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ob learning
| Question |
|---|
| > Social learning theory suggests that it is possible for people, especially children, to learn through observing the behaviour of others. |
| Modelling: tendency for a person to copy the behaviour or attitude that is demonstrated by another person (also known as observational learning). |
| Because the person being observed is referred to as a model, observational learning is often called modelling. |
| They must: > pay attention in order to observe the modelled behaviour. > mentally represent and retain what has been observed. > convert these mental representations into actions (i.e. reproduce them). |
| > Observational learning has a cognitive component evident in the attention and retention processes. |
| Bandura's Research. Bandura's 1961 experiment. Participants: thirty-six boys and thirty-six girls aged 3-6 years from the local Stanford nursery school. The children were divided into three groups, each with 12 boys and 12 girls. |
| Experimental conditions: Group 1: no model. Each child sat alone in the room for ten minutes with no adult present and did not have the opportunity to observe the behaviour of an adult (model). Group 2: aggressive model. Group 3: passive model. |
| > Children who saw the aggressive model (group 2) showed more partial imitation and non-imitation aggression than the children who saw the passive model (group 3) or no model at all (group 1). |
| > Children exposed to the passive model (group 3) or no model at all (group 1) were less likely to display aggressive behaviour. |
| Bandura's 1963a experiment. Participants: thirty-six boys and thirty-six girls from the local Stanford nursery school. |
| Experimental conditions: Group 1: live aggressive model (Live) Group 2: video of the aggressive model (Videotape) Group 3: aggressive model in cartoon format (Cartoon) Group 4: live passive model (Control) |
| > the live role model was the most influential. |
| Conclusion: These results added to the findings of the 1961 experiment and demonstrated that learning can happen vicariously and without any reinforcers given to either the model or the observer. |
| Bandura's 1963b experiment. Participants: thirty-six boys and thirty-six girls from the local Stanford nursery school. |
| This experiment was similar to the previous ones but this time the conditions were designed to study the influence of the consequences for the model. |
| Group 3: aggressive model rewarded for the aggressive behaviour. Group 4: aggressive model punished for the aggressive behaviour. |
| Results. > Children who had observed the aggressive model rewarded (group 3) showed more imitative aggression and copied their model more than children in the group where the aggressive model was punished (group 4). |
| Insight learning. The school of cognitive behaviourism is represented by Wolfgang Kohler and Edward Tolman. |
| > Kohler was experimenting with a chimpanzee called Sultan. He hung a banana from the ceiling of the room and let Sultan in. |
| Suddenly, however, he pushed a box under the banana, climbed up, reached the banana and ate it happily! |
| 2. incubation- the person gives up and decides to do something else (but the brain keeps working). |
| 4. verification- the hard work of applying the solution and making sure it works. |
| > the solution is complete when it is first though of. |
| Kohlers response was that he was studying problem solving and the fact that Sultan was much quicker at solving the problem on future occasions showed that learning had occurred. |
| While Thorndike showed that there was very gradual and erratic improvement in time taken to achieve the solution, Kohler showed that learning was sudden and complete. |
| Latent learning. The word 'latent' means 'hidden'. Latent learning: refers to a situation in which learning has taken place but the behaviour has not yet been demonstrated. |
| > we pay attention to the model > retention occurs as 'how to do' the action is stored in our memories > reproduction refers to us having the mental and physical ability to perform the actions. |
| We do so and the learning is no longer latent. The final stage is reinforcement, where a good result of the behaviour meants that we will do it again. |
| In the 1930's, Edward Tolman was experimenting with rats in mazes. In one classic experiment he had three groups of hungry rats and a maze. |
| For group 3, the food box was empty for the first 10 days but contained food from day 11 onwards. |
| > group 2 showed little variation in time taken over all the days. |
| Tolman concluded that the rats had formed a cognitive map of the maze- they had learnt the layout of the maze but until there was a good reason (motivation), they did not show the behaviour of solving the maze. |
| Tolman found that the reinforcer in this case motivated the rats to use the cognitions (cognitive map) to perform the behaviour. |
| Observational learning. Observational learning: where a person learns by watching the behaviour demonstrated by another. Originally called social learning theory. |
| > Observational learning occurs when someone uses observation of another person's actions and the resulting consequences to guide their future actions. |
| The process of observational learning. > Observational learning is dependent on the processes of attention, retention, reproduction, motivation and reinforcement. Learners must play an active role in the learning process. |
| > Reinforcement influences the learner's motivation to perform the learnt behaviour. |
| However, social learning theory does not attempt to explain the nature of children's cognitive processing when learning is taking place. |
| Method: > Observation of model's behaviour. > An independent groups design was used. |
| Results: > Children who were exposed to the aggressive model (group 2) were more likely to imitate the aggressive behaviour. |
| > Boys were nearly three times more likely than girls to imitate the physically violent behaviour by a male model. |
| Conclusion: Learning can occur in the absence of reinforcers for the observers. This finding was in direct contrast to Skinner's theory of operant conditioning. |
| Method: > Observation of model's behaviour. > An independent groups design was used. |
| Results. > the children who saw the adult role model behave aggressively in any of the conditions were more likely to behave aggressively themselves later. |
| > the children who saw the aggressive video and cartoon models showed almost twice as much aggression as the children in the control group. |
| The findings were cause for concern and prompted debate about the relationship between violent television programs and children learning aggressive behaviour. |
| Method: > Observation of model's behaviour. > An independent groups design was used. |
| Experimental conditions: Group 1: (first control group)- highly expressive but non-aggressive models Group 2: (second control group)- no exposure to models. |
| The children were then observed for their imitative aggressive responses to the Bobo doll when they were alone in the room with it. |
| > Controlling aggression was vicariously learnt by boys who saw the aggressive model punished (group 4) and by girls through the presentation of incompatible prosocial examples of behaviour. |
| Insight: a mental process in which a sudden, complete and unexpected solution to a problem is achieved. This is referred to in psychology as the 'Aha!' experience. |
| There are four stages of insight learning: 1. preparation- the person makes attempts to solve the problem in any way they can think of. |
| 3. insight- the 'Aha!' experience, when the person suddenly realises the solution. |
| There are two main characteristics of insight learning: > once a problem has been solved by insight, the learning is usually permanent- when the problem arises again, the solution will be immediate. |
| Criticisms of Kohler. Critics said that Kohler was merely describing Sultan's behaviour, not explaining how he was solving the problem. |
| Significance of insight learning. An important feature of insight learning is that it contrasts with trial-and-error learning. |
| This is an essential part of observational learning or modelling. |
| At this stage, learning has occurred but it is latent, since the behaviour has not been shown. Next in the learning process is motivation, where a stimulus makes us want to perform the action. |
| Each day, the rats were allowed to explore the maze. For group 1, the food box was always full, providing reinforcement for completing the maze. For group 2, the food box was always empty. |
| The results were as follows: > group 1 produced a standard learning curve, gradually reducing the time taken to run the maze. |
| > group 3 showed little variation in time taken for the first 10 days but there was a dramatic decrease in time taken from day 11 onwards. |
| Social learning theory: describes the way in which people acquire certain behaviours by watching and learning from their role models. The initial focus of observational learning. |
| Obviously, the reinforcer (food) still had an important part to play in learning, but this was different from the stimulus-response link formed in classical conditioning and different from the behaviour-consequence link in operant conditioning. |
| Social learning: where people learn from those around them, with or without reinforcement. |
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phoebe 4
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