In a thoughtful review of the article The 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the 20th Century by Haggbloom et al (2002), I have carefully concluded that Albert Bandura is my most favorable psychologist, among the many other reputable psychologists. Despite being ranked fourth on the list of eminence, Albert Bandura is among one of my favorite psychologists because I truly find his work regarding cognitive social learning that has effectively put modeling and observational learning into practice to be very interesting. I have always taken a favorable interest to cognitive psychology in terms of how it looks at human behavior and the factors that guide our actions and behaviors. For the sake of this paper, I will be highlighting Bandura’s most important contributions to psychology and how they have influenced the study of psychology in the present day.
Albert Bandura is most well-known for his influential work pertaining to theories of learning and development. In his widely recognized Social Learning Theory, Bandura had theorized that a majority of human behaviors are learned and modeled through the process of observation. Essentially, what this means is that through observation, human beings form ideas of how behaviors are to be performed (Cherry, 2017). It is further believed that coded information as a result of our observations will serve as a guide of our actions and behaviors at a later time (Cherry, 2017). This socially interactive aspect of his theory is what Bandura refers to as observational learning, which is also commonly referred to as modeling.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory was fundamentally built upon B.F. Skinner’s traditional theories of behavior. Skinner’s traditional behavioral theories suggested that the learning of behaviors is solely driven by schedules of reinforcement. Although he accepted Skinner’s theories of classical and operant conditioning, Bandura rejected a purely behaviorist approach that said learning was the result of reinforcement (McLeod, 2016). Bandura proposed two new original ideas that were closely related to and built upon the work of Skinner and his traditional behavioral theories. First, Bandura proposed that mediating processes occur between a stimuli and response (McLeod, 2016). Second, Bandura proposed that observational learning is what causes the behavior to be learned from the environment, which I will elaborate on later. In essence, Social Learning Theory placed a big emphasis on the cognitive processes that occur in the brain in terms of how someone learns.
Social Learning Theory outlines three original main ideas. The first concept of Bandura’s theory of learning states that individuals have the ability to learn through the process of observation. The second concept of Bandura’s theory proposed that mental states are a fundamental part to learning. Lastly, the Social Learning Theory states that learning will not necessarily lead to a change in an individual’s behavior. Bandura’s theory of learning implies that individuals are able to learn without having to demonstrate new behaviors. However, Bandura’s work suggests that not all observed behaviors are adequately learned (Cherry, 2017).
In his work, Albert Bandura defines a series of factors that influence the success or failure of observational learning and the modeling process (McLeod, 2016). The first factor that influences the success of observational learning is attention. Bandura emphasizes that in order to fully learn and understand something, you must pay a sufficient amount of attention to it. The second factor that influences the success of observational learning and modeling is what Bandura refers to as retention. Retention is the ability to store information that you have gathered and is an important component to the learning process (McLeod, 2016). Retaining information that has been collected and storing it for later use is a vital component to the success of observational learning. The third factor that influences observational learning is what Albert Bandura refers to as reproduction. Reproduction of an observed behavior comes following close attention and successful retention of information that has been learned. The last factor that Bandura stresses is an essential component to the success of observational learning is the idea of motivation. Bandura says that an individual must be motivated to repeat a learned behavior and put what they have learned into practice. Cycles of reinforcement or punishment have been found to greatly influence individual motivation and reoccurrences of behavior (Cherry, 2017).
One of Bandura’s most infamous studies, the Bobo Doll Experiment (1961), was run in the attempt to affirm his belief in theories of observational learning as well as to test aggressive behavior in children. At the time, there had been a plethora of studies that had been run that had provided a sufficient amount of evidence suggesting that behaviors exhibited by a model greatly influence the actions and behaviors of others. However, the goal of Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment involved an important test of imitative learning involving an imitative response pattern in a setting of which the model was now absent (Bandura, Ross and Ross, 1961). Bandura and his colleagues had hypothesized that subjects who are exposed to aggressive models of behavior would imitate the aggressive acts that had been observed from their models. In his experiment, Bandura further hypothesized that the results of the aggressive model would significantly differ from the results collected by the nonaggressive model control group (Bandura et al., 1961).
