Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Social Cognitive Theory - Post 1

In Social Cognitive Theory learning is said to happen through observation. For observational learning to occur, there are three components that come into play, model characteristics, imitator characteristics, and environmental characteristics. The model must display competence, relevance, high status, and gender appropriateness or some combination of these to be the best model they can be for learners. Imitators must pay attention, be able to recall the information presented, be able to produce the behavior, and be motivated to learn the information and perform the behavior in the future. Lastly there is the environment in which there has to be access to the correct environment and aspects of the context of the learning. There are also personal factors in learning self-efficacy and self-regulation. Self-efficacy is a student's belief about his or her own capabilities for success. If a student has low self-efficacy he or she does not believe he or she can do well in school and therefore does not necessarily try. If a student has high self-efficacy he or she believes in him or herself to do well in school. Self-regulation is when one reinforces or punnishes his or her own actions.

When reading this module, I was a little confused as to what vicarious reinforcement and vicarious punishment is and how it works.

According to Social Cognitive Theory, learning occurs when an imitator observes a model. This theory does not, however, require a change in behavior for there to be said learning had occured. As teachers we have to model good behaviors for our students. For example, when we tell students to read during silent reading time we must read along side them to show them what a good reader looks like when reading to his or herself.

I would say that many people influence my learning on a daily basis. And this learning occurs through observation of many different people that I see every day. For a few examples, in my math class I learn my seeing the problems my professor works on the board and how he does them. I know I have learned the material later when I have to do classwork and homework later that night and the next day. I also learned how to play poker by watching my roommates play as they explained the rules and strategies of the game.

2 comments:

  1. Vicarious reinforcement is when a teacher gives a student a privilege or reward for doing something good that the other students do not get unless they also do the same good behavior like getting all their work done. Vicarious punishment is when a teacher punishes a student for doing something bad such as hitting another student and will give that student ISS.

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  2. Vicarious reinforcement and punishment are just when you see someone else being reinforced or punished (you observe this happen) and to some extent learn from their consequence.

    If you see a model you admire do a behavior, but receive a punishment (someone laughs at them), then you, an observer, will be less likely to perform that behavior.

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