Observational Learning

Question 1

Depending on the complexity of the task, observational learning can…

A mechanism to learn without…

For example, the thumbs up sign may be easy for a child to learn through observational learning whereas no amount of watching ever made anyone into a concert pianist!

Answer 1

facilitate the acquisition of new behaviour.

experiencing the consequences

Question 2

What Makes True Imitation Different from Observational Learning?

Behaviour occurs…
Behaviour is acquired…
Behaviour change…
The imitated behaviour hasn’t been learned…

Answer 2

in the absence of the model.
that is new to the observer
is long lasting
through trial and error (simple operant learning)

Question 3

Types of Observational (Social) Learning

Answer 3

Social Contagions
Social Facilitation
Response Facilitation
Local or Stimulus Enhancement

note: not true imitation

Question 4

Social Contagion:
These are behaviours that have social origins but they appear to be…

e.g, yawning, laughing, smiling

Occur in the presence…
Instinctual responses – happens without any outcome or consequence or previous pairing (either classical, nor operant), example of UR to a US.

Answer 4

unconditioned responses to the relevant social stimuli.

of another being

Question 5

Social Facilitation:
This is when a behaviour already in…
e.g. running, and eating

The relevant feature of this type of learning is the…

Answer 5

the subject’s repertoire occurs because a model prompts the behaviour.

behaviour is already known and the effect often transitory.

Question 6

Response Facilitation:

Used to describe a general increase in species typical behaviour in the presence of….
e.g., chickens pecking when…

Get hen in the presence of a set of chickens (whether foods available or not), get increase in pecking, increase in species specific behaviour in the presence of conspecifics

e.g., talking – species specific behaviour that is increased when in the presence of the same species that humans talk more when go into a room of full of people, see increase in frequency by being around other people (human example of response facilitation).

Answer 6

conspecifics

others are present.

Question 7

Local or Stimulus Enhancement:
Occurs where the model makes an aspect of the environment or stimulus more…

don’t learn the behaviour by…
rather their own ability to learn the behaviour by…

Answer 7

salient to the observer, thereby making the time that it takes the observer to learn the behaviour shorter.

observing the model
trial and error is shortened because attention is drawn to the conspecific and relevant aspects

Question 8

Local Enhancement
e.g., birds learning to dive for fish

Stimulus Enhancement:
e.g., bumblebees and flower colour

Answer 8

dive in same area

flower colour encourages bees to land

Question 9

Examples for true-imitation in non-human animals:

Answer 9

Food washing monkeys

Milk stealing birds

Question 10

Why food washing monkeys, milk stealing birds might not be true imitation?

Answer 10

The model’s behaviour could have made some aspect of the environment more salient, so after the relevant behaviour was performed, the animal was reinforced and normal operant conditioning processes took over

Question 11

major criticism:

stimulus or local enhancement were…

Answer 11

confounding experimental results.

Question 12

Rats and Rods Experiment 1:
Rod can be moved in two directions
Move rod and get reinforcer (cheese)
Remove model - no response or social facilitation because the model is not there
Rat pushes the rod the way the model did (imitated behaviour)

For trial and error would except…
For true imitation would except…

Answer 12

half the rats would go one way, half the rats would go the other way
go the way that they saw the model do it

Question 13

Is the rats and rods experiment true imitation or just goal emulation?

Answer 13

It can still be argued that the observer rat was not imitating the model rat’s behaviour

Perhaps the observer was just trying to make the stimulus situation exactly the same as it was when the other rat received food, and the presence of a conspecific eating the food helped them learn this better

Question 14

Rats and Rods Experiment 2:
collector rat present during the automatic joystick moving condition
rat observes the model rat in the chamber doing nothing, the lever moves by itself and food appears, the collector rat eats the food

Rats who saw joystick move automatically pushed the joystick, but…
Rats who saw a model rat tended to…
Evidence for…

Stimulus enhancement by having…

Answer 14

didn’t tend to push it the same way they saw it move
push it the same way the model did
true imitation in rats

the automatic joystick moving

Question 15

True Imitation:
Quails pressing a treadle

Some model quails trained to press a treadle either with their feet, or their beak
Model gets reinforced
Observer quails watch
Observer quails given access to treadle

Results:
Observer quails reinforced for pushing the treadle regardless of how they do it
Observer quails tended to…

Answer 15

push the lever the same way the model did

Question 16

Vicarious Pavlovian Conditioning
Extension of…
Help explain many everyday behaviours including…

Answer 16

social contagion

likes and dislikes of stimuli with which we have had no direct exposure

Question 17

Vicarious Pavlovian Conditioning
Emotional responses in people we know elicit the same response in ourselves. This can be seen as a US (e.g., their sadness) eliciting a UR (e.g., our sadness) in pavlovian terms.
Vicarious Pavlovian Conditioning. Stimuli paired with other’s emotions become CSs for us.

