Albert Bandura and the Social Learning Theory

Of the different theories on adolescent development that we read about in chapter 2 of Revel, the one that most interested me was Albert Banduras theory of Social Learning.  I think that we as humans learn the most from the ways we watch and interact with one another and this is especially enunciated during adolescence.  Bandura believes that we are conditioned to act in ways we see others acting, which is to say that he agrees with certain behaviorist concepts, but he adds that there is a process in between the observing of behavior and the persons own action in which they translate the behavior.  He refers to this process as mediation.  There are four different ways through which he thinks that mediation occurs: Attention (people pay attention to and repeat behaviors that draw their attention over other things), Retention (whether or not a certain behavior is remembered), Reproduction (whether not we can physically repeat certain behaviors), and Motivation (desire to repeat a certain behavior, which is often influenced by reward or punishment).  As educators, all four of these are important to keep in mind but I think it is especially important to remember how many different things teenagers have drawing their attention during this time in life.  It is our job to create an environment that encourages attention and curiosity.

Years later in the 1980s, Bandura changed the name of his theory to the Social Cognitive Theory.  This is to emphasize the role that choice can play in development.  Teenagers are able to choose the people that they associate themselves with and draw their inspiration from.  Not only that, but they (and all of us) are able to change our own destinies because of the way that we react to events. They are not simply limited to the environment they are given, they have the ability to create change.

High school is an opportunity for adolescents to reconsider who they are and who they want to be.  They have the chance to change friend groups if the people they have been growing up with since childhood are doing different things then they would like.  However, peer pressure is a huge part of high school years as well.  I think it is easy for high school students to stay with the friend groups they are comfortable with even though their interests may be changing.  There will also be more pressure than students have been used to previously to experiment with things like drinking, smoking, and relationships.  It is extremely important for us as teachers to keep our students engaged and to push them to think critically and creatively, so they hopefully will be better prepared to handle these social situations.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html