Task 8 - Learning by example

Question 1

Social learning

Answer 1

Learning from others; often used as a synonym for observational learning

Question 2

Observational learning

Answer 2

A process in which the learner actively monitors events and then chooses later actions based on those observations

Question 3

Copying

Answer 3

the act of doing what one observes another organism doing

Question 4

Modeling

Answer 4

Demonstration of actions – it is a prerequisite for all kinds of copying

Question 5

Social learning theory

Answer 5

A theory of human behavior prominent from the 1940s through the 1960s that proposed that the kinds of reinforcements an individual has experienced in past social contexts will determine how that individual will act in any given situation

Question 6

Bandura cited four basic processes to explain people copying what they see

Answer 6

1. Presence of a model
2. memories for the observed situation must be stored in an accessible format so that they can guide later actions
3. the observer must have the ability to reproduce the action
4. the observer must have some motivation for reproducing the observed actions

Question 7

1. Presence of a model

Bandura’s four basic processes

Answer 7

it thought to increase an observer’s attention to the situation. The actions of others can be especially salient cues that act as a magnet for attention

Question 8

2. memories for the observed situation must be stored in an accessible format so that they can guide later actions
   (Bandura’s four basic processes)

Answer 8

if the observer forgets how an action was performed, it will be difficult for that person to imitate the action

Question 9

3. the observer must have the ability to reproduce the action
   (Bandura’s four basic processes)

Answer 9

You might remember quite well what it looks like when someone dunks a basketball, but unless you can jump quite high, you won’t be able to imitate this action

Question 10

4. the observer must have some motivation for reproducing the observed
   (Bandura’s four basic processes)

Answer 10

You probably wouldn’t burn your money just because you saw someone else doing it, even though it would be easy to do

Question 11

More likely to imitate if:

3 reasons

Answer 11

The observer likes the other person
There is similarity between a model an the observer
The desirability of the observed outcome in itself is enough

Question 12

True imitation

Answer 12

Copying that involves reproducing motor acts

– F.e. Leti picking berries just like she observed her parents do

Question 13

Emulation

Answer 13

Copying that involves replicating an outcome without replicating specific motor acts
– F.e. the movements Leti performed to store the berries that had been picked, however, differed from those of her parents – they put them in a bucket and she in her pockets

Question 14

Two-action test

Answer 14

a technique developed to investigate imitation abilities that involves exposing naive animals to demonstrators trained to achieve the same goal using different actions

Question 15

Perspective taking

Answer 15

imagining oneself in the place of another – is another cognitive ability that some researchers have suggested is a prerequisite for the voluntary imitation of actions
- is thought to facilitate imitation because it enables people (or animals) to imitate others without watching themselves doing so

Question 16

Three phenomena that closely resemble imitation

Answer 16

1. Emotional contagion
2. Observational conditioning
3. Stimulus enhancement

Question 17

1. Emotional contagion

One of three phenomena that closely resemble imitation

Answer 17

An inborn tendency to react emotionally to visual or acoustic stimuli that indicate an emotional response by other members of one’s species, typically in ways that replicate the observed response

Question 18

2. Observational conditioning

One of three phenomena that closely resemble imitation

Answer 18

A process in which an individual learns an emotional response after observing similar responses in others

• • This is one ways phobias can develop
• • However, observing individuals who respond fearlessly to “dangerous” situations can help a person to learn to overcome a fear of those situations

Question 19

3. Stimulus enhancement

One of three phenomena that closely resemble imitation

Answer 19

A process in which observation of other individuals causes an organism’s attention to be directed toward specific objects or events within an environment

Question 20

Social transmission of information

Answer 20

A process seen in all human cultures in which an observer learns something new through experiences with others
– F.e. you are waiting to purchase a soda from a vending machine, and you notice that the person ahead of you just lost money in the machine. on the basis of observing the person’s misfortune, you might decide not to put your money into that particular machine

Question 21

Social conformity

Answer 21

the tendency to adopt the behaviour of the group
- social conformity has many protective functions, but it can also hinder the development of novel behavior patterns that might be advantageous

Question 22

Direct-matching hypothesis

Answer 22

The proposal that memories for actions are stored in specialized cortical regions that map observed actions onto the motor representations of the acts → visually observing an action automatically activates the same neural systems required to perform the action, and memories for the action are stored as part of this process – mirror neurons

Question 23

Mirror neurons

Answer 23

neurons that respond during performance of an action and during visual observations of that same action
– located in the premotor cortex

Question 24

Autism spectrum disorder

Answer 24

A set of disorders associated with deficits in social interactions and social learning

Question 25

Echolalia

Answer 25

the automatic repetition of words or phrases immediately after hearing them spoken
- it requires vocal imitation abilities, which might seem to suggest that individuals with autism would be good imitators –> however, these children actually turn out to be worse at imitating actions than other children

Question 26

Mind-blindness theory

Answer 26

children with autism spectrum disorder disorder have problems with perspective taking that prevent them from imagining themselves in someone else’s shoes

Question 27

Broken mirror hypothesis of autism

Answer 27

relies on several unsupported assumptions: that the mirror system is responsible for understanding goals and imitation, that goal understanding and imitation are abnormal in autism, and that these deficits cause the social difficulties seen in autism (is this correct?)