Material Reinforcements and Social Rewards

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Social Learning Theory
As Gabriel Tarde, Albert Bandura, Edwin Sutherland, and Ronald Akers proposed, social learning theories comprise significant concepts, reinforcements, and social learning. These concepts share various similarities and differences depending on how they influence an individual's behavior.
Reinforcements can be associated with consequences that follow a behavior. Such consequences can either be positive or negative to strengthen or weaken the possibility of a repeat of a particular action in the future. Positive reinforcements can be praises or rewards, while negative ones comprise criticisms and punishments. Reinforcements can be both internal and external. They come from external sources like teachers, authority figures, or even parents and can also be self-administered. As the authors of social learning theories indicate, reinforcements significantly shape individuals' behaviors (Akers et al., 2015). For example, positive reinforcements of certain behaviors can make individuals repeat the same behaviors and avoid actions that ...