The Social Learning Theory

How do we learn? Who do we learn from?

While scrolling through LinkedIn, trying to understand how we can get to our audience better, I came across this post from Kunal:

While the comments on the post were going in every direction – from accusations on large companies to mental health. But this post did bring me back to a fundamental question: How do we learn?  

It would be sacrilege to discuss learning theory without referring to Pavlov and his salivating dogs.

Here is a quick understanding of the often-confused Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning theories:

·       Classical conditioning is a process that involves creating an association between a naturally existing stimulus and a previously neutral one. Sounds confusing? It’s like people uninitiated into statistics who believe that correlation is causation. For example, every time you try to sit and read a book, you are bitten by mosquitos. You then start associating books with mosquitos and will invariably start itching when you read books – even when there are no mosquitos. Can we go on a stretch and say that superstitions are blown-up and collective examples of classical conditions?

·       Operant conditioning (or instrumental conditioning) focuses on using either reinforcement or punishment to increase or decrease a behaviour. Through this process, an association is formed between the behaviour and the consequences of that behaviour. It’s like training your pet by rewarding them with a treat when they do something right, so that they continue doing it even in the absence of a reward.

These two theories, in essence constitute the behaviourist learning theories and have their application in the ads that we see, in the schools we’ve been and the deals we are offered.

But Albert Bandura, who agrees with these theories, goes on to add two very important observations (and this is, in simple words, The Social Learning Theory):

1.       Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses. He argues that yes, behaviour and stimulus are important, but the mediating process that occurs between these two play a role in getting to the desired response. The mediating process are – Attention, Retention, Reproduction and Motivation.

2.       Behaviour is learnt from the environment through the process of observational learning. In the Social Learning Theory, people identify with another person and involves adopting other person’s observed behaviours, beliefs and attitudes.

Putting this in context of our workplace, this opens a huge avenue for peer learning. This is because we identify the most with people who we believe are having similar experiences, struggles and challenges as them.

In a McKinsey survey, Learning & Development officers report that while classroom training, experiential learning, and on-the-job application of skills are now in regular use as learning mechanisms, less than half of organisations have instituted any kind of formal peer-to-peer learning. One in three respondents said their organisations don’t even have any systems in place to share learning among employees.

But why don’t we? One is the clearly “I keep so busy, I don’t have time” syndrome. Let us say, even if we were to make time, do we have enablers? Enablers are in terms of support, recognition, and a business case for such initiatives.

With the new age organisations putting in metrics like health in the KPI of individuals, teaching and mentoring should be included in the goal sheets. This is required for employees to come up with professional training modules, and also hone leadership skills. Make it a priority for your team to harvest the goldmine of skills and techniques. There is a business case to it – there are small hacks, some technique that might be working, one short macro to save time that may incrementally lead to unparalleled productivity.

If Social Learning theory convinces you, then you don’t have to wait for your company to formalize it. Within your team, you can create a peer-learning setup through some simple steps.

1.       Choose your format: One-to-one sessions or cohorts. Involve weekly sessions in which individuals share the latest knowledge they’ve gained with their peers with plenty of time for discussion and reflection.

2.       Appoint a facilitator. Although the structure of peer learning is horizontal rather than hierarchical, it’s important to have a neutral party who is not the team’s manager facilitate the program to keep in on track.

3.       Ensure confidentiality. Confidentiality must be honoured; and feedback should be perceived as a generous gesture that should always be met with gratitude.

We continue to learn and evolve, and so do theories of learning. While the Social Learning Theory model has been used to model a learning workplace, it still has its own limitations. If you have an academic inclination, please do check out the drawbacks here.