Social Learning Theory Essay Example for Free

Social Learning Theory Essay Moral development is successfully achieved when it starts at the youngest learning stage. Vision, character and competence are the three prime elements that a young person needs to develop to achieve moral standards. Moral development of character is an organic process. The integration of an individual’s physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological well-being must be prioritized so that the young human being may be able to achieve moral standards set by his society. It is in this context where social learning theory is able to explain moral development. Learning can occur when a person integrates and relates to his wider social context. People learn from people by observing, imitating and modeling. The principles of social learning theory posit that; People learn while observing other people; Learning through observing social interactions may not necessarily create change in behavior; Social learning is highly cognitive. Observing the effects of behavior of people brings to the individual increased level of awareness on the consequences that behavior might lead to; Social learning has transitory abilities to bridge behaviorist learning theories and cognitive learning theories. Behavior is reinforced by the modeling process as a person adjusts his behavior according to the like and dislikes of the group he wants to be accepted into. By imitating the persons or group of people in the way they speak or the way they dress up, the individual will be successful in getting accepted to be part of the group. In this way, social learning helps the individual attain his desires to be one with the group of his choice. â€Å"Many behaviors can be learned, at least partly, through modeling. Examples that can be cited are, students can watch parents read, students can watch the demonstrations of mathematics problems, or seen someone acting bravely and a fearful situation. Aggression can be learned through models. Much research indicates that children become more aggressive when they observed aggressive or violent models. Moral thinking and moral behavior are influenced by observation and modeling. This includes moral judgments regarding right and wrong that can in part, develop through modeling.† (Ormrod, 1999) Social learning hastens moral development. As an individual observers the environment from which he learns from, his character may be able to imbibe behaviors that help develop moral ways such as engaging in morally relevant conduct or words, or refraining from certain conduct or words (Wynne Walberg, 1984). The individual can also acquire a complex set of relatively persistent qualities of the individual person, and generally, a positive connotation when used in discussions of moral education (Pritchard, 1988). Learning experiences can influence moral behavior development by direct tuition and by observational learning. Direct intuition uses reward and punishment in negating or reaffirming the behavior of an individual. Observational learning is more indirect in nature because the reward and punishment is observed by the individual rather than experienced first hand. When an individual sees his elders being punished for doing bad things such as stealing or murder, it will be engrained in his moral standards that stealing and murder is not morally accepted. Campbell and Bond (1982) propose the following as major factors in the moral development and behavior of youth in contemporary America: heredity, early childhood experience, modeling by important adults and older youth, peer influence, the general physical and social environment, the communications media, what is taught in the schools and other institutions, specific situations and roles that elicit corresponding behavior. And much of these elements are found in the social context therefore social learning theory is a very effective means of how an individual can acquire his or her moral standards just by observing, imitating and modeling his environment. To successfully model moral behavior, a person goes through four learning processes under social learning theory. Attention is the first important process that one has to render. Without the ability of a person to pay attention to himself, and his surroundings learning will be hard. Retention is the next process after attention is achieved. Remembering the observations is essential so that the learning can be further processed. A person who cannot remember his observations will render his social milieu unimportant. Reproducing the remembered observation is crucial in the learning process. Replicating the observed behavior will determine if the individual has truly learned and has truly understood and acquired the moral concept of the situation observed. And finally, there is need for motivation if an individual is bent on succeeding modeling the observed behavior. Motivation will be the key ingredient for the individual to project the learning he has achieved, successfully sharing his perception so that other may be able to observe his actions. With other people observing his actions, the learning process is replicated over and over again. With this replication through the social learning theory, moral development is achieved by the individual and by the whole group. Knowing how social learning can affect moral development, it is important therefore that young people are able to grow up in a moral environment from where they will use their observation skills and imitate or model the actions they see, hear and feel. Moral development starts at an early stage in a child and therefore, society must not be mindless of the moral and immoral actions found in and around the child’s environment. References: Campbell, V., Bond, R. (1982). Evaluation of a character education curriculum. In D. McClelland (ed.), Education for values. New York: Irvington Publishers. Huitt, W. (2004). Moral and character development. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University. Retrieved [November 17, 2006], from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/col/morchr/morchr.html Moshman, David. 2004.   Adolescent Psychological Development: Rationality, Morality, and Identity. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 2nd edition Ormrod, J.E. (1999). Human learning (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Pritchard, I. (1988). Character education: Research prospects and problems. American Journal of Education, 96(4), 469-495. Rotter, J. B. (1993). Expectancies. In C. E. Walker (Ed.), The history of clinical psychology in autobiography (vol. II) (pp. 273-284). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. Wynne, E., Walberg, H. (Eds.). (1984). Developing character: Transmitting knowledge. Posen, IL: ARL.