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Unlock This CourseAlbert Bandura revolutionised psychology in the 1960s with his Social Learning Theory. Unlike earlier theories that focused only on direct experience, Bandura showed that we can learn simply by watching others. This theory explains how children learn to behave by observing parents, teachers, friends and even characters on TV.
Social Learning Theory bridges the gap between behavioural and cognitive psychology. It shows that learning isn't just about rewards and punishments - our thoughts, observations and mental processes play a huge role too.
Key Definitions:
Bandura's most famous study involved children watching adults interact with an inflatable Bobo doll. Children who saw adults being aggressive towards the doll later copied this behaviour, whilst those who saw non-aggressive behaviour were much less likely to be violent. This proved that children learn by watching, not just by being taught directly.
Bandura identified four essential processes that must occur for social learning to happen effectively. These processes work together like links in a chain - if one is missing, learning may not occur or may be incomplete.
We must notice and focus on the behaviour we want to learn.
We must remember what we observed and store it in our memory.
We must be physically and mentally able to copy the behaviour.
Attention is the first and most crucial step in social learning. We're constantly surrounded by people doing different things, but we can't learn from everything we see. Our brains are selective - we only pay attention to certain behaviours and ignore others.
Think about walking through a busy shopping centre. You might notice someone's unusual hairstyle, a street performer's tricks, or how a shop assistant deals with a difficult customer. But you probably won't notice every single person walking past. Attention acts like a filter, helping us focus on what's important or interesting.
Several factors influence what we notice and focus on:
Attractiveness: We pay more attention to people we find appealing or admirable.
Status: High-status people (celebrities, teachers, popular peers) grab our attention more easily.
Similarity: We notice people who are similar to us in age, gender, or interests.
Novelty: Unusual or new behaviours stand out more than familiar ones.
Complexity: Behaviours that are neither too simple nor too complex hold our attention best.
Consequences: We notice behaviours that lead to obvious rewards or punishments.
Motivation: We pay more attention when we're motivated to learn something specific.
Arousal Level: Being alert and focused helps us notice more details.
Past Experience: Our background knowledge affects what we notice.
Modern social media perfectly demonstrates attention in social learning. Influencers with millions of followers succeed because they capture attention through attractive appearance, high status and engaging content. Young people pay attention to their fashion choices, lifestyle habits and opinions because these influencers seem successful and desirable. The constant stream of likes, comments and shares also makes the consequences of their behaviour highly visible, further increasing attention.
Once we've paid attention to a behaviour, we need to remember it. Retention is about storing the observed behaviour in our memory so we can recall it later. Without good retention, we might watch someone do something interesting but forget it completely by the next day.
Retention isn't just about having a good memory - it's about how we process and organise information. Our brains use different strategies to help us remember what we've observed.
We create mental pictures or images of what we observed. For example, if you watch someone perform a skateboard trick, you might form a clear mental image of their body position, the board's movement and the sequence of actions. These mental images act like photographs in our mind that we can recall later.
We use words and language to describe what we saw. You might mentally narrate the skateboard trick: "First, he pushed off with his back foot, then shifted his weight forward, grabbed the board with his right hand..." This verbal description helps us remember the sequence and key details.
Several factors can help us remember observed behaviours more effectively:
Learning to drive perfectly illustrates both attention and retention processes. New drivers must pay attention to their instructor's demonstrations - how to check mirrors, signal, steer and brake. They notice these behaviours because the instructor has high status and the consequences (passing or failing) are important. For retention, learners create mental images of proper hand positions and verbal descriptions like "mirror, signal, manoeuvre." They rehearse these steps mentally between lessons and organise them into logical sequences. The emotional significance of learning to drive (freedom, independence) also helps strengthen these memories.
Understanding attention and retention helps explain many everyday situations:
Teachers use attention and retention principles constantly. They dress professionally to maintain status, use varied teaching methods to capture attention and help students organise information through clear structures and repetition. Interactive lessons and emotional connections to subject matter improve both attention and retention.
Advertisers are experts at capturing attention through attractive models, celebrities, unusual scenarios and emotional appeals. They improve retention through catchy jingles, memorable slogans and repeated exposure. The most successful adverts combine both processes effectively.
Children naturally pay attention to their parents due to their high status and importance. Parents can improve retention by explaining reasons for rules, using consistent language and creating positive emotional associations with good behaviour.
Modern technology creates new challenges for attention and retention. Social media, video games and constant notifications compete for our attention, making it harder to focus on any single behaviour long enough to learn from it. However, technology also offers new opportunities - educational videos, interactive apps and online tutorials can capture attention and aid retention in innovative ways.
While Bandura's attention and retention processes are widely supported by research, there are some limitations to consider:
Despite these limitations, understanding attention and retention remains crucial for educators, parents, therapists and anyone interested in how people learn and develop. These processes help explain everything from childhood development to adult skill acquisition, making them fundamental concepts in psychology.