Download Miller Workshop Prep.

Michelle Sample
October 14, 2016
Miller Workshop Prep.
10-minute Free Write
● Before reading: Do a 10 minute free write that identifies: (i) what you currently know and
believe about the perspective; (ii) 2-3 questions you have about the perspective. (10 minute
free write)
Social Learning Theory
I can’t remember the specifics of this theory other than the fact that it studies how learning is done in a
social context. I’d assume the theorists conducted most of their data and findings by observation. Possibly
comparing direct instruction methods opposed to group work to study the learner’s behavior and success.
I would assume this is a fairly old theory considering the fact that anthropologists, and the like, have
theorized over the benefits of human socialized, community group work, collaboration for survival, the
benefits of ‘doing’ rather than ‘seeing or listening’ I would say this theory is physical, hands-on type
learning.
Question #1: What are the big names of theorists for social learning? And how is social learning
experienced in classrooms?
Question #2: Does this theory recognize social learning in all aspects of human learning; meaning, is it
recognized that social learning involves other learning styles as well?
During Reading
● As you read: Take notes on anything that could help you: (i) to understand the processes of
learning from this perspective, and (ii) to further your thinking on why having a theory of learning
matters (i.e. keep in mind the essential question of the synthesis paper), including:
Attention to the details of the perspective:
- What kind of observations and studies did the theorists use to inform the theory?
Stemmed from behaviorism work – John Watson 1913.
- What about the theorists’ historical context, and/or personal backgrounds helped to inform
the theory. Why might it make sense that the theorists thought in this way about learning?
Before SLT
Watson definition of learning: “a more or less permanent change in behavior which occurs as a result of
practice” (225).
B.F. Skinner (operant conditioning) believes that “a behavior modifier changes the reinforcement
contingencies so that desirable behavior is reinforced and thereby maintained while undesirable behavior
is ignored and thereby weakened” (229).
Learning theorists implied that “development comes primary from experience” (224).
Results from learning theorists (before social learning theory) found “children’s use of their previously
acquired cognitive, linguistic, and social abilities as they attempted to make sense of the simple,
meaningless task put before them” (231). – As opposed to animal studies.
Beginnings of SLT – 1940’s, 1950’s
Guiding Theorists (Neal Miller, and John Dollard) “The guiding belief of social learning theorists was
that personality is learned” (232).
Learning observation was taken outside of the labs (and animals) and applied to humans in environments.
- What are the processes of learning? What are the roles of the learner and the environment in those
processes?
“Social learning focused on socialization, the process by which society attempts to teach children to
behave like the ideal adults of that society” (233).
Albert Bandura: Building on the theory – Bandura and Walters – “continued to develop social learning
theory and make it even more cognitive, and thus the term social cognitive theory” he defines learning as
“knowledge acquisition through cognitive processing of information” (235).

Learning by observing and imitation
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Environment
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Nonbiological influences
“Abstract Modeling” (237). Abstracting a general rule from observing specific behaviors.
Question: “Can social learning explain cultural differences in social behaviors and personality? (238)
…I’d say yes, if the modeling for the children is done strictly within their culture.
Three components to theory: (P) biological and psychological characteristics of the person (B) the
person’s behavior (E) environment - these are causal (reciprocal causation) theses three factors are highly
interdependent.
Figure 5.1 on page 241 – imitates what’s happening in the brain during the learning cycle!
On Morality: “Social learning theorists emphasize the observational learning of specific behaviors or
moral statements that are generalized into a set of moral rules; children typically have different moral
understanding in different situations and for different moral issues” (247).
“Social learning theorists carefully consider how the particular situation, a child’s previous history of
observational learning, and the particular content area determine the child’s moral judgments” (247).
On Gender Roles
“Gender development flows from the interaction of intrapersonal, behavioral, and social influences
operating within societal systems composed of parents, peers, teachers, mass media, and various social
institutions” (249).
- What from this perspective might make something easy or hard to learn? That is, what
would make a learning opportunity accessible/inaccessible?
“Children can symbolically construct new, complex behaviors by listening to another person or watching
a movie” (262).
“Children observe which behaviors occurring around them lead to reinforcement and punishment and use
these observations as sources of information to help them abstract rules” (262).
Theory is easily testable.
Connections you are making to:
- other program readings/workshops
Bandura’s underlying observational subprocesses of learning resembles what is happening in the brain
during Kolb's Learning Cycle.
Environment was mentioned several times in Milner and Greene as being a key factors in learning. More
so here in a social context. How did the learner observe his environment? What were the adults
doing/saying? This in fact will result in how the learner navigates his world. Culture therefore creates
different learners, because learners observe and imitate their environments in different cultural contexts.
- your own lived experiences as a learner, and the assumptions about learning you outlined
in your week 1 analysis of learning experiences.
After reading this chapter I thought about how fear is imitated. One example would be how a young child
will observe what their parents fear, spiders, loud noises, scary movies, and take on that fear themselves.
Possibly without observing such things, could the child not have the fear at all?