Sammi grew up in a childhood home seeing his father's anger each time he did not get his way. When this happened his father would yell and sometimes even bang his hand on the table so the rest of the family would listen to him. Now in his own marriage and household, when his wife and children upset him, he yells and pounds his fists on the table or wall imitating his father's behavior. What theory is this?

 

This kind of examples is explained by a Social learning theory.

Since Sammi grew up in a childhood home seeing his father's anger each time he did not get his way, he was able to imitate it and reflected on his behavior when he already became also a father to his family. His father's act of modeling the negative behavior has negatively influenced Sammi indirectly.

The social learning theory formulated by Bandura emphasizes the importance of observing and modeling the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Bandura (1977) states: "Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do. Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guided for action.