Outcomes of Learning

Earlier theories equated learning with performance, or saw performance as an indication that learning had occurred. However, Bandura notes that we learn without performing, and demonstrates this by showing that people can engage in behavior they have learned by watching models days or weeks after the mdodeling, if proper inducement is provided.  Therefore, Bandura says learning is:

        the acquisition of symbolic representation in the form of verbal or
        visual code, which serves as guidelines for future behavior.
 

Example

A boy watches an older student in a fight with a bully. The boy notes that classmates have admiration for this students who sticks up to the bully.  So the boy learns that fighting might be rewarding and acceptable. He has acquired a new behavior and a propensity for future use.



A critical part of learning is the encoding or symbolic representational process.  There are at least 2
representational systems or memory codes of observed behaviors:
 
1. Visual: abstractions of the distinctive features of events that can be recalled as mental images
 
2. Verbal-Conceptual: some events are stored in verbal code, language is most likely, although numbers, musical notations can also be used.



 

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