Excerpted from Margaret Delores Isom's November 30, 1998 article on Social Learning Theory
....Observational learning is also known as imitation or modeling. In this process, learning occurs when individuals observes and imitate others’ behavior. There are four component processes influenced by the observer’s behavior following exposure to models. These components include: attention; retention; motor reproduction; and motivation (Bandura, 1977: pp.24-28).
Attention is the first component of observational learning. Individuals cannot learn much by observation unless they perceive and attend to the significant features of the modeled behavior. For example, children must attend to what the aggressor is doing and saying in order to reproduce the model’s behavior (Allen & Santrock,1993: p.139) In the Bobo doll experiment, the children witnessed the Bobo doll being verbally and/or physically abused by live models and filmed models.
Retention is the next component. In order to reproduce the modeled behavior, the individuals must code the information into long-term memory. Therefore, the information will be retrieval. For example, a simple verbal description of what the model performed would be a known as retention (Allen & Santrock, 1993: p139). Memory is an important cognitive process that helps the observer code and retrieve information. In the Bobo doll experiment, the children imitated the aggression they witnessed in the video. They aggressively hit the Bobo doll because it was coded and store in their memory.
Motor reproduction is another process in observational learning. The observer must be able to reproduce the model’s behavior. The observer must learn and posses the physical capabilities of the modeled behavior. An example of motor reproduction would to be able to learn how to ski or ride a bike. Once a behavior is learned through attention and retention, the observer must posses the physically capabilities to produce the aggressive act. The children had the physically capabilities of hitting and pummeling the doll to the ground.
The final process in observational learning is motivation or reinforcements. In this process, the observer expects to receive positive reinforcements for the modeled behavior. In the Bobo doll experiment, the children witnessed the adults being rewarded for their aggression. Therefore, they performed the same act to achieve the rewards. For example, most children witnessed violence on television being rewarded by the media. Historically, bank robbers were heroes. Many people were highly upset about the death of Bonnie and Clyde. When individuals, especially children witness this type of media, they attend, code, retrieve, posses the motor capabilities and perform the modeled behavior because of the positive reinforcement determined by the media (Bootzin, Bowers, Crocker, 1991: 201-202).