Social Cognitivism Study Guide

Social Cognitivism Study Guide

Objectives:

●     Identify ways in which an understanding of triarchic reciprocal causality will impact your future teaching.

●     Describe ways to encourage self-regulation in your students.

●     Explain ways to successfully model skills and knowledge in your curriculum.

●     Analyze the impacts of self-efficacy in students and in the teacher.

Key Terms:

Pages 269-273

Learning (social cognitive view) – Learning happens through observation of others.

Social cognitive theory – Theory that adds concern with cognitive factors such as beliefs, self-perceptions, and expectations to social learning theory.

Observational learning – Learning by observation and imitation of others.

            Attention – As teachers, we need to capture students’ attention to the critical features of the lesson by making clear presentation and highlighting important points.

            Retention – In order to imitate behavior, you have to remember it. The material will need to be represented in some way like verbal or visual, or both. Practice helps us remember.

            Production – Practice, feedback, and coaching.

            Motivation and Reinforcement – If we anticipate being reinforced for imitating the actions, we may be more motivated to pay attention, remember, and reproduce the behaviors.

Vicarious Reinforcement – Increases the chances that we will repeat a behavior by observing another person being reinforced for that behavior.

Self-reinforcement – Controlling your own reinforcers.

Self-management – Use of behavioral learning principles to change your own behavior.

Pages 423-434

Triarchic reciprocal causality – An explanation of behavior that emphasizes the mutual effects of the individual and the environment on each other.

Self-efficacy – A person’s sense of being able to deal effectively with a particular task.

Human agency – The capacity to coordinate learning skills, motivation and motions to reach your goals.

Modeling – Changes in behavior, thinking, or emotions that happen through observing another person – a model.

Factors that affect observational learning (Table 27.2, pg. 428)

Developmental Status	Use strategies, compare performances with memorial representations, and adopt intrinsic motivators.
Model Prestige and Competence	Observers pay greater attention to competent models. Modeled behaviors convey info about functional value.
Vicarious Consequences	Valued consequences motivate observers. Similarity in attributes or competence signals appropriateness and heightens motivation.
Outcome Expectations	Observers are more likely to perform modeled actions they believe are appropriate and will result in rewarding outcomes.
Goal Setting	Observers are likely to attend to models who demonstrate behaviors that help observers attain goals.
Self-efficacy	If they can do it, I can too. They do things they see other people doing that they feel like they should be able to also.

Live Models (not in text) – An actual individual demonstrating or acting out a behavior.

Symbolic Models (not in text) – Involves real or fictional characters displaying behaviors in books, films, television programs, or online media.

Teachers’ sense of efficacy – A teacher’s belief that he or she can reach even the most difficult students and help them learn.

Review Self-regulated learning (pages 435-441) – Analyzing the Task, Setting Goals, Devising Plans, Enacting Tactics and Strategies, Regulating Learning.

Summary:

I didn’t think I’d agree with this theory as much as I do. This section talked about how people learn by watching others. This is where modeling comes in. I learned math primarily by reading solutions manuals. As I was following what was going on, I was able to learn the math involved. It’s hard to learn something if you haven’t seen it done. If you were trying to learn how to throw a basketball, it would help to watch someone do it first. I also liked the idea, “If you can do it, I can too.” Lots of people have that sense of ego. Why not exploit it?