Editing Social learning theory (section)

=== Developmental psychology ===
In her book ''Theories of Developmental Psychology'', [[Patricia H. Miller]] lists both moral development and gender-role development as important areas of research within social learning theory.<ref name="Miller, P. H. 2011">{{cite book |last = Miller |first = Patricia H. |title = Theories of developmental psychology |year = 2011 |publisher = Worth Publishers |location = New York }}</ref> Social learning theorists emphasize observable behavior regarding the acquisition of these two skills.  For gender-role development, the same-sex parent provides only one of many models from which the individual learns gender-roles.  Social learning theory also emphasizes the variable nature of moral development due to the changing social circumstances of each decision: "The particular factors the child thinks are important vary from situation to situation, depending on variables such as which situational factors are operating, which causes are most salient, and what the child processes cognitively.  Moral judgments involve a complex process of considering and weighing various criteria in a given social situation."<ref name="Miller, P. H. 2011" />

For social learning theory, gender development has to do with the interactions of numerous social factors, involving all the interactions the individual encounters.  For social learning theory, biological factors are important but take a back seat to the importance of learned, observable behavior.  Because of the highly gendered society in which an individual might develop, individuals begin to distinguish people by gender even as infants. Bandura's account of gender allows for more than cognitive factors in predicting gendered behavior: for Bandura, motivational factors and a broad network of social influences determine if, when, and where gender knowledge is expressed.<ref name="Miller, P. H. 2011" />