Bandura
Albert Bandura and the Bobo Effect

Few research psychologists have been as directly and as singularly influential in shaping the way we think about learning and behavior as Albert Bandura, and few single experiments have been as significant and noteworthy as the Bobo experiment he conducted with his colleagues in 1961. Through this experiment and through his entire body of theoretical and research-based work, Bandura was able to demonstrate that traits like aggression and other features of human behavior are learned by example and social conditioning, which was an important breakthrough in overall psychological understanding. The following paragraphs present a brief overview of Bandura's life and his most famous experiment, situating his immense contributions in an understanding of the man himself.

Albert Bandura: A Brief Biography

Born in the tiny town of Mundare in Alberta, Canada in December of 1925, Albert Bandura is of Polish descent on his father's side and Ukrainian on…...

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References

ER. (2012). Bobo Doll Experiment. Accessed 4 April 2012.  http://www.experiment-resources.com/bobo-doll-experiment.html 

Pajares, F. (2004). Albert Bandura. Accessed 4 April 2012.  http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/bandurabio.html

Albert Bandura is renowned as the main motivator behind social learning for his introduction of the social cognitive theory. Even though he restricted his approach to the behavioral tradition, Bandura was mainly concerned with the influence of cognitive factors on development. Similar to other behaviorists, Bandura believes that cognitive development is not the only way for explaining changes in childhood behavior. Moreover, Bandura also believed that learning processes are basically responsible for development of children. Nonetheless, this theorist believed that cognitive abilities of the child have strong influence on his/her learning processes. The concept of the impact of cognitive abilities on a child's learning processes is particularly true in relation to more complex types of learning.
Bandura's Biography:

Albert Bandura was born on December 4, 1925, in northern Alberta, Canada as the youngest and only boy child among six siblings in a family of European descent (Tom, n.d.). Bandura's parents immigrated to…...

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References:

Boeree, C.G. (1998). Albert Bandura: 1925 -- Present. Retrieved from Portland Community

College website:  http://www.pcc.edu/staff/pdf/420/C__DOCUME~1_HERBFR~1_LOCALS~1_TEMP_plugtmp_bandura.pdf 

Cherry, K. (n.d.). Albert Bandura Biography (1925-). Retrieved October 11, 2012, from  http://psychology.about.com/od/profilesofmajorthinkers/p/bio_bandura.htm 

McLeod, S.A. (2011). Bandura -- Social Learning Theory. Retrieved October 11, 2012, from  http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html

(Ormrod, 2003).
According to the research of Bandura, it was his discovery that teachers play a significant role in a child's learning acquisition as teachers are the main source of modeling for both material objectives and the secondary, or underlying, curriculum of instilling proper virtues. ith this understanding, it is important that teachers focus on building high self-efficacy levels in students by awarding student accomplishments.

Central to this theory are the concepts of categorization and association. Categorization is the natural act of humans to attempt to group people and things on the basis of easily identifiable characteristics like gender, age and race. This is the basis to stereotyping and often happens subconsciously. Association is the secondary act to categorization, or those particular traits that humans naturally place together and thus associate with a particular group. These two concepts influence how humans view a model. Since humans learn primarily from watching others,…...

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Works Cited

Ormrod, Jeanne Ellis. (2003): Educational Psychology: Developing Learners. New York: Prentice Hall.

Bandura's Social Cognitive heory
he concept of the self has been addressed by many psychology theorists. Self-concept and self-esteem are considered to be the feelings and constructs that people experience in relation to themselves. he idea that self-concept and self-esteem are closely linked to people's abilities to deal with changes and issues in their lives -- and to provide some measure of control over what happens to them -- is documented widely in the work of psychologists from the social cognitive branch of psychology (Bandura, 2002). Self-esteem is the evaluative and affective dimension of the self-concept (Mann, 2004).

How does Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory help us to understand Annie's comment "I just can't do this writing stuff"? Bandura developed a construct known as self-system (Cherry, 2011). he self-system posited by Bandura consisted of a person's abilities, cognitive skills, and attitudes, and further, it impacts how people perceive situations and how they…...

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The cognitive self consists of our self-knowledge -- all that we know or believe that we know about ourselves. The affective self is the felt or emotional self, while the executive self is the active or behavioral self that is evident in human agency (Bandura, 2001). Considering the multiplicity of the self, it is apparent that these interdependencies do not permit Annie to easily separate her feelings from her perceptions from her self-concept.

