Social theories of learning MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Social theories of learning - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is - Bruner

Key Points

• Bruner
  • Jerome Bruner's theories emphasize the importance of discovery learning and inquiry-based learning.
  • The Socratic method aligns with Bruner's principles as it encourages students to explore, question, and construct their own understanding.
  • Using this method, the teacher guides students to develop critical thinking skills by asking probing questions.

Additional Information

• Socratic Method
  • An approach where the teacher asks a series of thought-provoking questions to stimulate students' critical thinking and illuminate ideas.
  • Encourages students to engage in dialogue rather than passively receiving information.
• Other Theorists
  • Skinner: Known for Behaviorism, focusing on reinforcement and punishment as key to learning, not inquiry-based learning.
  • Piaget: Emphasized cognitive development stages and how children construct knowledge over time, but not specifically the Socratic method.
  • Vygotsky: Focused on social interaction and the Zone of Proximal Development as crucial to learning, but not directly tied to the Socratic method.

The correct answer is - (A), (C), (D) Only

Key Points

• Kurt Lewin
  • Kurt Lewin is recognized as one of the founding fathers of Gestalt Psychology.
  • Gestalt Psychology emphasizes understanding the human mind and behavior as a whole rather than in parts.
• Kohler's book
  • Kohler’s book titled ‘Mentality of Apes’ focuses on his experiments with chimpanzees.
  • The book is a significant contribution to the field of Gestalt Psychology and problem-solving.
• Skinner's opposition
  • Skinner opposed the "no stimulus, no response" mechanism, emphasizing that behavior can be shaped through reinforcement.
  • He is well-known for his work on Operant Conditioning.

Additional Information

• Albert Bandura
  • Albert Bandura is known for his Social Learning Theory, which emphasizes learning through observation, imitation, and modeling.
  • Key concepts of Bandura's theory include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
• Positive Reinforcer
  • A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a behavior, increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.
  • It is the opposite of a negative reinforcer, which increases behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus.

The correct answer is 'Albert Bandura'

Key Points

• Social learning theory:
  • Social learning theory was developed by Albert Bandura.
  • This theory emphasizes the role of observational learning, imitation, and modeling in acquiring new behaviors.
  • According to Bandura, learning occurs through observing others and modeling their behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions.
  • Key components include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
  • The famous Bobo doll experiment conducted by Bandura demonstrated the impact of observational learning on behavior.

Additional Information

• B. F. Skinner:
  • B. F. Skinner was a behaviorist who developed the theory of operant conditioning.
  • Operant conditioning involves learning through rewards and punishments for behavior.
  • Skinner's work focused on how behavior is influenced by its consequences.
• Bruner:
  • Jerome Bruner was a cognitive psychologist who contributed to cognitive learning theory.
  • He emphasized the importance of categorization, the process of organizing information into categories, in learning.
  • Bruner also developed the concept of discovery learning, where learners build their own knowledge through exploration.
• Thorndike:
  • Edward Thorndike was an educational psychologist known for his work on the law of effect.
  • The law of effect states that behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated.
  • Thorndike's work laid the foundation for operant conditioning, later developed by Skinner.

The correct answer is 'Social Learning Theory - Bruner'

Key Points

• Social Learning Theory - Bruner:
  • This is an incorrect pair because Social Learning Theory was developed by Albert Bandura, not Jerome Bruner.
  • Social Learning Theory emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others.
  • According to Bandura, learning can occur through observation in a social context, and this learning is influenced by several factors including attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.

Additional Information

• Sign Theory of Learning - Tolman:
  • Edward C. Tolman proposed the Sign Theory of Learning, which suggests that learning involves the formation of cognitive maps and that behavior is goal-directed.
  • Tolman believed that individuals learn by identifying and interpreting signs and signals in their environment, which then guide their behavior towards goals.
• Field Theory of Learning - Lewin:
  • Kurt Lewin developed the Field Theory of Learning, which posits that behavior is a function of the individual and their environment.
  • Lewin's theory emphasizes the dynamic nature of the individual-environment interaction and the importance of understanding the whole context in which learning occurs.
• Trial and Error Theory - Thorndike:
  • Edward Thorndike formulated the Trial and Error Theory, which suggests that learning is a process of trying different responses until a successful one is found.
  • This theory is often associated with Thorndike's work on animal learning and his law of effect, which states that responses followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated.

