A major part of human learning consists of observational learning, which is learning by watching the behavior of another person, or model. Because of its reliance of observation of others-a social phenomenon-the perspective taken by Bandura is often referred to as a social cognitive approach to learning (Bandura, 1999, 2004).
Observational learning refers to any form of learning that occurs after watching another person, rather than through direct experience. It includes modeling as well as simply copying and imitating.