Psychology Essay

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Figure 6.14 This spider m onkey learned to drink water

from a plastic bottle by seeing the behavior m odeled by a

hum an. (credit: U.S. Air Force, Senior Airm an Kasey Close)

M o d u le 6 .4 : O b s e r v a t io n a l L e a r n in g (M o d e lin g ) a n d L e a r n in g b y

I n s ig h t

Previous sections of this lesson focused on classical and operant conditioning, w hich are form s of associative learning. In observational

learning, w e learn by w atching others and then im itating, or m odeling, w hat they do or say. The individuals perform ing the im itated behavior

are called m odels. Research suggests that this im itative learning involves a speciﬁc type of neuron, called a m irror neuron.

H um ans and other anim als are capable of observational learning. As you w ill see, the

phrase "m onkey see, m onkey do" really is accurate (Figure 6.14). Consider Claire's

experience w ith observational learning. Claire's nine-year-old son, Jay, w as getting into

trouble at school and w as deﬁant at hom e. Claire feared that Jay w ould end up like her

brothers, tw o of w hom w ere in prison. O ne day, after yet another bad day at school and

another negative note from the teacher, Claire, at her w it's end, beat her son w ith a belt to

get him to behave. Later that night, as she put her children to bed, Claire w itnessed her

four-year-old daughter, Anna, take a belt to her teddy bear and w hip it. Claire w as

horriﬁed, realizing that Anna w as im itating her m other. It w as then that Claire knew she

w anted to discipline her children in a different m anner.

Bandura and other researchers proposed a brand of behaviorism called social learning

theory, w hich took cognitive processes into account. According to Bandura, pure

behaviorism could not explain w hy learning can take place in the absence of external

reinforcem ent. H e felt that internal m ental states m ust also have a role in learning and that observational learning involves m uch m ore than

im itation. In im itation, a person sim ply copies w hat the m odel does. O bservational learning is m uch m ore com plex. According to Lefrançois

(2012) there are several w ays that observational learning can occur:

1. You learn a new response. After w atching your cow orker get chew ed out by your boss for com ing in late, you start leaving hom e 10

m inutes earlier so that you w on't be late.

2. You choose w hether or not to im itate the m odel depending on w hat you saw happen to the m odel. Rem em ber Julian and his father? W hen

learning to surf, Julian m ight w atch how his father pops up successfully on his surfboard and then attem pt to do the sam e thing. O n the

other hand, Julian m ight learn not to touch a hot stove after w atching his father get burned on a stove.

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3. You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations. If your room m ate's car is repossessed because she didn't m ake her

paym ents, you m ay learn the general rule that all bills should be paid on tim e to avoid negative consequences in general (and not

repossession speciﬁcally).

Figure 6.15 (a) Yoga students learn by observation as their yoga instructor

dem onstrates the correct stance and m ovem ent for her students (live

m odel). (b) M odels don't have to be present for learning to occur: through

sym bolic m odeling, this child can learn a behavior by watching som eone

dem onstrate it on television. (credit a: m odiﬁcation of work by Tony

Cecala; credit b: m odiﬁcation of work by Andrew Hyde)

Bandura identiﬁed three kinds of m odels: live, verbal, and sym bolic.

1. A live m odel dem onstrates a behavior in person, as w hen Ben stood up on his surfboard so that Julian could see how he did it.

2. A verbal instructional m odel does not perform the behavior, but instead explains or describes the behavior, as w hen a soccer coach tells

his young players to kick the ball w ith the side of the foot, not w ith the toe.

3. A sym bolic m odel can be ﬁctional characters or real people w ho dem onstrate behaviors in books, m ovies, television show s, video gam es,

or Internet sources (Figure 6.15).

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Latent learning and m odeling are used all the tim e in the w orld of m arketing and advertising. The video below is a

com m ercial played for m onths across the N ew York, N ew Jersey, and Connecticut areas, D erek Jeter, an aw ard-w inning

baseball player for the N ew York Yankees, is advertising a Ford. The com m ercial aired in a part of the country w here Jeter is

an incredibly w ell-know n athlete. H e is w ealthy, and considered very loyal and good looking. W hat m essage are the

advertisers sending by having him featured in the ad? H ow effective do you think it is?