The correct answer is 'E, A, D, C, B'

Key Points

• Conflict Theorist - Marx (E):
  • Karl Marx (1818-1883) is known for his conflict theory, which focuses on the struggles between social classes.
  • His work laid the foundation for understanding the economic and social conflicts that drive historical change.
• Functionalist - Durkheim (A):
  • Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) is one of the founding figures of sociology, known for his work on social cohesion and the collective conscience.
  • Durkheim's functionalist perspective emphasizes the role of social institutions in maintaining societal stability.
• Conflict Theorist - Weber (D):
  • Max Weber (1864-1920) contributed to conflict theory with his analysis of power, authority, and bureaucracy.
  • Weber’s approach to sociology included understanding the subjective meanings that individuals attach to their actions.
• Symbolic Interactionist - Mead (C):
  • George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) is a key figure in symbolic interactionism, which focuses on the meanings and symbols that arise in social interactions.
  • Mead’s work emphasized the development of the self through communication and interaction with others.
• Open System Theory - Bertanlaffy (B):
  • Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1901-1972) developed Open System Theory, which views organizations as systems that interact with their environments.
  • This theory has been influential in various fields, including biology, psychology, and organizational studies.

The Scientific Management Theory is well known for its application of engineering science at the production floor or the operating levels.

Important Points

• The Scientific Management Theory is well known for its application of engineering science at the production floor or the operating levels.
• The major contributor of this theory is Fredrick Winslow Taylor, and that’s why the scientific management is often called as “Taylorism”.
• The scientific management theory focused on improving the efficiency of each individual in the organization.
• The major emphasis is on increasing the production through the use of intensive technology, and the human beings are just considered as adjuncts to machines in the performance of routine tasks.

Additional Information

• Gulick and Urwick :POSDCORB is an acronym widely used in the field of management and public administration that reflects the classic view of organizational theory. It appeared most prominently in a 1937 paper by Luther Gulick (in a set edited by himself and Lyndall Urwick).
• Elton Mayo: Elton Mayo's management theory promotes the hypothesis that workers are motivated by social and relational forces more than financial or environmental conditions.
• Drucker's management theory lie the concepts of decentralization, knowledge work (in fact, he coined the term “knowledge worker”), management by objectives (MBO), and the SMART goal method. Decentralization means that managers should empower employees by delegating tasks.

Thus F. W. Taylor has Propounded the scientific management theory. 

The social learning theory by Albert Bandura emphasizes the ways in which external factors, such as socialization agents (e.g., parents, peers, teachers, and the media), shape children’s development and behavior.

Key Points

Important points related to the theory are -

• The theory focuses on the principles of observation and imitation.
• Children actively observe and imitate the behaviors of others around them. Such people are referred to as models.
• The term modeling or observational learning is thus defined as “the tendency for a person to reproduce the actions, attitudes, and emotional responses exhibited by real-life or symbolic models".
• These models are provided by the environment (external world).
• Thus, children observe people’s behavior around them and attempt to imitate it. They then focus on the impact this imitation has on others.

Hence, Albert Bandura looks at personality as an interaction between environment and behavior.

Key Points

 Statement I: The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for good behaviours.

• The ego ideal is a part of the superego, one of the three parts of the personality in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. The superego is responsible for morality and conscience. It develops in early childhood due to the child's identification with their parents or other important caregivers. The superego contains the rules and standards for good behaviour that the child has learned from their parents. It also contains the child's ideal self, an image of what the child wants to be like.

Statement II: Conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society.

• The conscience is a part of the superego responsible for making the person feel guilty when they do something wrong. It contains information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society. When the person does something considered bad by their conscience, they will feel guilty. This guilt can be a powerful motivator to change their behaviour.

