In 1977, Albert Bandura proposed the Social Learning Theory. The basic premise was that people learn new behaviors through observational learning. That is, they will model the behaviors of others, especially if they observe those behaviors to be positive or encouraging.
However, Bandura devised the famous “bobo doll” studies. In this study, children would directly imitate the behaviors adults showed towards a bobo doll. In the study, Bandura noted that they would imitate the same behavior after they witnessed adults acting aggressively towards the dolls.
The first premise of Social Learning Theory is that people have the potential to learn through observation. I’m sure you’ve found yourself in a situation in your life where this applies. Let’s hypothetically imagine that you want to learn how to knit. You’ve attempted to teach yourself by picking up a book on it (I recommend book: Stitch and Bitch). Unfortunately, you can’t seem to grasp the techniques by observing simply the diagrams in the book. What to do?
Well, I struggled with the same problem when I was learning how to knit. I enrolled in a weekly knitting class at a yarn store in Capitol Hill. Capitol Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, WA. Watching my knitting instructor demonstrate the difficult techniques was infinitely easier than attempting them on my own. This is a good example of how one can learn a new technique through mimicking the actions of others.
According to Bandura, I was demonstrating that I learn based upon a live model. Bandura proposed three different models of observational learning. Aside from a live model, there are verbal instructional models and symbolic models. A live model represents a real person acting or demonstrating a behavior. A verbal model is where a behavior is demonstrated by descriptions and explanations. A symbolic model is where real or fictitious characters display the behavior to be learned on the silver screen. This model could be learned from a television show, a book or online media, such as internet memes.
The second premise of Social Learning Theory is that your mental state affects how you learn. According to Bandura, one is more likely to retain the knowledge of what they learn if there is a positive intrinsic emotion associated with that learned behavior. At the knitting class, I picked up the techniques I was struggling with really quickly. Knitting almost seemed fun at this point. To this day, I still hold those techniques in my cache’ of learned behaviors. I can probably credit that to my positive emotions that were flowing the day I learned those knitting techniques.