5.6: Observational Learning; Imitating the Actions of Others

Observational learning: learning that occurs through observing the actions of others

• Psychologist Albert Bandura showed that obsverational learning involves active cognitive processes, not mere “mechanical copying”

• Bandura suggests that 4 cognitive processes interact to determine whether imitation will occur:

  • 1.) You must pay attention to the other persons behavior

  • 2.) You must remember the other persons behavior so that you can perform it at a later time

  • 3.) You must transform this mental representation into actions that you are capable of reproducing

  • 4.) There must be some motivation for you to imitate the behavior

  

  Mirror Neurons and Observational Learning

• Rizzolatti discovered mirror neurons

  Mirror Neurons: brain cells that become activated both when individuals perform a motor act and when they observe the same motor act done by another individual

• They suggest that our brains have a built-in capacity for imitation, a capacity that is the foundation for many critically importane social behaviors like empathy

• Researchers believe that we acquired this ability for empathy through the mirror neuron system as a result of evolution

Applications of Observational Learning

• An important implication of Bandura’s research is the relationship between media images of violence and behavior

Does Violent Media Cause Violent Behavior?

• Some psychologists concluded that ‘exposure to violent media increases aggression and violence” but others are more cautious in their conclusions

• Psychologists on both sides of the debate agree on one important point: violent behavior is a complex phenomenon that is unlikely to have a single cause