So, both Statement I and Statement II are true. The ego ideal includes the rules and standards for good behaviour, and the conscience includes information about things that are viewed as bad by parents and society.

"A child is born like a blank slate and its later behaviour is shaped by experience." The statement was first made by John Locke, who is one of the founder philosophers of empiricism. He propounded the concept "Tabula rasa" means a clean slate or a blank tablet on which anything can be written.  A child's mind is like a clean state which is influenced by impressions from the external world. 

The following are its characteristics:

• According to this approach, we learn by contact with the physical world or with spoken or written ideas of other people.
• These ideas/impressions come from without. There seems to be an organised external environment "out there" which impresses itself on us and leads to the organization of ideas "in-here".
• When this assumption is made that ideas come only from our experience, the child's mind is treated as a clean slate to be written upon or an empty vessel into which knowledge must be poured.
• In this approach, it is assumed that there are mental mechanisms, which function as present-day video-tape recorders and provide reasonably faithful copies of events occurring out there.
• The clean slate approach leads to a reliance on teacher-structured experiences as the major road to knowledge.
• It also assumes that students are passive receivers who need to be externally motivated to become involved in learning.

The correct answer is - Bruner

Key Points

• Bruner
  • Jerome Bruner's theories emphasize the importance of discovery learning and inquiry-based learning.
  • The Socratic method aligns with Bruner's principles as it encourages students to explore, question, and construct their own understanding.
  • Using this method, the teacher guides students to develop critical thinking skills by asking probing questions.

Additional Information

• Socratic Method
  • An approach where the teacher asks a series of thought-provoking questions to stimulate students' critical thinking and illuminate ideas.
  • Encourages students to engage in dialogue rather than passively receiving information.
• Other Theorists
  • Skinner: Known for Behaviorism, focusing on reinforcement and punishment as key to learning, not inquiry-based learning.
  • Piaget: Emphasized cognitive development stages and how children construct knowledge over time, but not specifically the Socratic method.
  • Vygotsky: Focused on social interaction and the Zone of Proximal Development as crucial to learning, but not directly tied to the Socratic method.

Albert Bandura is the founder of social learning theory. 

• Albert Bandura emphasizes the importance of observing, modelling, and imitating the behaviours, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others.
• Social learning theory considers how environmental and cognitive factors influence human learning and behaviour. 
• It has become perhaps the most influential theory of learning and development.
• According to Bandura, children must learn social behaviour by observing the actions of significant people, their parents, siblings, teachers, peers, and television heroes. 

Important Points​

 Bandura's 'Social Learning Theory' is considered the bridge between Behaviorism and Cognitivism. Bandura's theory synthesizes elements from behaviourism and cognitivism and incorporates the idea that learning can occur through observing and modelling other people's behaviour.

It encompasses attention, memory, and motivation and provides

a wide range of learning in real-life situations.​ In social learning theory, Albert Bandura (1977) agrees with the behaviourist learning theories of classical and operant conditioning. However, he adds two important ideas:

1. Mediating processes occur between stimuli and responses.
2. Behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning.

Social learning theory is often described as the ‘bridge’ between traditional learning theory (i.e., behaviorism) and the cognitive approach. This is because it focuses on how mental (cognitive) factors are involved in learning.

• Observational learning could not occur unless cognitive processes were at work. These mental factors mediate in the learning process to determine whether a new response is acquired.
• Behavioral theory studies observable and external behavior.
• Cognitive theory can scientifically study internal behavior.
• For example, a child learns to pick up a bat and strike a ball after observing cricket matches being played in the neighborhood. This behavior is learned as a result of imitating and modeling the players.

Hence, we can conclude that social learning theory is considered the bridge between behavioral and cognitive theory

Learning:

Learning is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits through study, experience or being taught. It is a lifelong process in various settings, including formal education, on-the-job training, and everyday life experiences. Learning can be intentional or unintentional, conscious or unconscious, resulting in a permanent change in behaviour or understanding. Learning can involve acquiring new information, developing new skills, or refining existing knowledge and abilities. Effective learning involves active engagement, effort, and attention and is influenced by factors such as motivation, prior knowledge, and the learning environment. The ultimate goal of learning is to increase one's understanding, improve performance, and enhance one's ability to live a fulfilling life.

