observational learning

Question 1

observational learning

Answer 1

• tendency to observe and mimic others

Question 2

social learning

Answer 2

• social influences alter people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviour

Question 3

modelling

Answer 3

• when observer demonstrates the learnt behaviour by mimicking it

Question 4

four principles

Answer 4

• learning occurs when you observe the behaviour of others and the consequences of those behaviours
• learning can occur without there being an immediate change in behaviour; it can remain latent
• cognition plays a role in observational learning because the learner has awareness and expectations of future reinforcements and punishments, and these can influence whether the learnt behaviour will be demonstrated
• observational learning is a link between behaviourist theories of learning (operant and classical) and cognitive learning theories.

Question 5

5 key processes

Answer 5

• attention
• retention
• reproduction
• motivation
• reinforcement

Question 6

attention

Answer 6

• attention must be paid to the model’s behaviour and consequences
• the greater the similarity between model and observer and the more attractive and successful the model is, the more likely we are to follow

Question 7

factors that influence attention

Answer 7

• cognitive capabilities

- if they like the model, learner is likely to pay careful attention

Question 8

retention

Answer 8

• learnt behaviour must be stored in memory as a mental representation (understanding of what to do in the mind of the learner)
• cognitive aspect (memory must be stored, then retrieved to reproduce the behaviour)

Question 9

reproduction

Answer 9

• does not perform the behaviour at this time

- they have the physical and intellectual capabilities to convert these mental representations into actions

Question 10

motivation

Answer 10

• the learner must want to imitate the learnt behaviour

- depends on whether the learner believes there is a desirable consequence (reinforcement) for reproducing it

Question 11

reinforcement

Answer 11

• when there is a prospect of a positive result for imitating the behaviour, thus making it likely for the learner to do so
• expectation of reinforcement or punishment influences the cognitive processes of the observer and this affects how well the learner pays attention to and retains the model’s behaviour

Question 12

reinforcement can come from

Answer 12

model
third person
personal
vicariously

Question 13

model reinforcement

Answer 13

e.g. parent praises

Question 14

third person reinforcement

Answer 14

e.g. might have imitated the behaviour of a television personality but got praise from parent or teacher

Question 15

personal reinforcement

Answer 15

imitator receives satisfying consequences

Question 16

vicariously reinforcement

Answer 16

• positive consequences received by the model increase the likelihood of the observer imitating the model’s behaviour
• negative consequences for the model’s behaviour will decrease the likelihood of the observer imitating the models behaviour

Question 17

3 conditions of observational learning

Answer 17

• model should be seen to be rewarded after the appropriate or inappropriate behaviour for it to be copied
• model must be appropriate for the learner; such as a parent
• learning can occur in real life

Question 18

difference between operant and observational

Answer 18

• direct and indirect: operant learning is direct but observational learning is indirect
• unlike operant learning, observational learning is when there is a distinction between learning and performance because learning is not necessarily demonstrated unless there is a motivation
• role of cognition: unlike operant learning, observational learning involves cognition (thinking and memory) because they must tend to the model’s behaviour and its consequences and then store a mental representation of it.

Question 19

similarities between operant and observational

Answer 19

• learner is active
• it is reinforcement rather than the learning itself influencing the likelihood of the observed behaviour being imitated

Question 20

vicarious conditioning

Answer 20

individual watches a model’s behaviour being either reinforced or punished, and then subsequently behaves in exact same way or modified way or refrains from behaviour as a result of what they have observed