Bandura described self-efficacy as "the belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations" (1995, p. 2). That is, a person's perception or belief in his or her capacity to be successful in certain situations is colored by that individual's self-efficacy (Cherry, 2011). What people believe, Bandura argued, acts as a determinant of their behavior, feelings, and thoughts (Bandura, 1994). Bandura stressed the influence of observational learning and social experience on behavior -- he also theorized the importance of reciprocal determinism on personality development (Cherry, 2011).

How could you apply social cognitive theory to helping Annie become more confident and successful in her writing skills? The principles of observational learning and reciprocal determinism can be directly employed to assist Annie to change her perceptions of her writing skills. Writing tasks can be assigned for which there is no right or wrong set of standards. Memoir writing or interviewing or transcribing oral interviews are all examples where writing stems

The message from this simple analysis is clear: people interpret reality in different way ways. In Bandura's view, internal reinforcement is a potent force for enhancing or bolstering the mental states of individuals. Hence a feeling of pride, satisfaction and accomplishment helps both to enhance the individual's cognitive development as well as the learning process.
3. Learning does not always precipitate change in behavior. In other words, people do not always act like drones whose main features are to respond in a particular way when they are stimulated by environmental factors. This explains why some people behave irrationally regardless of whether or not that form of behavior is punishable or may have unpalatable consequences. In other words, human beings are not always rational actors. Thus sometimes they are influenced by their "head" to make decisions that may, to a very significant extent, go beyond the intricacies of basic reward as…...

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References

Bandura, a. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of Control. New York: W.H. Freeman.

Bandura, a. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:

Prentice-Hall.

Bandura, a. (1977). Social Learning Theory. New York: General Learning Press.

dominant models of human behavior by the late 1950s and early 1960s were based on Neo-Freudian models and B.F. Skinner's brand of operant behaviorism. However, there were theorists that rejected the mechanistic views of behaviorism and Freudian instinct-drive-based models. Perhaps the most influential of these theorists was Albert Bandura. Bandura had received his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa and had been exposed to the work of obert Spears who was studying familial influences of social behavior and identification in children. Bandura was also heavily influenced by other theorists at Iowa such as James Dollard and Neal Miller who had merged Freudian and Hullian learning principles. Bandura believed that learning principles were sufficient to explain and predict behavior, but he also believed that humans thought and regulated their behavior and were not at the mercy of environmental stimuli as in Skinnerian models of behavior. Furthermore, he believed that many…...

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References

Bandura, A. (1965). The influence of models' reinforcement contingencies on the acquisition of imitative responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1 (6), 598-595.

Bandura, A. (1969). Principles of behavior modification. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Bandura, A. (1977a) Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84, 191-215.

Bandura, A. (1977b). Social learning theory. OH: Prentice Hall.

Psychology Personality
Albert Bandura's observational learning theory, often referred to as the social learning theory has now become one of the most influential theories regarding learning and development. Bandura believed that it was not just reinforcement due to which learning occurred, there was something greater. He suggested that people can learn by watching and observing others behaviors and actions.

Observational learning can take place at any stage during a person's life. However, it is of utmost importance when an individual is a child. Bandura suggested that learning occurs without any instructional activity taking place and that there are three key concepts which lie at the heart of his theory. One concept was, as mentioned already, people learn through observation. Albert Bandura is famous for his Bobo doll experiment in which he showed how children observe and then imitate exactly the same behavior that was done by someone else. In this experiment he…...

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Reference:

Feist, J., & Feist, G.J. (2009). Theories of personality. (7th ed. ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Essay Topic Examples 1.The Impact of Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory:
    Explore how Bandura's Social Learning Theory revolutionized the understanding of how people learn from their environments through observation, imitation, and modeling. Assess its influence across various fields such as psychology, education, and communication.

2.Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment and its Implications for Aggression:
    Analyze the methodology and outcomes of Bandura's famous Bobo doll experiment, which demonstrated the role of observational learning in aggressive behavior. Discuss the implications of these findings on parenting, media effects, and violence in society.

3.Self-Efficacy: Bandura's Contribution to ersonal Agency:
    Delve into the concept of self-efficacy, a cornerstone of Bandura's theoretical framework. Explain how a strong sense of self-efficacy empowers individuals to take control of their habits and behaviors, leading to positive outcomes in various aspects of life, including career, health, and personal growth.