Key Points

The following are some of the key characteristics of learning:

Active process: Learning is an active process in which individuals engage with and respond to new information.

Continuous: Learning is a continuous process that can occur anytime and in any setting.

Long-lasting: Learning that results in a change in behaviour or understanding is typically permanent.

Influenced by prior knowledge: Learning is influenced by an individual's prior knowledge, experiences, and expectations.

Affected by motivation: Learning is often influenced by motivation, with more engagement and better learning outcomes resulting from high motivation levels.

Social in nature: Learning often occurs in a social context, and interaction with others can play an important role in the learning process.

Transferable: Learning can be transferable, with skills or knowledge gained in one situation applied in other contexts.

Unique: Each individual's learning experience is unique and is influenced by factors such as cognitive style, personality, and cultural background.

Goal-oriented: Learning is often goal-oriented, with individuals setting out to achieve specific learning outcomes.

Multi-sensory: Learning often involves multiple senses, with visual, auditory, and kinesthetic input contributing to the learning process.

The correct answer is - (A), (C), (D) Only

Key Points

• Kurt Lewin
  • Kurt Lewin is recognized as one of the founding fathers of Gestalt Psychology.
  • Gestalt Psychology emphasizes understanding the human mind and behavior as a whole rather than in parts.
• Kohler's book
  • Kohler’s book titled ‘Mentality of Apes’ focuses on his experiments with chimpanzees.
  • The book is a significant contribution to the field of Gestalt Psychology and problem-solving.
• Skinner's opposition
  • Skinner opposed the "no stimulus, no response" mechanism, emphasizing that behavior can be shaped through reinforcement.
  • He is well-known for his work on Operant Conditioning.

Additional Information

• Albert Bandura
  • Albert Bandura is known for his Social Learning Theory, which emphasizes learning through observation, imitation, and modeling.
  • Key concepts of Bandura's theory include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation.
• Positive Reinforcer
  • A positive reinforcer is any stimulus that, when presented after a behavior, increases the likelihood of that behavior occurring again.
  • It is the opposite of a negative reinforcer, which increases behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus.

Socialization is the process by which children acquire the values, standards of behaviour, attitudes, and skills that are viewed as appropriate to the culture in which the child resides.

• It is the process through which people are taught to be proficient members of society.
• It describes the ways that people come to understand societal norms and expectations, accept society’s beliefs, and be acquainted with societal values.
• It may be defined more comprehensively as a life-long process of inculcation whereby an individual learns the principles, values and symbols of the social system in which he participates and the expression of those values and norms in the roles he enacts.

Key Points

The Scientific Management Theory is well known for its application of engineering science at the production floor or the operating levels.

Important Points

• The Scientific Management Theory is well known for its application of engineering science at the production floor or the operating levels.
• The major contributor of this theory is Fredrick Winslow Taylor, and that’s why the scientific management is often called as “Taylorism”.
• The scientific management theory focused on improving the efficiency of each individual in the organization.
• The major emphasis is on increasing the production through the use of intensive technology, and the human beings are just considered as adjuncts to machines in the performance of routine tasks.

Additional Information

• Gulick and Urwick :POSDCORB is an acronym widely used in the field of management and public administration that reflects the classic view of organizational theory. It appeared most prominently in a 1937 paper by Luther Gulick (in a set edited by himself and Lyndall Urwick).
• Elton Mayo: Elton Mayo's management theory promotes the hypothesis that workers are motivated by social and relational forces more than financial or environmental conditions.
• Drucker's management theory lie the concepts of decentralization, knowledge work (in fact, he coined the term “knowledge worker”), management by objectives (MBO), and the SMART goal method. Decentralization means that managers should empower employees by delegating tasks.

Thus F. W. Taylor has Propounded the scientific management theory.