O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING Year 12 Psychology Unit 4 Area of Study 1 (chapter 10)

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING When an individual uses observation of another person’s actions (and their consequences) to guide their own future actions. E.g. See older brother get rewarded for doing well at school; younger sibling is more likely to try hard at school. Also known as modelling because the person being observed is referred to as a ‘model’. Not just observing someone and then copying them. Imitating is influenced by a number of factors; such as perceived importance of that person. Extremely useful for complex behaviours, as it is more efficient.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING IN M EDIA ‘Children See…’

D ISTURBING … Activity: 10.30

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : A LBERT B ANDURA (1960 S ) We learn many behaviours just by observing our surrounding environment: Don’t actually need to carry out behaviour and experience consequences, it’s enough to simply watch the behaviour and its consequences being experienced by someone else. Modelling is not a totally separate form of learning from conditioning, but rather a variation of conditioning. Bandura’s experiments demonstrated that both classical and operant conditioning can occur vicariously. Vicarious conditioning: individual watches another person displaying behaviour (that is either reinforced or punished), then subsequently behaves exactly the same way, a modified way or refrains from the behaviour, as a result of what they observed. Vicarious reinforcement: increases the likelihood of the observer behaving in a similar way to a model whose behaviour is reinforced. Vicarious punishment: decreases the likelihood of the observer behaving in a similar way to a model whose behaviour is punished.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #1 (1961) Demonstrated influence of observational learning on aggression in four-year-old children. Experimental Group 1: Watched adult play aggressively. Experimental Group 2: Watched adult play non- aggressively. Control Group: No adult model. After watching the adults, each child was subjected to ‘mild aggression arousal’ (told they couldn’t play with toys), then placed into another room with toys and a BoBo doll. Each child’s behaviour was observed.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #1 (1961) To control individual participant differences, children were pre-tested for aggressiveness and rated on 5-point rating scales. Matched-participants design was used to create ‘triplets’ of similarly aggressive children. Aggressive model condition - sub groups 6 boys with male model 6 boys with female model 6 girls with male model Non aggressive model condition – sub groups 6 boys with male model 6 boys with female model 6 girls with male model Control condition – no sub groups 24 children, each with no model in the room

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #1 - RESULTS Children who saw aggressive model performed more aggressive acts: Boys were more aggressive overall; Boys imitated aggression more from male models; Girls imitated physical aggression more from male models rather than female; Girls imitated verbal aggression from female models rather than male. Children already had sex role expectations about male and female aggression – “ That’s not the way for a lady to behave…she was acting like a man”, “‘that man is a strong fighter.” These expectations influenced how much they imitated male vs female aggression. Behaviour learned through observation may not be demonstrated unless opportunity presented.

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O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #2 (1963 A ) Explored influence of live-action films & cartoons on aggression in four-year-old children. Experimental Group 1: ‘Real-life’ aggressive models. Experimental Group 2: Live-action aggressive models. Experimental Group 3: Cartoon aggressive models (actor dressed as cartoon cat). Control Group: No model. Matched-participants design used again. Following the screening, each child was placed in a room with toys and a BoBo doll. Each child’s behaviour was observed.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #2 - RESULTS Exposure to aggressive models increases the probability that children will behave aggressively. This is true both for real-life models & models in live-action films or cartoons: Children who watched films/cartoons showed almost twice as much aggression as the control group children. Sex differences were again found. Highlights significant influence of the media.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #3 (1963 B ) Demonstrated influence of reward & punishment on observational learning of aggression. Experimental Group 1: Aggressive model rewarded. Experimental Group 2: Aggressive model punished. Control Group 1: Non-aggressive model, no consequences. Control Group 2: No model. Following the screening, each child was placed individually in a room with toys and a BoBo doll. Each child’s behaviour was observed.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #3 - R ESULTS The consequences influenced the behaviour of the children who saw them: Children who watched the model being reinforced (rewarded) imitated aggressive behaviour more than children in the other three conditions. No significant difference between other three conditions. Boys more aggressive than girls except when model was rewarded, in which case there was little difference.

O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING : B ANDURA B OBO D OLL E XPERIMENT #3 - R ESULTS When asked, children in experimental group 1 said that they would prefer to be like the most aggressive model: The individual model they identified as being most successful in achieving the rewarded behaviour. Supports Bandura’s proposal that observational learning is not totally separate from conditioning (involves some processes). Learning can take place without actually performing/demonstrating it. We learn by observation not only how to acquire or modify behaviour but also about what behaviours can be expected to lead to particular consequences. i.e. Observation allows to learn behaviour AND when to use it (or not).

S O... WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THESE EXPERIMENTS ? Summarise the findings

May be influenced by: perceptual capabilities of observer motivation & interest level situation being observed distracters that are present characteristics of model importance of behaviour distinctiveness of behaviour effect it may have on us. Pay closer attention to (and are more likely to imitate) models who have: high status, perceived positively perceived similar features and traits familiar qualities visible behaviour (stands out) behaviour able to be imitated successfully E LEMENTS OF O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING Attention: to learn through observation we must closely watch the model’s behaviour.

E LEMENTS OF O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING Retention: once we observe the model we must be able to remember the model’s behaviour. Need to store memory; The more meaningful we make that mental representation, the more accurately we will be able to replicate the behaviour when necessary. Reproduction: imitating what we observed. Must have the ability to put into practice what we observed. Must have the potential to be competent enough to develop the necessary skills to imitate the behaviour.

E LEMENTS OF O BSERVATIONAL L EARNING Motivation-Reinforcement: must be motivated (by reinforcement) to perform the behaviour. If modelled behaviour is reinforced: increase motivation and vice versa. External reinforcement: learning by consequences. Vicarious reinforcement: observing the modelled behaviour being reinforced for other people. Self-reinforcement: reinforced by meeting certain standards of performance we set for ourselves (can be positive or negative). Activity: 10.34

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T HAT ’ S A LL F OLKS …! We have now finished the ‘Learning’ Area of Study. Make sure you complete: All Learning Activities; Glossaries for Ch. 9 & 10; True/False quizzes for Ch. 9 & 10; Chapter tests for Ch. 9 & 10; Worksheets booklet; Folio (SAC Preparation); Start making tables/mind-maps, etc. to help you revise concepts from this topic.