Prior to Bandura, most psychologists thought of learning as an individual act. Most of the research studied individuals acting alone. Bandura studied how people in groups learned. A key variable identified by Bandura is learners' self-efficacy or belief about their competency to learn. Learners with higher self-efficacy demonstrate greater learning.
Reinforcement plays a role in social learning theory as it does in behavioral theory.
However social learning theory includes vicarious reinforcement which occurs when a person observes another receiving reinforcement. Objectives for Bandura 1. Describe the influence of behavioral theory on social learning theory. Distinguish vicarious reinforcement from direct reinforcement. Describe how behavior is modified through observation of a model.