Participants in Bandura’s experiment were divided in half and were assigned to either the aggressive model or the nonaggressive and subdued model. Subjects within each model were further divided by gender. Each group was then exposed to either an aggression condition or a nonaggressive condition and were rated on their responses to the aggression as well as how they interacted with the Bobo doll (Bandura et al., 1961). The findings of this study yielded scientifically significant results. A major result of this study found that subjects in the aggression condition were more likely to reproduce a great deal of the physically and verbally aggressive behaviors in which similarly resembled the behaviors of their models. Another important finding of the study concluded that imitative behaviors were not limited to only aggression. But rather, Bandura found that subjects in the aggression condition were just as likely to imitate nonaggressive models of behavior similar to how they would imitate aggressive behaviors (Bandura et al., 1961). The major findings of Bandura’s 1961 Bobo Doll Experiment only furthered his interest on research that was focused around observational learning as a result of the modeling of behaviors.
In 1986, a handful of modifications was made to Social Learning Theory by Albert Bandura himself. The outcome of the revisions made to Social Learning Theory put forth the birth of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). A major implication of SCT proposed that people are not driven by inner forces, nor are people shaped and controlled by external stimuli. The foundation of Social Cognitive Theory was built on Bandura’s concept of triadic reciprocity also known as triadic reciprocal determinism (Cahill, 1986). Triadic reciprocity suggests that a self-reflective person does not only observe the behaviors of others, but rather they also observe their own behaviors and consider the consequences of their actions (Cahill, 1986). Basically, triadic reciprocity emphasizes the idea that the person’s own behaviors as well as their social environment are both sources learning that govern one’s actions.
In moving forward, another of Bandura’s contributions to the study of psychology that is a crucial component to address in his theory of learning is Albert Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy. Bandura’s concept of self-efficacy proposed that learning is more likely to take place if the observer exhibits higher amounts of self-efficacy. Albert Bandura defines self-efficacy as one’s belief in their own abilities to succeed in a situation and effectively accomplish tasks. (Bandura, 1993). Bandura and numerous other researchers have found that one’s level of self-efficacy plays an important part in how goals, tasks and other challenges are approached. In his work regarding the concept of self-efficacy, Bandura has suggested that positive self-efficacy beliefs are significant determinants of human motivation, affect and action. Self-efficacy acts on our behavioral performance, as well as our actions through motivational, cognitive, and affective intervening processes (Bandura, 1993).
Alberta Bandura is recognized as being the father of the start of a cognitive revolution in the study of psychology. Bandura’s theories of learning and modeling have greatly influenced the study of cognitive and personality psychology (Bandura, Lindzey and Runyan, 2006). Bandura’s work has also had a significant impact on the study of education and psychotherapy. With that being said, Albert Bandura has received numerous awards in regards to his many achievements and contributions to the study of psychology. A major achievement of Bandura was in 1974 when he was elected to be the 82nd President of the American Psychological Association. In 1980, the American Psychological Association awarded Albert Bandura for his distinguished scientific contributions for pioneering research in the field of self-regulated learning (Cherry, 2017). Another notable achievement of Bandura was in 1999, when he was presented with the Thorndike Award for Distinguished Contributions of Psychology to Education. In briefly reading Albert Bandura’s autobiography, it became clear that his contributions to the study of psychology did not go unnoticed. Albert Bandura can be credited with laying the groundwork for the modern day study of social-cognitive processes.
In conclusion, Albert Bandura has made many significant contributions to the study of psychology. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, Social Cognitive Theory, Bobo Doll Experiment and theories on self-efficacy have outlined the importance of learning through the modeling of behaviors. Bandura paved the way for many psychologists who hold similar theories regarding higher cognitive processes.
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