4.Critique of Albert Bandura's Work: Evaluating Limitations and Contributions:
    resent a balanced critique of Albert Bandura's theoretical contributions, examining potential…...

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Primary Sources

Bandura, Albert. \"Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.\" Psychological Review 84.2 (1977): 191-215.

Bandura, Albert. \"Social learning theory of aggression.\" Journal of Communication 28.3 (1978): 12-29.

Bandura, Albert. \"Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective.\" Annual Review of Psychology 52 (2001): 1-26.

Bandura, Albert. \"Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency.\" American Psychologist 37.2 (1982): 122-147.

Bandura, Albert, Dorothea Ross, and Sheila A. Ross. \"Imitation of film-mediated aggressive models.\" The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 63.3 (1961): 575-582.

Another important aspect of observational learning is retention. For effective classroom management to take place it is important the students understand and retain the few classroom management rules that will be set out in the beginning of the year.

aise hand to speak

Treat others with respect

If you don't know then please ask

The retention factor with regard to classroom management will be reinforced each time the students witness another student having to suit out for five minutes of recess because they failed to respond appropriately to the clapping signal for attention. In addition we will have a weekly short discussion about classroom rules and why they are important and how the students can help themselves and each other to remember what they are.

The production step in the path to observational learning with regard to effective classroom management will be easily found in the response of the class to the management steps.

In addition…...

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References

Horner, Sherri L (2001) the EFFECTS of OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING on PRESCHOOLERS' BOOK-RELATED BEHAVIORS and ALPHABET KNOWLEDGE.(Statistical Data Included) Child Study Journal

Houseal, Ana (2003) Self-efficacy, standards, and benchmarks as factors in teaching elementary school science. Journal of Elementary Science Education

Newman, Jean (1999) in the Trenches: Increasing Competency of Teachers-in Training by Having Them Conduct Individualized Interventions.

Journal of Instructional Psychology

This behavior was observed in more than eighty eight percent of the children. In order to show that learned behavior is not necessarily short-term, when the children were reintroduced to obo a few months later, 40% showed the violent behavior.
In assessing whether watching excessive violence on television causes long terms aggressive behavior, research studies should be more comprehensive. They should take into account factors such as chemical or neurological imbalances, family history of violence, emotional and physical abuse or genetic factors. Whether it is indisputably proven that watching violence on television causes aggressive behavior or whether it isn't, one should realize that over indulgence is never a good thing. They can have physical, emotional and sociologically negative impacts.

Parents have an important role to play. Instead of relying on federal guidelines for television program ratings, parents should make up their own minds about whether a child should watch a program.…...

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Bibliography

Bandura, a. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Funk, J.B. (1993). Reevaluating the Impact of Video Games. Clinical Pediatrics, 32(2), 86-90.

Siegel, L.J. (2003). Criminology (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning.

Violence is not just programmed and imitated, it is also chosen and controlled by the participant in a complex continuum of stimulus, response and participant interaction via other factors (Hoffman, 2007, 9).
Abstract

In an article by Stefan G. Hofmann entitled Cognitive Factors that Maintain Social Anxiety Disorder, it discusses the effects of social cognitive theory on social anxiety disorder (SAD). ecent studies have identified multiple psychological factors that could explain the maintenance of the disorder. The model that is constructed in the article makes the assumption that social apprehension is to be associated with unrealistic social standards. This also includes a deficiency in the selection of attainable social goals. When a person is confronted with challenging social situations, people with SAD shift their attention toward the anxiety. They view themselves negatively as a social object. In addition, they overestimate the negative consequences of a social encounter, believing that they have…...

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References

Hofmann, Stefan G. (2007). Cognitive factors that maintain social anxiety disorder: a comprehensive model and its treatment implications. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, 36(4), 193-209.

Fountain, Jeffrey, Finley, Laura L., & Finley, Peter S. (2009). "Beyond the box office: an analysis of violent and deviant behavior in popular sport films." Smart Journal, 5(1), 1-66.

Strassburger, Victor C. (2006). "risky business: what primary care practitioners need to know about the influence of the media on adolescents." Primary Care-Clinics in Office

Practice, 1-32.

