Download Joe Rizo Assignment 3 #1. Dollard and Miller first conceived of the

Joe Rizo Assignment 3
#1. Dollard and Miller first conceived of the concept of social learning theory in the 1940s. What
are some of the attributes of that concept?
Some of the attributes of social learning theory are that people learn by observing others If a
person is motivated to learn a particular behavior than that behavior can be learned by clear
observation and positive reinforcement.
#2. Initially, Albert Bandura was schooled in the learning theory that we call behaviorism. The
salient feature of behaviorism when Bandura received his doctoral degree at the University of
Iowa in 1952 was that all learning occurred by either “classical conditioning” (Pavlov), or
“operant conditioning” (Skinner).Bandura built upon the concept of social learning theory to
modify behaviorism and create his own theory of how people learn. A critical concept of
Bandura’s new theory was the concept of vicarious reinforcement. What is that concept and
how did it break from traditional behavioristic learning theory?
In vicarious reinforcement the model will be either rewarded or praised for a behavior and the
observer will than imitate the same behavior. In traditional behavioristic learning theory the
inviornment does not influence the outcome only positive or negative reinforcement.
#3. Bandura then used the concept of vicarious reinforcement to create the concept of
observational learning. What are the four components of observational learning, and how does
learning occur in Bandura’s model?
The four components of observational learning are the learner must be paying attention, you
must be able to retain the information, You must be able to reproduce the behavior and there
must be a form of motivation to learn the behavior.
#4. Classical behaviorism saw no need to acknowledge any type of cognitive processes
occurring inside the brain. Bandura stressed that there must be some cognitive processes
occurring in the learner’s brain if more advanced types of learning are to occur. What are a
couple of factors that Bandura said would be important in his observational learning process?
The Learner must be paying attention, reinforcement increase response only if the learner is
aware of the connection.
#5. How could we apply observational learning (and its subcomponent, vicarious reinforcement)
to our own professional endeavors if we were charged with designing a generic instructional
system?
To apply observational learning in a generic instructional setting it would be good to praise the
expected behavior and to model the attitude of a positive environment.