ABSTRACT
Let there be no mistake about it: A large proportion of human learning occurs not through classical conditioning or as a result of reinforcement or punishment but through observation. In their classic book, Social Learning and Personality Development (1963), Bandura and Walters argued that traditional learning theory was grossly incomplete because it neglected the role of observational learning. As we have seen, traditional learning theory emphasizes the importance of individual experience: An individual performs some behavior and experiences the consequences that follow. The point of Bandura and Walters was that a good deal of learning occurs through vicarious rather than personal experience: We observe the behavior
of others, we observe the consequences, and later we may imitate their behavior. In the first part of this chapter, we will survey different theories about how observational learning takes place, and we will examine the importance of observational learning in everyday life and in behavior therapy.
