Social Cognitive Vs Biological learning theories



Social Cognitive Vs Biological learning theories

Introduction

The personality development and psychology has been the focal point for many of the theories in psychology. Many thinkers have contributed significantly in this regard such as Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson. The biological theories emphasize upon role of genetics in development of a personality. There has been vast research in this field and it is discovered that there is a relation between genetics and features of a personality as per research done on heritability.

Human behavior is most commonly influenced by other than any other thing. The social cognitive theory of learning is a major work of Albert Bandura who took into account factors that were considered as insignificant in the early times. The primary area of focus under this approach was the role of cognitive factors that shape human behaviors and affect human development. The focal point of this approach became behavior. The founder of this theory had a firm belief that behavior cannot alone explain the reasons of a human being that act in a specific way. The change in behavior in every stage of life shed light on the role of learning process in shaping the personality of an individual. The cognitive abilities and skills in this regard have also an important role to play in influencing a child's approach towards learning. This essay attempts to describe the personality, its formation and factors affecting personality development as per biological and cognitive theory of learning (Crowne, 2009).

Discussion

The social cognitive theory of learning states that major portion of an individual's learning process is affected by social environment. Observational learning has a critical role in this regard. People tend to observe other people in a social environment. They tend to learn new skills and knowledge by observing other persons' activities and attitude. It affects individual's strategies, beliefs, and attitudes. The observational models in psychology help people in learning the utilization and optimization of behaviors and it's possible after affects.

Social cognitive theory is considered as an ultimate response to behaviorism. This theory was developed as a result of identification of 3 weak points in the theory of behaviorism. The theory describes that the learning process cause changes in behavior but it may not necessarily be true. This approach is based on certain assumptions such as people tend to observe others and lean new traits, learning takes place internally, it is goal based behavior, learning can be reinforced by three ways such as direct corroboration sensational support and self underpinning.

Learning is a dangerous process if one would have to learn from the consequences of his behavior. In addition, it is also a lengthy process, Observational skills helps in learning from majority of one's behavior. The known behavior and its consequences later serve the purpose of guiding an action. This theory has become one of the well known theories in the process of learning and development.

The psychologist Bandura conducted a famous experiment named Bobo doll experiment in which he demonstrated that ...