Assumptions of Social Cognitive Theory

1) The learning process requires both the cognitive processing and decision-making skills of the learner. As noted earlier, this separates this approach from more strict behavioral approaches by assigning an important role to cognitive functions.

2) Learning is a three way interlocking relationship among the environment, personal factors and behavior. Any model which attempts to view only 1 or 2 of these factors is leaving out important information.  Additionally, primacy cannot be assigned to any one of these factors, as each influences every other.  Remember the childhood game "Paper, Scissors, Stones?"  While every element of the game is superior at times, at other times every element is inferior.  The only way to know the strength of one is to know the specific context in which it is displayed (including what the other player has displayed).  These three factors are similar, in that the relative primacy of each is mediated by the context.
 
3) Learning results in the acquisition of verbal and visual codes of behaviors that may or may not be performed later.  Thus, learning is a completely internal process and has to do with a change in the information the individual has coded into memory.  Simply watching for a behavioral change will not allow us to see all learning that has occurred.



Bandura notes that there are several components of learning or elements which are present in every act of learning.  This includes:
    1) a behavioral model
    2) a consequences of the modeled behavior, and
    3) learner's internal processes

If we want to control and/or promote learning, we need to control or shape all three of these processes.  The more we can shape these processes favorably, the more we can anticipate positive learning outcomes.  The next several slides will look at each of these in more detail.



 

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