognitive Theory” (“Albert Bandura,” 2015). He believed that two aspects, imitation and operant conditioning, result in social learning. According to Hannum (2005), “Bandura noted that our behavior is changed when we see a person take a specific action and be rewarded for that action”. This is where both operant conditioning and imitation comes in. Operant conditioning is any learning that is established through the use of punishments/behaviors (Cherry, 2015). In order for imitation to be successful, there are elements such as direct and vicarious reinforcements (Lefrancois, 2012, p. 326-327).
A direct reinforcement includes either being punished/awarded for a certain behavior. For instance, and I have done this with my daughter before she was in kindergarten, if a parent was teaching their child how to read and they are reading a book about …show more content…
One is more likely to imitate a behavior if they desire the outcome/consequences that they have witnessed. For example, if one child sees that their sister/brother are given praise for picking up their room, the other child might imitate their siblings’ actions in order to get the same praise.
Here is a very funny “Big Bang Theory” video on operant conditioning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt4N9GSBoMI.
Here is a YouTube video on Bandura’s imitation concept that is not in English, but if you think about it, imitation does not need to be in English because it is imitating one’s actions and not necessarily their words https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTwrmfvxLNQ.
Out of the two concepts, imitation and operant conditioning, which do you feel has a greater impact on Bandura’s social cognitive theory? Why? If you feel that both are equally important, would you need one for the other to
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