Relevance
To Society
I feel as though Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory is extremely relevant to understanding the way society works. Bandura accounts for why people act they way they do, through observation, imitation and adopting of certain actions, beliefs or behaviours. Bandura's theory can not only explain why certain people act the way they do, but it can explain why people in Toronto act different than people in Edmonton, or why people in China act different than people in Mexico, or why people in the 1990s acted different than people in the 1740s. Bandura's theory can be applied to every single person who has ever lived and will ever live on this planet. Bandura's theory explains why society is the way it is today, and it's through the people who live in it observing one another.
To Understanding Child Development
I also feel as though Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory is very relevant to understanding child development. Through my experience as a camp leader and volunteering with many youth programs, I have often asked myself why children act the way they do. I have understood that they will copy a parent, sibling, friend or teacher but Bandura's theory really accounts for how this imitation really moulds the person they will become. Through researching the Social Learning Theory, I have gained a better understanding of why children act the way they do and how through simply observing others, their behaviours are shaped, causing them to mature into an adult one day. I feel as though this theory is so relevant to child development because it explains how both socially and cognitively children develop through observation of models.