Full Der ek Jeter F or d commer cial

C o n n e ctin g th e C o n ce p ts

Bandura researched m odeling behavior, particularly children's m odeling of adults' aggressive and violent behaviors. H e

conducted an experim ent w ith a ﬁve-foot inﬂatable doll that he called a Bobo doll. In the experim ent, children's aggressive

behavior w as inﬂuenced by w hether the teacher w as punished for her behavior.

In one scenario, a teacher acted aggressively w ith the doll, hitting, throw ing, and even punching the doll, w hile a child

w atched. There w ere tw o types of responses by the children to the teacher's behavior. W hen the teacher w as punished for 2017-6-13 PSY101 - Module 6.4

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her bad behavior, the children decreased their tendency to act as she had. W hen the teacher w as praised or ignored (and

not punished for her behavior), the children im itated w hat she did, and even w hat she said. They punched, kicked, and

yelled at the doll.

W atch the video clip below to see a portion of the fam ous Bobo doll experim ent, including an interview w ith Albert Bandura.

Alber t Bandur a Bobo Doll experiment.mp4

Bandura concluded that w e w atch and learn, and that this learning can have both prosocial and antisocial effects. Prosocial (positive) m odels

can be used to encourage socially acceptable behavior. Parents in particular should take note of this ﬁnding. If you w ant your children to read,

then read to them . Let them see you reading. Keep books in your hom e. Talk about your favorite books. The sam e holds true for qualities like

kindness, courtesy, and honesty. The m ain idea is that children observe and learn from their parents, even their parents' m orals, so be

consistent and toss out the old adage "D o as I say, not as I do," because children tend to copy w hat you do instead of w hat you say. Besides

parents, m any public ﬁgures, such as M artin Luther King, Jr. and M ahatm a G andhi, are view ed as prosocial m odels w ho are able to inspire

global social change. Can you think of som eone w ho has been a prosocial m odel in your life?

The antisocial effects of observational learning are also w orth m entioning. As you saw from the exam ple of Claire at the beginning of this

section, her daughter view ed Claire's aggressive behavior and copied it. Research suggests that this m ay help to explain w hy abused children 2017-6-13 PSY101 - Module 6.4

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Figure 6.16 Can video gam es m ake us violent?

Psychological researchers study this topic. (credit:

"woodleywonderworks"/Flickr)

often grow up to be abusers them selves. In fact, about 30% of abused children becom e

abusive parents. Abused children, w ho grow up w itnessing their parents deal w ith anger

and frustration through violent and aggressive acts, often learn to behave in that m anner

them selves. Sadly, it's a vicious cycle that's diﬃ cult to break.

Som e studies suggest that violent television show s, m ovies, and video gam es m ay also

have antisocial effects (Figure 6.16) although further research needs to be done to

understand the correlational and causational aspects of m edia violence and behavior.

Som e studies have found a link betw een view ing violence and aggression seen in children,

but it is im portant to rem em ber that m ore research is needed.

Lin k to Le a rn in g

View this video to hear Brad Bushm an, a psychologist w ho has published extensively on hum an aggression and violence,

discuss his research.

In s ig h t

Another type of learning that is not determ ined only by conditioning occurs w hen w e suddenly ﬁnd the solution to a problem , as if the idea just

popped into our head. This type of learning is know n as insight, the sudden understanding of the solution to a problem . the sudden

understanding of a solution to a problem . The G erm an psychologist W olfgang Köhler (1925) carefully observed w hat happened w hen he

presented chim panzees w ith a problem that w as not easy for them to solve, such as placing food in an area that w as too high in the cage to be

reached. H e found that the chim ps ﬁrst engaged in trial-and-error attem pts at solving the problem , but w hen these failed they seem ed to stop

and contem plate for a w hile. Then, after this period of contem plation, they w ould suddenly seem to know how to solve the problem , for

instance by using a stick to knock the food dow n or by standing on a chair to reach it. Köhler argued that it w as this ﬂash of insight, not the

prior trial-and-error approaches, w hich w ere so im portant for conditioning theories, that allow ed the anim als to solve the problem . 2017-6-13 PSY101 - Module 6.4

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M odule 6.3