Attentional processes
Developing our cognitive processes and perceptual skills so that we can pay sufficient attention to a model, and perceiving the model accurately enough, to imitate displayed behavior.
Example: Staying awake during driver's education class.
Retention processes
Retaining or remembering the model's behavior so that we can imitate or repeat it at a later time; for this, we use our cognitive processes to encode or form mental images and verbal descriptions of the model's behavior. Example: Taking notes on the lecture material or the video of a person driving a car.
Production processes
Translating the mental images or verbal symbolic representations of the model's behavior into our own overt behavior by physically producing the responses and receiving feedback on the accuracy of our continued practice. Example: Getting in a car with an instructor to practice shifting gears and dodging the traffic cones in the school parking lot.
Incentive and motivational processes
Perceiving that the model's behavior leads to a reward and thus expecting that our learning—and successful performance—of
the same behavior will lead to similar consequences.
Example: Expecting that when we have mastered driving skills, we will pass the state test and receive a driver's license.
