Which theorist is closely associated with the concept of modeling and the social learning perspective?

• A. Albert Bandura
• B. John Krumboltz
• C. William Glasser
• D. Fritz Perls

Answer: (A)

Modeling is a central way people learn by watching others and then imitating their actions, outcomes, and even emotions. Albert Bandura built the social learning theory around this idea, showing that much learning happens through observation rather than direct experience or reinforcement alone. His famous Bobo doll work demonstrated that children imitate behaviors they’ve seen modeled, especially when they perceive potential rewards or see others rewarded or punished. The process involves paying attention to the model, retaining what’s observed, reproducing the behavior, and being motivated to perform it, with reinforcement playing a role in whether the behavior is repeated (including the possibility of vicarious reinforcement by watching others’ outcomes). Bandura’s work also laid the groundwork for social cognitive theory and introduced concepts like self-efficacy, which influence whether people try to imitate observed behaviors.

John Krumboltz expanded the social learning framework into career counseling, applying the theory to how people make career decisions, but modeling as the core mechanism is most closely tied to Bandura. William Glasser’s Real ity Therapy and Fritz Perls’s Gestalt therapy come from different therapeutic traditions altogether.