Social Learning, Imitation, and Theory of Mind in Psychology

Social Learning

Refers to situations in which an individual actively engages in or observes other phenomena involving other individuals and then chooses later actions based on those observations

True Imitation

Copying that involves reproducing motor acts

Emulation

Copying that involves replicating an outcome without replicating specific motor acts

Vocal Imitation

Involves pushing air through the vocal membranes to re-create some properties of a previously experienced sound

Vocal Learning

Learning to vocalize by adjusting one's own sound production based on sounds one has heard

Template Model of Song Learning

song memorization, song practice, and song utilization

Two-Action Test

One technique that has developed to investigate true imitation abilities

Theory of Mind

The ability to recognize that other people have their own conscious experience, which is distinct from our own

Perspective Taking

Imagining oneself in the place of another

2 and 5 years of age

Humans develop theory of mind between ____________.

Emotional Contagion

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

Observational Conditioning

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

Stimulus Enhancement

A process in which observations of other individuals draw an organism's attention toward specific objects, events, or locations within an environment

Social Transmission of Information

A process in which an individual directly or indirectly communicates information that may affect the future actions of group members

Social Conformity

The tendency to adopt the behavior of the group

Direct-Matching Hypothesis

The proposal that memories for actions are stored in specialized cortical regions that map observed actions onto the motor representations the actions

Mirror Neurons

Neurons that fire the same way when an individual acts as they do during observations of that action

Autism Spectrum Disorder

A developmental disorder associated with deficits in social interactions and social learning

Broken Mirror Hypothesis

The hypothesis that dysfunctions in the mirror neuron system might be contributing to the imitative deficits seen in individuals with autism disorder

Echolalia

A person repeats words or phrases immediately after hearing them spoken