Lecture 24

Question 1

What is observational learning?

Answer 1

Observational learning occurs when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others’ behavior (models).

Question 2

What are some examples of anecdotal evidence of observational learning?

Answer 2

English titmouse English titmouse

*	Parrots mimicking speech
*	“Monkey see, monkey do”
*	Children

Question 3

Why is observational learning considered evolutionarily advantageous?

Answer 3

It allows for quicker acquisition of adaptive behaviours compared to trial and error learning and is generally advantageous or harmless to copy others rather than being innovative.

Question 4

Describe the Palameta and Lefebvre (1985) experiment on observational learning in birds.

Answer 4

Birds were divided into four groups:

*	Group NM (no model): Never observed the demonstrator.
*	Group BI (blind imitation): Observed demonstrator pierce paper but no seed available.
*	Group LE (local enhancement): Observed demonstrator obtain seed, but paper pierced in advance.
*	Group OL (observational learning): Observed demonstrator pierce paper and eat seed.

Question 5

What was the result of Cook and Mineka’s (1987) experiment on fear learning in monkeys?

Answer 5

Monkeys learned fear of snakes by observation but did not learn fear of artificial flowers, demonstrating biological constraints on observational learning.

Question 6

Who is Albert Bandura and what is he known for?

Answer 6

Albert Bandura is known for his work on observational learning and developed the concept of social learning theory, which includes the famous “Bobo doll” experiment on aggression.

Question 7

What are the four key processes required for observational learning according to Bandura?

Answer 7

1. Attention: Focusing on others’ behavior.
2. Retention: Retaining a representation of others’ behavior.
3. Production: Ability to perform the actions observed.
4. Motivation: Need to perform actions observed (usefulness).

Question 8

What factors influence the effectiveness of a model in observational learning?

Answer 8

. Model’s similarity to the observer.
2. Model’s competence.
3. Model’s prestige.
4. Observer’s previous experience with the model.
5. Multiple models.

Question 9

Describe the Poche et al. (1988) study on teaching self-protection to children.

Answer 9

Four groups of children aged 5-7 were trained using different methods to teach self-protection rules against abduction:

1.	No-training control.
2.	Standard program (60 min): Discussed rules and typical abduction situations.
3.	Videotape only (25 min): Demonstrated rules using child actors.
4.	Videotape + behavioral rehearsal (45 min): Videotape followed by rule rehearsal.

Question 10

What were the follow-up results of the Poche et al. (1988) study?

Answer 10

In a follow-up one month later, nine of the children who performed correctly initially still performed the same behaviors in a new situation near home, except one child who just ran away.