The social learning theory
Introduction
The social learning theory argues that it is the mediational processes which lie between the stimulus and response; influence our behavior and the way we act. When we witness a particular action, and then we star evaluating how we behave a child may be watching a movie of disciplinary and witness reinforcement for good behavior, they could like this reinforcement and therefore imitate this kind behavior. According to this theory, learning may occur through observing others, as role models. We probably imitate people those who we are similar to, those in high status, individuals, and gender, supportive people. For instance, I imitate my father’s hobby by playing soccer and shaving like him.
I watched my mother being rewarded as the best actor in USA. Through observation I developed interest and am now acting I want to be better than her according to social learning theory this is direct reinforcement. Indirect reinforcement is when someone is modelling out behavior with no intention. Since I was young I watched my mother washing the dishes. Currently I have learned the behavior, and my mother is seen as the ‘model’.
The behavior of adults could influence the behavior of a child. Since I was young I have been observing my parents behavior, through my parents I came to learn good moral ethics and how to relate with other people in the society. Research evidence for this was done by a psychologist called Bandura in 1961. He involved children and adults in his experiment. This controlled experiment allows us to see that each child imitated the behavior which was modeled.
My parents used to punish me when I misbehaved. This helped me to grow up to grow up with good morals in the society. They directed me to watch movies where boys of my age by then were being punished by their parents and later changing their behavior. They could even advise me on gender roles. In general social learning theory parents play a very important role in shaping their children in gender roles.