Observational Learning Notes
Observational Learning
"You can observe a lot by watching." - Yogi Berra. Behavior is an individual phenomenon and learning, as a change in behavior, is also individual. Observational learning allows us to learn from others' experiences, accelerating societal advances. Without it, progress would be much slower.
10-1 Beginnings
Learning Objectives
Explain why research on observational learning has fluctuated over the years.
Explain how Thorndike arrived at his conclusions about observational learning.
Describe the effect of Thorndike’s contributions on the subsequent few decades of observational learning research.
The history of science can be steady, like classical and operant conditioning, or fluctuate like observational learning.
The central question in observational learning is whether an individual can learn by observing another's experiences. E.L. Thorndike initiated the experimental investigation of this question.
Thorndike challenged the widespread belief that animals, like house cats, learn by observing and imitating others. He conducted experiments where naive cats observed experienced cats escaping puzzle boxes.
Thorndike's experiments (1898) revealed that naive cats did not imitate the learned behavior of the experienced cats. Instead, they used operant learning to solve the puzzle. He found similar results with chicks and dogs leading him to suggest that we should not assume animals learn by observing until it is demonstrated.
Thorndike (1901) also experimented with monkeys, but found no evidence to support the idea that monkeys learn by imitating, contrary to popular belief.
John B. Watson (1908) replicated Thorndike's experiments with monkeys and obtained similar results. These results led to a decline in research on observational learning in both animals and people for approximately a generation.
In the 1930s, Carl Warden and his colleagues demonstrated that monkeys could learn through observation using carefully controlled experiments. However, these findings did not immediately revive interest in observational learning research.
Research in observational learning began to increase in the 1960s, due to the work of Albert Bandura on social learning and others on the use of modeling in treating behavioral disorders. Research then lagged again, but has picked up since 2000.
10-2 Types of Observational Learning
Learning Objectives
Define observational learning.
Explain social observational learning.
Provide five examples of vicarious consequences (both vicarious reinforcement and punishment) affecting learning.
Explain asocial observational learning.
Provide three examples of asocial observational learning.
Observational learning is defined as learning by observing events and their consequences. This encompasses both social and asocial observational learning.
Social Observational Learning
Social observational learning involves observing the behavior of another individual (usually of the same species) and the consequences of that behavior. Can be represented by the equation:
Where:
O = Observer
MB = Model's Behavior
S+/- = Positive and/or Negative Consequences
Vicarious Reinforcement: The consequences of the model's behavior strengthen the observer's tendency to behave similarly.
Vicarious Punishment: The consequences of the model's behavior weaken the observer's tendency to behave similarly.
Example: Observing a woman take money from a box and receiving praise may lead the observer to do the same = vicarious reinforcement.
Carl Warden's experiments showed that monkeys could learn to solve problems by watching others. In one experiment, a model monkey pulled a chain to open a door and get food, and observer monkeys learned to do the same by watching.
Herbert and Harsh (1944) studied observational learning in cats, where observer cats watched a model solve problems, such as rotating a turntable to access food. The more the observer cats watched, the faster they were at solving the problem.
Hopper et al. (2008) found that chimps and children who watched a model slide a door to retrieve a grape or sticker were more likely to do the same.
Thompson and Russell (2004) demonstrated that children who watched an adult push a mat away to get a toy were more likely to solve the problem themselves.
Levy et al. (1974) showed that children's picture preferences were influenced by whether a model was praised or criticized for their choices.
Kanfer and Marston (1963) found that college students were more likely to say human nouns if they heard others being praised for saying them.
Asocial Observational Learning
Asocial observational learning is learning from observed events in the absence of a model. Represented by the equation:
Where:
O = Observer
E = Event
S+/- = Positive and/or Negative Consequences
No vicarious reinforcement or punishment is possible, but the consequences of an event affect the observer’s behavior.
Example: Observing men carrying a money box, where the panel slides to reveal money, may lead an observer to slide the door themselves, even without seeing a model do it.