Personality
Trait and Factor Theories:

Personality trait and factor theories have been developed as a means of identifying common elements within the personality of different people, indeed the entire populace. Within any given group of people there are common threads of experiences, similar nurturing, and even shared genetic, yet the personality of each member is a unique construction individual elements which work together. Among those who have produced work in this area are aymond Cattell and Hans Eysenck. Each used scientific factor analysis to identify common traits or permanent dispositions of people. Cattell has identified a large number of personality traits, whereas Eysenck's research extracted only three general factors.(mcgraw-hill.com, online) Like Freud who identifies the id, ego and superego as the measurements of the personal mind, will and emotion, the categories identified by these researchers give men the ability to understand the unique functions of the person, emotions and desires.

Allport's Dispositional Theory

Allport…...

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Resources

Theories of personality, dispositional theories. (2002) McGraw Hill higher education. Accessed 23 Nov 2003. Web Site:  http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072316799/student_view0/part4/chapter13/chapter_outline.html 

Ver Wys. C.

2001) Department of Cognitive Science Renesslear Polytechnic Institute. Accessed 23 Nov 2003. Web Site:  http://www.rpi.edu/~verwyc/bandura.htm .

Boeree, G. (1998) Albert Bandura: Personality Theories. Accessed 23 Nov 2003. Web site:  http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/bandura.html .

It is fairly clear that there was learning going on when the children observed aggressive behavior, but leaping immediately to the conclusion that what was learned was aggression, and not the specific behaviors exhibited by the adult models and repeated by the children, seems at least a little presumptive. If it can be assumed that the children in the experiment had never witnessed the specific behaviors of the models prior to the experiment (which would have been necessary to establish for the experiment itself to be valid), then the behavior might have been simply frightening to them, and acting out the behaviors might have been a method of familiarizing themselves with the behavior so as to understand it and make it less frightening. Though the end result would be the same desensitization to aggression, the possibility of this mechanism is important.
This possibility, and the construction and results of the…...

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References

Isom, M. (1998). "Albert Bandura: The social learning theory." Florida State University. Accessed 29 August 2009.  http://www.criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/bandura.htm 

Van Wagner, K. (2009). "Social learning theory." Accessed 29 August 2009.  http://psychology.about.com/od/developmentalpsychology/a/sociallearning.htm

Some jobs will require that a person continue his college education and some will require learning that can take place on the job in order to acquire the needed skills.
on-the-job training can take place in several forms. An outside training firm can be brought in to the company to hold seminars on a relevant topic for the employees. In this environment, the social nature of learning could be one of camaraderie or competitiveness among the adult employees. The adult employee wanted to get ahead may try to excel and outperform his coworkers to increase his chances of advancing. On the other hand, the environment could be more of a friendly social nature while everyone is learning. They may be asked to work in groups, much like in a college classroom setting. This will allow them to collaborate and perhaps learn about new skills they can acquire from their coworkers.…...

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References

Cameron, David. (2010). Adult learning and the way it inspires people is crucially important. Adults Learning, 21(9), 16-17.

  (Accessed on June 22, 2010).http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html 

  (Accessed on June 22, 2010).http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/bandura.html 

Schmidt, Laurel. (2008). How we don't learn. Leadership, 38(2), 10-14.

In fact, as early as the 1989-1990 school years, school-based decision making was implemented in three elementary schools in the Memphis City School System (Smith, Valesky & Horgan, 1991). Based on this seminal initiative, improvements were cited in: (a) the coordination provided by the school councils; (b) school-based staff development activities; (c) support and services provided by the district central office; (d) data and reports provided to the individual schools; and (e) the value of the school improvement plans (Smith et al., 1991).
A relevant study of the school-based decision-making process in the State of Tennessee by Etheridge (1990) evaluated the impact of different leadership styles used by school principals on the effectiveness of the school-based decision-making process in seven local school councils in Memphis including their elementary schools following their first 15 months of operation. According to Etheridge, the composition of SBDM councils in Tennessee largely reflects those being…...

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References

California State Board of Education Policy #89-01. (2010). California State Board of Education.

Retrieved from  http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/ms/po/policy89-01-sep1994.asp .

Contract for excellence. (2009, December 31). New York State Education Department. Retrieved from  http://www.p12.nysed.gov/part100/pages/10013.html .

Cowart, C. (2009). The Louisiana awakening: Church as portal for the emergence of a sustainable social reality. Anglican Theological Review, 91(4), 607-609.