LRG - Observational Learning Lesson

 

Observational Learning

Just one more type of learning to learn for this unit! Albert Bandura noticed that people learn a lot by watching other people's behavior. If you've ever watched someone get in trouble for doing something and then avoided doing that behavior yourself, then you've experienced what Bandura called Observational Learning or Modeling.

Bandura set up an experiment to see just how much people learn from watching others. In his famous Bobo Doll Experiment, Bandura showed four-year-old children a video of an adult interacting with a Bobo Doll (a type of inflatable doll that pops back up when you knock it down) in a room full of other toys. The adult in the video exhibited one of three behaviors: acting violently toward the doll, playing nicely with the doll like it was a playmate, or ignoring the doll. Then Bandura sent them into a room set up just like the video and watched to see what the children did.

Most kids imitated the behavior of the adult in the video they watched. If the adult hit the doll with a hammer and then kicked it across the room, the child almost inevitably behaved the same way towards the doll. If the child had watched the video in which the adult played nicely with or ignored the doll, the child was likely to do the same.

Observational learning has important implications in many areas. One important consideration is the effect of violent media on children. According to Bandura's study, and the findings of several more recent studies, children who are exposed to violent tv shows are more likely to be violent toward peers and family members. Multiple studies also confirm that teens who play violent video games are more likely to exhibit violent behavior in real life. Violence towards others is a type of antisocial behavior.

Observational Learning isn't all bad though. It can also affect prosocial behavior. If you're the kind of person who holds doors open for people or lets someone with one item to purchase go ahead of you in line, you're exhibiting prosocial behavior, which you probably learned from observing others doing the same thing.

Observational Learning is a powerful force in our lives. Humans constantly scan the environment and note who is receiving punishments or rewards, and then we consciously or unconsciously imitate or avoid those behaviors. Even primates are capable of observational learning! Bandura called this Social Learning Theory - the idea that we learn just by observation, without any instruction or consequences aimed directly at us.

Complete the observational learning terms review below:

 

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