8 - Social Learning Flashcards
Define Social Learning
Learning by observing others
Define Asocial Learning
Learning without interacting with anyone else
Define Directed Learning
Somebody or something is intentionally trying to direct your learning in a specific way
- textbook, teacher
Chameleon effect
people imitating each other’s actions, subconsciously
Measuring Automatic Imitation in the Lab
Tested for in the lab, by using compatible vs incompatible trials
i. e. task is to open your hand when you see the hand move
- a compatible trial is watching the hand open
- an incompatible trial is watching the hand close
The time taken to open the hand is recorded, and the reaction time is found to be slower in the incompatible trials
Showing the extent of imitation via the difference between reaction times between the two trials
Reasons for Imitation (2)
- social glue (positive effects)
- to learn from others
Study to determine if imitation can be learned (Heyes et a., 2005)
*imitation is modulated by associative (CS-CR) learning
Control Group received compatible CS-CR training:
- see an open hand, open your hand
- see a closed hand, close your hand
Intervention group received incompatible CS-CR training:
- see an open hand, close your hand
- see a closed hand, open your hand
- the only difference between the groups was in the contingency between sensory perception and motor responses
Results:
- those in the control group showed the normal, significantly slower reaction time for the incompatible trial
- those in the incompatible training showed no significant difference between the control and incompatible trials
Conclusion:
- associative learning can shape imitation
Criticisms:
- this cant be the only way we learn to imitate, or the learner would end up associating everything with everything else
-
What is contingency?
The predictive relationship between events (one event predicting another)
- associative learning depends on contingency
What is contiguity?
Events occurring at the same time
Test on Contingency (Hammond, 1980)
varied the probability of an outcome (water delivery) due to an action (level pressing)
Results:
-
varied the probability of the outcome when there was no action
Results:
- same contiguity (temporal relationship between action and outcome) but low contingency (because the outcome also occurs when the lever is not pressed
- thus causing lower response (the animal learns less about the relationship between the action and outcome
Test on imitation’s dependence on contingency (Cook et al., 2010)
*Imitation is dependent on the contingency between the CS and the CR
Contingent group received incompatible training
(should reduce imitation)
Non-contingent group received non-contingent incompatible training
- see open hand, close hand
- see X (other stimuli) close hand
- see closed hand, open hand
- see Y (other stimuli) open hand
- Thus both groups received the same temporal contiguity between sensory perception and motor responses
- BUT the contingency is different between groups
Results:
- After training, the contingent group showed more imitation than the non-contingent group
> (faster reaction times)
- thus learning to imitate depends on contingency
> contingency improves imitation learning
What is Context Dependency?
.
(Peek & Bouton, 1990) showing associative learning is context-dependent
In rats:
- paired a blue room with a tone, resulting in a shock
then
- paired a red room with the tone, resulting in food
Results:
- when reintroduced to the blue room and the tone sounds, the rats show a fear response
- proving that associative learning is context dependent
(Cook et al., 2012) showing imitation is context-dependent
*Imitation is context-dependent
Hand closing/opening task
Blue and Red room
- in both rooms, the same automatic imitation test
- then in ONE context, participants underwent incompatible CS-CR training (half in blue, half in red)
- then all participants were tested for imitation in both contexts
Results:
- people showed higher imitation in the room in which they trained (faster RT)
- thus imitation learning is stronger in the context in which it was learned
What is the result of imitation?
- People evaluate the interaction more positively
- Donate more money to charity
- Waiters imitating their diners get more tips
- Speed daters imitating their partners get higher ratings
Does similarity or contingency produce social effects of imitation?
(Catmur & Heyes, 2013)
Imitation experiment where participants were in one of 4 groups based on movements of their hands/feet - similar & contingent > same thing moves at the same time - similar non-contingent > same thing moves later - non-similar contingent > opposite thing moves at the same time - non-similar non-contingent > opposite thing moves later
Results:
- similarity was a negative predictor for enjoyment
- contingency predicted positive responses for an enjoyment question
- contingency positively predicted participants feeling close to others
- contingency positively predicted the likelihood of the participant to show up the next day for a follow up experiment
Conclusion:
- contingency may drive the positive social effects of being imitated
- thus associative learning mechanisms may also underlie these more complex social effects
Strategic reasons to learn from others
Social learning is a useful source of information about the world
- they’ve already gone through the trial-and-error process
Social species may show perceptual/attentional/motivational biases that help them learn from others (Heyes, 2012)
- do we have an innate predisposition for social learning
- or do we learn to do social learning
> we may learn to attend to social stimuli via associative learning (learn that others are a good source of information)
Social Learning Strategies
Learning increases when outcomes are uncertain/unpredictable
(high prediction error = lots of learning)
Learning increases in proportion to the number of times the relationship between events is experiences
Learning increases when it is rewarded
Observational Conditioning
The observer learns the positive or negative properties of a stimulus by observing another individual’s RESPONSES to that stimulus
> i see you burn yourself on an iron, so i realise that touching the iron has negative consequences
Affordance Learning
the observer learns how objects work (the ‘affordances’ of the objects) by observing another individual interact with those objects
> i see you pressing your key card against the panel to access the room, so I learn that I need to press my card there to do the same
Emulation
The observer watches another individual’s actions and copies the OUTCOME of those actions
(not the actions themselves)
> Bobo doll studies
Object Movement Re-enactment
The observer watches another individual’s actions using an object and copies the movement of the object but not necessarily the same action
> i use chopsticks in one hand to pick up rice
my daughter takes one chopstick in each hand and tries to perform the same movements with the chopsticks, but using different actions
Imitation
The observer watches another individual’s actions and produces exactly the same configural body movements to copy the exact actions
> i watch Wimbledon and copy Federer to improve my tennis serve
Individual Learning
Improvement through practice, receiving gradual feedback from the outcomes of one’s actions
- but without watching another individual or receiving instructions from another individual
> improving my tennis serve through practice, but not observing anyone else