Answer 17

e.g., your friend working in a workplace, pop in to see them, friend smiling, work supervisor comes in and your friend mood changes, later on go to a party, in the room is the supervisor, you automatically don’t like him, never meet the person > feel the same response as your friend

Question 18

Mum visits the doctor as a child and has a negative needle experience > Mum develops long term needle phobia

Through vicarious Pavlovian conditioning, the child too becomes fearful of needles despite never actually having a truly bad experience with needles!

Answer 18

NS (needle) + US (pain) > UR (fear)

Over repeated pairings needles become a CS eliciting fear in Mum

Question 19

Theories of Imitation:

Answer 19

Instinctual Theories
Operant Response Theories
Social Learning Theory

Question 20

Instinctual Theories
Imitation is an…

While spontaneous imitation may occur it is an inadequate to explain all imitative behaviour.
This approach does not…

Mirror neurons – activate when observing a model performing a behaviour and activate when you copy the behaviour. Phylogenetic development of a brain mechanism which enables imitation, mechanism develops overtime with experience.

Answer 20

innate tendency (phylogenetic).

allow us to predict when imitation will occur and when it will not occur.

Question 21

Imitation as an operant response

SD (model behaviour) : Behaviour (imitation) > Consequence (reward)

Answer 21

Model’s behaviour is a DS that sets the occasion for imitation to the extent that the behaviour is reinforced, the behaviour of imitating that specific behaviour in presence of the model doing that would increase.

Question 22

Imitation as an operant response:
Seems imitation itself can be…
However, not all imitated behaviours are reinforced…

Answer 22

shaped/reinforced.

and we do not have a history of reinforcement for all the behaviours we imitate

Question 23

Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment - Method
Some children watched model behaving aggressively be reinforced
> Given sweets and a drink for a “championship performance”
One group saw model punished for aggression
> Scolded and spanked
Also a control group (no consequence)
Child taken to room with bobo doll + toys
Observers measured the aggressive behaviour

Answer 23

Bandura’s Bobo Doll Experiment - Results

Differential behaviour of the observer depending on the consequences experienced by the model.

When children were offered incentives to imitate the model, they all did so, no matter what the consequences had been for the model.

Question 24

Social Learning Theory

Bandura claimed that operant theory of imitation…
He suggested a two stage theory to better explain learning through observation:

Answer 24

could not account for his findings.

Vicarious acquisition and Imitative performance

Question 25

Social learning theory: 4 necessary factors for imitative behaviour

Answer 25

Attentional processes (must attend to all relevant factors – activity, locations, tools etc.)
Retentional processes (e.g. verbal rehearsal)
Motor reproductive processes (veiwer must possess appropriate motor skills)
Incentive and motivational processes (expectation of reinforcement)

Question 26

Factors that Influence Performance.
Previous…
Outcome…
Presence of…

Answer 26

reinforcement of imitative behaviours
for the model
S+ for reinforcement for imitating

Question 27

Characteristics of the Model that Influence Acquisition.

Answer 27

Similarity between model and observer
“Rewardingness” and power over resources
Social dominance

Question 28

Imitation as a Generalised Operant
Rewarding imitation reinforces both…
That is, imitation can be viewed as a…

Generalised operant is rewarding a specific instant of a type of behaviour, or reinforced that particular behaviour that you did, will also reinforce this more generalised set of behaviours that are acquired by example

In multiple exemplar training you learn the behaviour and the aspects that are common across them: copying is reinforced

Make a class and reinforce that class 
Reinforcement from doing multiple behaviours - correspondence
Generalise the behaviour, and copy

Answer 28

the specific behaviour and the class of copying behaviour. 
generalised operant.

Question 29

Imitation as a Generalised Operant

Generalised operants are:
Higher…
Discriminated…
Require…

Generalised Imitation
> Correspondence is the…

Answer 29

classes of behavior
operants
discriminative processes and generalisation processes

higher class
(delay between the model performing behaviour and the observer imitating the behaviour) - often imitate behaviour when no reinforcements for performing that behaviour
If some behaviours are reinforced (imitate reinforcer) would expect the behaviour to maintain 
Imitate reinforcement maintains behaviour

discriminative processes - learn the stimuli that signal the behaviour is appropriate or not (stimuli that signal the likelihood of reinforcement)

Question 30

Inverse Imitation
If consequence for…
If the observer…
If reinforcement is…

Answer 30

model’s behaviour is negative
dislikes the model
available for inverse imitation

Question 31

Applications of Modelling
In learning situations:
e.g., airline safety demonstrations, graduated modelling for more complex skills

Treatment of phobias

With autism: video modelling may overcome difficulties with imitating

Answer 31

Imitation learning doesn’t develop as a generalised operant easily in children with autism.