Operant Conditioning, Observational Learning, and Social Learning

Operant conditioning is a learning process in which the probability of response occurring is increased or decreased due to reinforcement or punishment. It was first studied by Edward Thorndike and later by B.F Skinner. The underlying idea behind operant conditioning is that the consequences of our actions shape voluntary behavior. This type of conditioning is mostly practiced back at individual homes or domestic settings. At home, parents will spank their kids if they fail to perform an assigned function at home. Spanking will serve as a positive conditioning. A negative conditioning will be in a situation where our parents will deprive our privilege from doing the things that we love most at a given point in time for instance asking us to stay in the room where there is no TV may be for a couple of hours.

Observational learning on its part is a process in which learning occurs through observing and imitating others. As demonstrated in Albert Bandura's classic "Bobo Doll" experiments, people will imitate the actions of others without direct reinforcement. Four important elements are essential for effective observational learning: attention, motor skills, motivation and memory. Some years ago, I used to remember holding a piece of wood between my two fingers like a stick of cigarette imitating the process of smoking a cigarette. I wasn’t actually smoking a cigarette but doing what I saw others did.

In social learning theory Albert Bandura (1977) states behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning. Children observe the people around them behaving in various ways. This is illustrated during the famous bobo doll experiment (Bandura, 1961). Individuals that are observed are called models. In society children are surrounded by many influential models, such as parents within the family, characters on children’s TV, friends within their peer group and teachers at school. These models provide examples of...