Human Growth and Development

F. Contextual Theories Contextual theories focus on how environmental and cultural factors shape development. These theories emphasize that individuals grow through interactions with their surroundings. Major frameworks include: ●​ Social Cognition: How people understand and interact with others. ●​ Sociocultural Theory: The role of social interactions and cultural tools in learning. ●​ Ecological Systems Theory: How different layers of the environment influence development. Social Cognition Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory highlights observational learning and modeling as key ways children develop. Instead of learning only through direct experience, children learn by watching and imitating others’ actions, attitudes, and emotions . Key Conditions for Observational Learning: For a person to successfully observe and imitate behavior, four conditions must be met: 3.​ Reproduction: The person must be able to replicate the behavior. 4.​ Motivation: There must be a reason to perform the behavior. For instance, a child watches their parents patiently wait in line. Later, the child regulates their own emotions when waiting in a similar situation. The Bobo Doll Experiment Bandura’s most famous study, the Bobo Doll Experiment, demonstrated how children learn aggressive behavior through observation: ●​ Two groups of children watched videos of adults playing with a Bobo doll . ＞ ​ One group saw adults acting aggressively toward the doll and not being punished. ＞ ​ Another group saw adults being punished for their aggression. ●​ Results: ＞ ​ Children who watched the aggressive video without punishment copied the violent behavior. ＞ ​ Children who saw aggressive behavior punished were less likely to act aggressively. This experiment showed that children learn behaviors from social interactions , even without direct reinforcement. 1.​ Attention: The individual must notice the behavior. 2.​ Retention: The behavior must be remembered.

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