Research Paper on:
Bandura’s Social Learning Theory: Case Study

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Banduras "social learning theory". Essentially, Banduras theory, which is highly accepted, explains that all behaviors whether aggressive or non-aggressive are observed and learned from within an individuals social environment. Individuals  who have witnessed aggressive behavior are more inclined to become aggressive themselves and this aggressiveness increases when the observed aggressiveness has been rewarded. Once learned, aggressive behavior is also organized  and rehearsed which in the rapists case was indicated in his suspected attempted rape a few weeks earlier. When studying people who  have developed some sort of emotional or behavioral disorder which may or may not lead to violence, several social theories have been formulated one of which is A. Banduras "social  learning theory". The theory examines the processes of vicarious or observational learning. Social learning theory suggests that several processes are involved that lead from the observation of modeled events to  a matching pattern of behavior. These processes include attention, retention, production and motivational sub-processes all of which are affected by the nature of the modelled behavior as well, their social  context but also by certain attributes held by the observer (Bandura, 1977, 1986; Hallenbeck and Kauffman, 1995). On initial analysis then, it would seem that the case study involving the  26 year old male rapist would indicate that his behavioral disorder which leads to the violent attack was somehow as a result of observed behavior he had observed or thought  he observed and thought was an acceptable form of social interaction. The case study mentioned that the rapist did get along well with his co-workers but did not socialize with  them. From initial reading of social learning theory then, it would seem that the rapist becoming more violent over the recent weeks might be an attempt to improve his socialization