Learning Through Observation
Albert Bandura believed that associations and direct reinforcements simply could not account for all learning. "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do," he famously wrote in his 1977 book Social Learning Theory.
Instead, he proposed that much of learning takes place through observation. Children observe the actions of those around them, particularly caregivers and siblings, and then imitate these behaviors. In his well-known Bobo doll experiment, Bandura revealed just how easily children could be led to imitate even negative actions. Children who watched a video of an adult beating up a large inflatable doll were then much more likely to copy those same actions when given a chance.
Perhaps most importantly, Bandura noted that learning something does not necessarily result in a change in behavior. Children frequently learning new things through observation, but might not engage in such behaviors themselves until there is actually a need or motivation to utilize the information.
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