Social Learning Theory On Edgar Allen Poe

Essay, Research Paper

Edgar Allen Poe is one of the greatest poets in our time. In alone everything he loved, he loved alone. He struggled through his whole life through death, envy, sorrow, and illusion. He was different from others and very depressed. The social learning theory by Albert Bandura and Julian Rotter will explain the thoughts, feelings, experiences, and behavior of Edgar Allen Poe.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in, Massachusetts, on January 19, 1809, the

second son of traveling actors. There is no record of his father after 1810 and

his mother returning to the southern circuit, died a year later from tuberculosis.

Edgar spilt up from his elder brother and younger sister. His elder brother and is

wife, mother and grandmother all died of tuberculosis. He was taken into a

household of a virginain Tobacco Merchant, John Allen, whose name Poe was

adopted 1824. He went to England with the Allen family in 1815 and while

there he attended a school in Stoke Newington, yet Poe relationship with his

foster father was uneasy and was put under great strain when he returned to

Richmond. John was lying in his deathbed waving his stick yelling at Edgar.

John took everything out the will and gave it to charity. Poe was broke.

Bandura suggests that human behavior is due to a reciprocal determinism that involves behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors. For example, Poe married his thirteen-year-old cousin, Virgina Clemms. His life and behavior changed Poe. Poe was happy, he was madly in love like children running in the meadows, and having picnics under a tree. Poe was teaching her how to play the flute and taught her algebra. Then the environment changed. One day in the house a friend of Poe?s was there for dinner and Poe?s wife sang for him. Than she began to cough blood and Poe feared the worst. He called a doctor and the doctor told Poe that his wife is dying of tuberculosis. Poe became very depressed. After his wife?s death in 1847, Poe behavior became very unstable and his dependence on alcohol increased. Bandura uses the term self-system. The self in social learning theory is a group of cognitive processes and structures by which people relate to their environment and that help to shape their behavior. In Poe?s case he used to sleep next to the tomb of his wife in the cemetery.

Virgina was a model in Poe?s life. The characteristics of the model affect imitation. We are more likely to be influenced by someone who we believe is similar to ourselves. For example, Virgina is thirteen and Poe felt like a kid again when he was with his wife. He was like a kid running around the meadows. Before meeting Virgina, Poe resorted to gambling in an attempt to try and support him self, but was forced to leave college. Edgar was gambling and drinking with the students. Poe was in debt of 20,000. He lost more then he won and then borrowed to cover his debts. After a violent fight with his foster father over the choice of career, Poe went to Boston. Later he got a job as an editor on the southern literary messenger. During his time with the periodical he did much to increase its readership but was later sacked because of his excessive drinking. Then Poe met Virgina. In social learning by bandura the attributes of the observer also influence modeling. People who are lacking in self-esteem or who are incompetent are especially prone to imitate a model. Poe knew the reward consequences associated with a behavior influence the effectiveness of the modeling. Poe was more likely to imitate a behavior because he believed that such actions would lead to positive short-or long ?term results. Which meant Poe wasn?t depressed anymore and was having fun having picnics under the tree.

Poe had little extrinsic reinforment and no vicarious reinforcement. Poe?s work went unnoticed. But in 1845 he published, ?The Raven?, for 14 dollars. It brought him some recognition but unfortunately it was not enough to sustain his wife Virgina financially. Poe was mostly alone so he couldn?t learn the appropriate behavior from success and mistakes of others. But Poe was had instrinic reinforcement. For example, the theme of death in much of Poe?s work, including ?The Fall of the House of Usher,? may have been a direct reflection of Poe?s personal encounters with death. His psychological and emotional wellbeing had been influential in the writing of ?The Fall of the House of Usher.? As Bandura stated, it is not the behavior itself or the feedback that is rewarding, but how we feel about it. So Poe expressed his thoughts through writing. The self-satisfaction sustains the practice of the behavior.

Bandura has developed and elaborated on the concept of self-efficacy, people?s belief that they can successfully perform behaviors that will produce desired effects. Poe found success editing Burton?s Gentleman?s Magazine from 1839-1840 and then Graham?s Magazine from 1841-1842 (Quinn 74). During this time, Poe delivered lectures on American poetry, published thirty-six tales including “William Wilson,? The Masque of the Red Death,? and ?The Murders in the Rue Morgue,? and also released a collection of stories in 1840 entitled Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque. It was during this peak of Poe?s publishing career that he published ?The Fall of the House of Usher.? Bandura states, self