5.6 Observational Learning and Cognitive Learning
Notes
Albert Bandura showed that people learn by watching others, called observational learning or modeling.
- In the Bobo doll experiment, children who watched an adult act aggressively toward a doll tended to copy the behavior.
- Steps: attention, retention, reproduction, motivation. People are more likely to copy models who are similar, admired or rewarded (vicarious reinforcement).
- Latent learning (Tolman): learning that is not shown until there is a reason. Insight learning (Köhler): a sudden "aha" solution.
- Prosocial models can encourage helpful behavior as well.
- Learning involves thinking, not just stimuli and responses.
Practice
A child sees an older sibling get praised for cleaning and then starts cleaning too. This is:
The child learned by watching a model be rewarded.
Who conducted the Bobo doll experiment?
Bandura studied observational learning of aggression.
A rat that explored a maze with no reward suddenly runs it perfectly once food appears at the end. This shows:
Learning occurred earlier but was not shown until there was a reason.
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