Psychology
5 things
4 Things About Bandura's Observational Learning
4 things about observational learning that conditioning can't explain…
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Lesson notes
Key points
- Learning without doing: Observational learning means acquiring behaviour by watching a model, with no direct reinforcement.
- The Bobo doll study: In 1961 Bandura showed children copied adults who hit an inflatable Bobo doll.
- Four processes: Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation must all occur for modelling to work.
- Vicarious reinforcement: Seeing a model rewarded makes us more likely to imitate; seeing punishment makes us less likely.
- Learning vs performance: Children learned aggressive acts even when they didn't perform them until offered a reward.
Takeaway: We learn by watching others, not only through our own consequences.
Quick check: What do we call becoming likelier to copy a model you saw rewarded?
- Vicarious reinforcement
- Negative reinforcement
- Spontaneous recovery
Reinforcement experienced through a model's consequences is vicarious reinforcement.
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