Social Learning: Comparing Social Cognitive Theory and Social

Constructivism
Social Theories
Social cognitive theory explains learning as a result of viewing
consequences and adjusting current perspectives into new ways of
thinking. Current perspectives are adjusted due to positive or negative
consequence that the individual forms. Learning can be enactive, that
is, based on experience, vicarious meaning through others
experiences, or latent which means that an individual can learn at a
specific time but may not display the learned information until later.
This means that learning is cognitive. Behaviors do not need to be
displayed in order to assume that learning has taken place. Learning is
also based on the interaction between the individual, the environment,
and their behavior. This is called triadic reciprocity. A leading theorist in
social cognitive theory is Alfred Bandura. Bandura explored modeling
and performed many experiments to understand the principles that
contribute to social cognitive theory. One of his most famous
experiments, the Bobo doll experiment, split up children into three
groups and had them watch a video of an aggressive model hitting a
doll, a non-aggressive model, and then a control group. The group with
the aggressive model that was rewarded for their behavior made far
more imitative aggressive responses than those who were in the nonaggressive or control group. This shows how social learning can be. We
shape our own actions, and even thoughts, on how we assume we will
be most successful in the world, and this can be based off of how we
see other people dealing with life. Social cognitive theory set the stage
for social learning and allowed other theories to follow in its place.
One of these theories was social constructivism. Unlike social cognitive
theory, social constructivism focuses on how the individual constructs
knowledge cognitively with the help of others. Yet like social cognitive
theory, social constructivism focuses largely on the fact that learning
should be social and have people working together to create
knowledge. Furthermore, learning is cognitive and does not always
require a change in behavior. Lev Vygotsky is a well-known theorist
who worked on social constructivism. He created the zone of proximal
development that showed how an individual could move past their
actual developmental level with the help of others and venture into
their potential developmental level. There will still always be some
knowledge out of reach. The key to learning with the zone of proximal
development is to be in the potential developmental level and keep
adjusting as development occurs so that there is always balance
between boring and too difficult. Vygotsky also emphasized the

importance of language in his work. Language is what makes it

possible for people to work together on a specific task. It helps us
understand cultural tools like books and artifacts that also help us each
our potential developmental level. Language also helps us form our
thoughts. Through language, we internalize information; we become
able to think about the new knowledge that we have constructed.
Vygotskys theory is still relevant today and has been expanded on
since his death. Professionals often use the term scaffolding to
describe the help given to an individual learning something new. It
begins with the helper giving more support in the beginning and letting
the learner have more responsibility for the task as he/she gains
confidence in what they are performing. Eventually, they will be able to
perform the task on their own. Social constructivism was a great
extension of social cognitive theory, and by putting both theories
together we can find a way to help individuals learn and construct their
own knowledge through the social interaction that school is based on.
Synthesis
Social cognitive theorists and social constructivist theorists will agree
that learning should be social. They both understand that learning does
not need formal schooling, but it does need other people whether they
are there as models or to help with scaffolding. Learning needs
attention to another so they can focus on the same information and
implement it into their lives and construct this knowledge to create a
change in thinking rather than a change in behavior. Learning is
therefore the change in cognition because of interactions with others.
These theories continue to overlap especially when it comes to the
triadic reciprocal relationship between the individual, their behavior,
and their environment. The environment contains the social and
cultural aspects that the theories base learning on, however, it is
important to note that individuals may drive away the people trying to
help them learn because of their behavior or thoughts. For example, a
student may be shy and therefor fear asking for help. Because of this,
a teacher might overlook them. On the other hand, a student may act
out in class instead of facing the fact that they dont believe that they
can learn the material or think that the teacher does not want to help
them.
Who we are learning from is also important, especially because social
interaction is critical for learning according to social cognitive and
constructivist theories. Models according to social cognitive theory,
should be perceived as similar, competent, and a high status to make
it easier for learners to accept help towards reaching their potential
developmental level in the zone of proximal development. For
example, in schools a student may find it easier to learn from someone

of the same gender or same ethnicity. While school is full of live

models, it is also full of verbal instructions. Students are required to
read to learn, and Vygotskys emphasis on language is evident in
assignments where the model is the words on a page. For example,
students in science classes must follow directions to complete a lab.
The only social contact they may have is through words on a page, but
its important to note that social interaction is still required in order to
reach a higher developmental level.
Personal Experience
When it comes to social cognitive theory, the most important thing I
noticed was the impact a model can have on an individual. My
neighborhood only had a few kids, and most of them were girls around
my age. My little brother, seeing us as high status and fairly
competent, would often join in our dress up shenanigans. He rocked
the pink sequenced skirt and high heels when we would put up fashion
shows for our parents. I think this shows how observing fun can
influence a person. My brother wasnt worried about societal norms
because he saw us girls getting positively reinforced by our actions and
simply went for the reinforcement of a good time. This is also a good
example of social constructivism and the idea that play helps
appropriate cultural tools. We took what we knew from culture and
began to construct it for ourselves in the way we dressed, spoke, and
even walked down the runway. I think its interesting that if we had
been older, we may have dressed, spoke, or acted differently (I know
my brother would have) because of new perceptions of culture that we
had constructed.