Sunday, September 9, 2012

Social Theories Blog Post 1

One question that I have from the reading is how can you tell that learning is being occurred if there is not a noticeable change in behavior or noticeable change in a person to demonstrate that learning has occurred? If students are learning from observation, what is the demonstration that learning occurred if behavior change is not included?

According to the social cognitive theory, learning counts and occurs through observation as well as through direct experiences with the environment. However, it does not necessarily lead to a change in behavior. Learning counts as individual and personal characteristics in an individual. Learning can take place if the individual is paying attention, can remember the behaviors observed, can produce the behaviors, and is motivated to imitate the behaviors as well. Individuals are more likely to imitate behaviors if the model or teacher reinforces the specific behavior. One implication for teachers is that they need to promote self-efficacy and self-regulation among their students so that students will model self-efficacy and self-regulation themselves. If teachers model this type of behavior, then students will have beliefs that they can succeed and ultimately create an environment where learning is enjoyable. Teachers can provide students with successful models and positive feedback to increase self-efficacy and also increase the positive attitude that a student can have in school to do better as well. By observing a behavior as well, students can decide for themselves whether the reward or punishment is worth repeating the behavior for and this way students have control over their learning if they model a specific behavior.

Other people affect the way that you learn because according to this theory, people learn through observation. If individuals learn through observation and direct experiences with the environment, then that must include other individuals and the relationship between different people and their specific observations. If a teacher models self-efficacy and demonstrates positive reinforcement for his/her students, then those students will show self-efficacy and confidence in their learning. Watching other people succeed, how they succeed and observing their experiences is a way for people to learn as well. Having other people's experiences to reflect on is another way for people to learn so that improvements can be made for the sake of their own learning.

1 comment:

  1. how can you tell that learning is occurring if there is not a noticeable change in behavior or noticeable change in a person to demonstrate that learning has occurred? If students are learning from observation, what is the demonstration that learning occurred if behavior change is not included?

    One of the main aspects of observational learning is that a change in behavior does not necessarily have to occur. This is possible because learning can include observation and a gain in knowledge, but not an imitation of those behaviors. This can occur when learning how to do laundry. You may observe someone putting their clothes in the washer, putting the laundry detergent in, and setting the load size and time. You will take in this information and (depending on factors such as who the model was and how attentive you were) hopefully remember how to load and start the washer. But, if you have no clothes to wash, you will not have to currently change your behavior. It is only when you have to wash your clothes will your behavior change.

    ReplyDelete