Why Do Some People Pay Attention - 1346 Words

The Models Why do some people pay attention to certain models and not others? Why do people imitate the same behavior differently? These are the questions Bandura (1977) attempted to answer in identifying some of the variables that influence the modeling process. Characteristics of the model, for example, determine to some extent whether or not they will be imitated. Models who are more similar to the person observing the behavior are more likely to be imitated, thus girls tend to imitate others of their same gender, and boys, vice versa. Models who are competent--perceived to have power and prestige--are also more likely to be imitated. Movie stars and athletes, as a result, often find their behavior and appearance imitated. Finally,†¦show more content†¦The four processes are attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. †¢ Attention Observers must attend to the modeled behavior. Attention is influenced by characteristics of the observer (perceptual abilities, cognitive abilities, arousal, past performance) and characteristics of the behavior or event such as relevance, novelty, affective valence, and functional value. †¢ Retention In order to reproduce an observed behavior, observers must be able to remember features of the behavior. Again, this process is influenced by observer characteristics (cognitive capabilities, cognitive rehearsal) and event characteristics (complexity). †¢ Reproduction To reproduce a behavior, the observer must organize responses in accordance with the model. Observer characteristics affecting reproduction include physical and cognitive capabilities and previous performance. †¢ Motivation The decision to reproduce (or refrain from reproducing) an observed behavior is dependent on the motivations and expectations of the observer, including anticipated consequences and internal standards. Basic Assumptions of social learning theory: Social-cognitive theory is grounded by several basic assumptions. There are five assumptions of social learning theory: 1. People can learn by observing others. Learners can acquire new behaviors and knowledge by simply observing a model. A model is a person who demonstrates behavior for someone else. In our Electric