WHAT IS THE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY?
How do human beings really learn anything? The reinforcement/punishment stimuli, of course, condition our behavior, through the process of learning. But human beings don’t just respond to stimuli, they interpret them as well. To illustrate this principle, consider the example of a child who receives a smile and a kiss when it puts away its toys. It’s likely to repeat this action because of the reward. However if the child were to hurl its food at the wall and subsequently receive a scolding, the child learns that such an action only earns disapproval, and modifies its behavior accordingly, because it desires its mother’s approval. But this is just one facet of the complex learning process.

According to the Classical Learning Theory, we learn by trial and error, just as Skinner’s dog. Psychologist Donald Campbell is of the opinion that trial and error results in long lasting acquired behavior.

But Stanford psychologist Albert Bandura, the proponent of the Social Learning Theory, disagrees. He states: "Coping with the demands of everyday life would be exceedingly trying if one could arrive at solutions to problems only by actually performing possible options and suffering the consequences." [Bandura, 1977] Bandura moves beyond the Classical Learning Theory and delves deeper, with his Social Learning Theory.

His theory can be summarized as follows:
(a) He says that we learn by observing others.
(b) He focuses on the power of examples and the importance of role models.
(c) He stresses the importance of vicarious behavior as a means to modify behavior.

Bandura’s theory can be best illustrated by considering the example and the effect of the media. Bandura also said, in this regard, “Children and adults acquire attitudes, emotional responses, and new styles of conduct through filmed and televised modeling." Another caution is that TV viewing might create a violent reality, which has to be feared for its capacity to influence the way we deal with people every day. [Lefkowitz, Eron, Walder, Huesmann, 1977] According to his theory, three stages can be identified in the link between passive violence (just watching) and active violence (Actually carrying it out). These three stages are:
(a) Attention
(b) Retention
(c) Motivation.

The first step is to grab a social learner’s attention. The television achieves this through advertisements and programs – the more explicit and violent, the better, because it does achieve its goal.

The second stage is retention. People learn things by vicariously experiencing them. A TV viewer can watch the most graphic, explicit and/or violent acts and experience the thrills, the fear, the strength and what not – all in the safety of his own room, in his own house, before his TV screen. [Liebert and Sprafkin, 1988] And, as mentioned before, people don’t just react to stimuli, they interpret them. So a TV viewer interprets these TV experiences according to his cognitive and emotional levels, and then stores them in his memory. These memories may remain unused and untapped for years, they may contribute towards shaping future such active or passive experiences, or they may be used.

This takes us into the third stage – Motivation.

When a person vicariously learns something that affects him deeply, he will be tempted to try it out for him or her self and see what happens. Would he experience the same results as the on-screen protagonists? Here Bandura makes an important distinction when he says that “The highest level of observational learning is achieved by first organizing and rehearsing the modeled behavior symbolically, and then enacting it… the widely accepted dictum that behavior is governed by its consequences fares better for anticipated than for actual consequences.” In other words, the person tries out the experience on the basis of what he perceives the outcome to be, rather than what may be the actual outcome.

An example may be cited here, of a young boy who watched a TV ad for a soft drink. In this ad, the male model vaults off a tall building in pursuit of his drink, grabs it mid-air, somersaults and lands safely on his feet to enjoy his drink. The boy’s perception led him to believe that he could achieve the same result. The result – was only death.

PROS OF THE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:
No man is an island – a person is a social being and lives within a group or a community. Therefore he tends to perform actions and behave in a manner conducive to community approval. Hence the Social Learning Theory has proved extremely effective in the treatment of and therapy for smokers, schizophrenics, criminals and drug and alcohol abusers, to list a few. Group approval is the positive reinforcement provided to the afflicted individual, who is more receptive to a group that is in the same boat as he. Also, the Social Learning Theory is grounded in empirical research and practical applications.

The Social Learning Theory is relevant and practical, because in addition to provided stimulus it also takes into account all the other factors, and emphasizes the interaction between the behavior, thinking and environment.

CONS OF THE SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:

The greatest criticism that can be offered of the Social Learning Theory is that it does not provide a proper overall personality assessment. It focuses more on the factors perceived as negative by the learner – it does not account for what may be considered positive. There are many factors that condition behavior and which affect a person’s thinking and cognitive processes. These are not merely environmental, not merely social, not merely cognitive – they include interaction between these and more. A person’s inner character, moral beliefs, set of values etc. may all influence, determine and affect his behavior. Inherent and latent personality traits make it difficult to predict what a learner will assimilate and how he will do it.