The Handbook of Knowledge-Based Coaching: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY: ALBERT BANDURA

Beginning in the early 1970s, psychologist and therapist Albert Bandura (1977) developed what he termed social learning theory, which asserts that cognition, behavior, and the environment interact with each other to produce the human condition. This interaction is continuous and reciprocal. Bandura emphasized the importance of individuals observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Because modeling encompasses attention, memory, and motivation, social learning theory spans both cognitive and behavioral frameworks. The principles of social learning are as follows:

• Learning can occur without a change in behavior. People do not have to actually change. They can learn ...