Social Learning theorists understand emotions and thoughts but treat them as behaviors to explain and acknowledge, but that do not provide a means of motivation for the individual. SLT is about social behavior learning and conditioning. SLT therapists counsel from a perspective that behavior is shaped by punishing or reinforcing consequences (labeled operant condition and classical condition). Bandura goes on to argue that modeling is a form of learning behaviors and individuals deem them acceptable or not based on the actions of others. SLT theorists argue that between the occurrence of situation and the response, there is a thinking that takes place. It is here that the difference in responses is most obvious because of individual learned environmental stimulus. Our textbook goes on to say that Bandura took this one step further and “asserts that we engage in self-observations and make self-judgments about our competence and mastery and then we act on …show more content…
It was a huge leap forward in understanding how people come to different decisions using different cognitive skills. Another interesting component of this theory is how individuals use able to use cognition and emotion in some area of their life but not another. The brain is recognized as the “hub” that encompasses separate cognitive faculties. Gardner developed eight separate intelligences and goes on to describe how each acts independently yet interdependently with the others. According to our textbook, this theory is relatively new and hasn’t been empirically validated yet. Rather than look back at what hasn’t worked as in CBT and develop new coping skills, multiple intelligences comes at us from a positive motivation and helps us to see strengths in ourselves that may not fall in the mainstream. While MI Theory has been given high grades from educators but there are also frequent criticisms. They range from the philosophical to empirical and conceptual to cognitive. Gardner defends MI Theory and argues that it’s been misapplied and based on that there is no conclusive evidence that the theory in and of itself is weak.
Hutchison, E. D. (2017). Essentials of human behavior: integrating person, environment, and the life course. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Kaufman, S.B. (n.D.). Contemporary theories of intelligence (Web log post). Retrieved from