Social Modeling and Psychological Processes of Observational Learning

This chapter examines the processes through which people learn by exposure to social models. Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) distinguishes among a variety of distinct social modeling phenomena. When 20th-century psychologists did turn their attention to modeling phenomena, they introduced a potentially bewildering collection of terms. The SCT recognizes that observational learning is fundamentally a cognitive activity. Attentional processes constitute the first subsystem of observational learning. The second cognitive process in observational learning is retention. The third component of observational learning modeling phenomena is a motoric reproduction process. The final component function concerns motivational processes. Behavioristic accounts of trial-and-error learning had over-looked a major means through which humans learn: by observing other humans. Research involving relatively complex forms of learning has revealed that modeling influences have a broader scope. Modeling also is significant to gender development and differentiation.