, CMY3701 Assignment 1 (COMPLETE ANSWERS)
Semester 2 2026 (352210) - DUE 14 August 2026; 100%
Correct solutions and explanations.
SECTION A
1.1 Discussion: How observation and imitation facilitate learning
according to Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory explains that human
learning occurs not only through direct experience and reinforcement but
also through observing the behaviour of others. According to Bandura,
individuals, particularly children, learn attitudes, values, emotional
responses, and behaviours by watching models in their social
environments and imitating what they observe. The theory is especially
relevant to understanding school violence, as children may acquire
aggressive behaviours by observing violence within families,
communities, media, and peer groups. The newspaper article, “Our
children are not safe: Inside South Africa’s school violence crisis”
(Ntazi, 2025), illustrates how exposure to violence in society can
influence learners’ behaviour and contribute to cycles of aggression in
schools.
Bandura challenged earlier behaviourist perspectives that learning
occurs only through direct conditioning. He argued that people are
capable of learning through observational learning, where they acquire
new behaviours by watching others without necessarily experiencing the
consequences themselves. Observational learning involves four major
processes: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. These
processes explain how children observe behaviours, remember them,
reproduce them, and decide whether to perform them.
The first process is attention, which refers to the learner’s ability to
notice and focus on a particular behaviour. For observational learning to
occur, the behaviour of the model must capture the individual’s
attention. Children are more likely to observe and learn from models
Semester 2 2026 (352210) - DUE 14 August 2026; 100%
Correct solutions and explanations.
SECTION A
1.1 Discussion: How observation and imitation facilitate learning
according to Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory
Albert Bandura’s (1977) Social Learning Theory explains that human
learning occurs not only through direct experience and reinforcement but
also through observing the behaviour of others. According to Bandura,
individuals, particularly children, learn attitudes, values, emotional
responses, and behaviours by watching models in their social
environments and imitating what they observe. The theory is especially
relevant to understanding school violence, as children may acquire
aggressive behaviours by observing violence within families,
communities, media, and peer groups. The newspaper article, “Our
children are not safe: Inside South Africa’s school violence crisis”
(Ntazi, 2025), illustrates how exposure to violence in society can
influence learners’ behaviour and contribute to cycles of aggression in
schools.
Bandura challenged earlier behaviourist perspectives that learning
occurs only through direct conditioning. He argued that people are
capable of learning through observational learning, where they acquire
new behaviours by watching others without necessarily experiencing the
consequences themselves. Observational learning involves four major
processes: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. These
processes explain how children observe behaviours, remember them,
reproduce them, and decide whether to perform them.
The first process is attention, which refers to the learner’s ability to
notice and focus on a particular behaviour. For observational learning to
occur, the behaviour of the model must capture the individual’s
attention. Children are more likely to observe and learn from models