In the sliding door study by Hopper et al. (2008), chimps in a "ghost condition" saw the door move on its own. All eight chimps in the ghost condition solved the problem, whereas only three out of eight that tackled the problem without seeing the panel move did so.
Thompson and Russell (2004) also used a ghost condition where the mat moved on its own. Children were more successful in getting the toy, than if they watched a person move it.
Vicarious Pavlovian Conditioning?
Vicarious Pavlovian conditioning is when an observer watches a model undergo Pavlovian conditioning. For example, a monkey may acquire a fear of snakes by watching another monkey scream at the sight of a snake. However, some researchers suggest that this is ordinary classical conditioning, not vicarious conditioning, as the observer monkey experiences a pairing of the sight of a snake and the screaming of a monkey.
10-3 Emulation and Imitation
Learning Objectives
Explain the difference between imitation and emulation.
Provide three examples of imitation in humans.
Identify four explanations for why humans over-imitate more than other apes.
Explain generalized imitation.
Imitation: Copying the behavior of a model exactly.
Emulation: Accomplishing the same goal as the model, but without copying their behavior exactly.
Example demonstrating imitation vs. emulation: Imagine that you watch a visitor at the zoo use a stick to slide a bolt on a puzzle box, insert the stick into a hole, open a door, and insert the stick into another hole to retrieve a magnetic note. If you then perform the same four steps, you are exhibiting imitation. If you skip the first two steps and focus on the door, you are exhibiting emulation.
Example demonstrating imitation vs. emulation: Imagine that you watch a baseball pitcher approach the mound, shuffle their feet, touch their cap, put a piece of gum in their mouth, and then strike out three batters. If you then approach the mound, shuffle your feet, touch your cap, and put a piece of gum in your mouth before you pitch the ball, you have engaged in imitation. If, instead, you approach the mound, stomp your feet, wave at your friend in the stands, drink a little water, and then pitch the ball, you have engaged in emulation.
Over-Imitation
Humans tend to imitate observed behavior even when it clearly has no role in producing reinforcement. E.g. following all four steps of a puzzle box solution even only the last two are relevant.
Lyons, Young, and Keil (2007) demonstrated that children imitate irrelevant steps even when urged not to do so.
It seems that in humans the tendency to over-imitate increases with age. McGuigan (2012) suggests that over-imitation progresses steadily into adulthood.
Over-imitation: The tendency to imitate obviously irrelevant acts.
Other primates copy irrelevant acts much less than humans do. Why?
Possible explanations for benefits of over-imitation:
Ensures success; irrelevant acts can be edited out later
Facilitates the dissemination of new practices
Humans are ultra-social animals.
Heyes (2012) argues that from infancy, people earn rewards for imitating others potentially influencing over-imitation.
Generalized Imitation
Baer and Sherman (1964) found that reinforcing imitation of some behaviors increased the tendency to imitate other behaviors as well. They called this tendency generalized imitation.
Generalized Imitation: Reinforcing the imitation of some acts increases the imitation of other acts, even if those other acts are not reinforced.
Lovaas et al. (1966) demonstrated that reinforcing the imitation of English words increased the imitation of Norwegian words as well, even though the imitation of Norwegian words was never reinforced.
The general tendency to imitate seems to arise at least partly as the product of learning experiences.
10-4 Variables Affecting Observational Learning
Learning Objectives
Identify how task difficulty affects observational learning.
Provide an example of how a model’s skill level may affect observational learning.
Provide five examples of how characteristics of the model affect observational learning.
Describe five characteristics of the observer that affect observational learning.
Describe the role of consequences of observed acts on observational learning.
Describe how the consequences of the observer’s behavior affect the tendency to learn by observation.
Important variables in operant procedures seem to affect observational learning in a similar manner, but with some additional tweaks and complications.
Difficulty of the Task
The more difficult a task, the less learning will likely occur during observation. However, observing a model perform a difficult task improves the likelihood of success.
In the Thompson and Russell (2004) study, observing models helped learners with more difficult tasks more than with easy tasks.