Discussion about "Learning Concepts to Improve Performance"by M.Azim Ulfati

• Consider your current work or school environment and make specific recommendations for applying either operant conditioning, social learning theory to improve overall performance. Provide specific examples of the type of reward the theory you chose is expected to generate.

When we live in a society we learn and practice various learning methods in different places from people with different cultures, thoughts and perceptions. For instance we can learn behaviorism by looking, watching family, friends, classmates and people around media, books brochures, so on and us. There is one of the ways of learning and that is called social learning theory. Social learning theory usually emphasized the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others therefore it focuses on learning by observation and modeling. The theory basically evolved from behaviorism but now consists many of the opinions that cognitivists also hold; consequently it is some times called social cognitive learning.

Social learning theory states about how both environmental and cognitive factors interact to influence human learning and behavior. It focuses on the learning that occurs within a social context. It considers that people learn from one another, including such concepts as observational learning, imitation, and modeling.

 The place where I started my first work about seven years ago with an international company, I was not perfect and needed lots of things to learn from others and even there were things and subjects that I had never studied in any books and had no experience about it but when I started working and stayed within that office environment. I started to learn via theory and put that in practice with other co-workers and as well as watching, listening and looking and gained experience and ultimately I was able to do my job independently. When I gained experience and started my job independently, I promoted to higher position and got rise in pay and received many certificate of appreciations and recommendation letters from the directors and management office as a reward of my hard work and learning.