Observational Learning

Behaviour – Children Imitate TV Violence. a) Demonstrate your understanding of the following concepts by referring to the stimulus items in your answer, as well as other evidences: * Models * Vicarious conditioning * The 4 elements of Observational learning
Observational learning can be described as a type of learning that occurs as a function of observing, absorbing and copying different behaviour performed by models. The most well-known theorist for observation learning would have to be Albert Bandura (1977), who studied the behaviours of violent children. This was called the BoBo Doll Experiment. In that experiment children watched a lady kicking and punching a BoBo doll. When they had finished watching the children were taken into the room and their behaviour towards the BoBo doll were recorded. The children received no punishment for being violent towards the doll. The experiment was also preformed again, but this time with the model receiving a negative reinforcement. In this case the children seeing the model being punished would make them want to act aggressively towards the doll to see what would happen, this is known as vicarious reinforcement. However, if they also receive a punishment for being aggressive they would be less likely to do it again. This is called vicarious punishment. This relates to the first stimulus because of the parents describing the way their children behave after watching a violent TV show. In stimulus 1 the children’s models are Power Rangers and Gladiators, the children who watch these shows are said to behave violently and in an ‘anti-social manner’, which relates to Bandura’s BoBo doll experiment, because of the children copying what they have just seen. This is known as vicarious conditioning, which is the learning a number of attitudes, feelings, and emotions, not through direct contact to a stimulus, but through observing how a model reacts to it. This relates to observational learning because the models behaviour doesn’t have to be mimicked for conditioning to have occurred.
The term ‘models’ is a very broad expression, models can be something as simple as family and friends who you tend to look up to and will often try to follow in their footsteps, or it could be other people such as celebrities, or TV characters. As stimulus 2 which is the female diver, she will gain experience by not much using that training gadget, but she would see other divers and look at the tactics they use and would be able to shape them into perfection, using them like models to gain more experience and improve her overall performance. This works with stimulus 1 because she is watching other people and modelling their behaviours in diving just like the children are copying TV characters. Both of these are worked into observational learning and the four key elements which are attention, retention, reproduction and reinforcement – motivation.
Attention is a key element because in order to learn through observation, the models behaviour must be watched. Just like the children with the BoBo doll, they had to watch the model in order to copy what they were doing. As did the children who imitated TV violence. The show itself needs to captivate the age group that the show is meant for though, such as needing to keep the childrens attention of the show, such as the costumes, in both shows the characters have costumes that would keep a child entertained because they are bright or shiny.

Retention is also a key element because after watching the model, they must be able to mimic the models behaviour. This also relates to attention because the aspects of the show that draws in the viewer have obviously been interesting enough for them to remember what happened and how the models acted. This is shown in Stimulus 1 because it was clear that the children took in the way the models were acting in order for reproduction to occur.
Reproduction is when the models behaviour has been recollected in their memory, then can now attempt to reproduce what has been observed. This is quite clear to see in Stimulus 1 that the children have reproduced the behaviour seen in the TV shows. The final element is motivation – reinforcement, which means being motivated to perform the behaviour. Motivational progressions relate to the greater likelihood of observers displaying modelled behaviour if it results in outcomes such as positive reinforcement rather than punishment. There are three types of reinforcement which are external which is learning by consequence, vicarious and that is observing a modelled behaviour being reinforced and self- reinforcement this is meeting goals that have been self-set. In Stimulus 1 it would be external reinforcement because they are watching the show and imitating what was shown based on the consequences shown on the TV show such as if the good guys beat up the bad guys they are often met with praise and congratulations so they are likely to repeat the behaviour.
b) Use evidence to explain how humans learn through other cognitive learning processes. Refer to the stimulus items as well as research to support your view.
Cognitive maps is a process which majorly supports learning, this is where by going places quite often, the mind makes a mental map of that place and you are able to easily find your way around.
Latent learning is one cognitive process that is fairly important, this is when learning occurs, but it is not exhibited until a reward or type of reinforcement is given. An example of this is Edward C Tolman’s experiment. In this experiment three groups of rats were trained to run a maze. Group 1, was fed upon reaching the goal. Group 2, was not rewarded for the first six days of training, but found food in the goal on day seven and everyday thereafter. Group 3, was not rewarded for the first two days, but found food in the goal on day three and everyday thereafter. Both of the groups had fewer errors when running the maze the day after they started to be rewarded. This suggested that the rats had learned during the initial trials of no reward and were able to use a "cognitive map" of the maze when the rewards were introduced. This is like in stimulus one when the children are watching Gladiators and they may be running around, yet the children only run around to copy the show not to gain physical ability. If they were rewarded for doing physical activity, then they may run to be healthy instead of copying a show.
Another learning process used in the first Stimulus would be insight learning which was first introduced by Wolfgang Kohler and his chimpanzee, Sultan. Insight learning is a type of learning or problem solving that happens all-of-a-sudden through understanding the relationships different parts of a problem rather than through trial and error. The chimp learned to use a stick to pull bananas from outside of his cage by putting pieces of stick together. Given two sticks that could be fitted together to make a single pole that was long enough to reach the bananas, aligned the sticks and in a flash of sudden inspiration, fitted the two sticks together and pulled in the bananas. He didn't do this by trial and error, but had a sort of abrupt inspiration or insight. This relates to

http://psych-2010-revision.wikispaces.com/Elements+of+Observational+Learning+-+ARRMR http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Observational_learning.html http://behavenet.com/vicarious-conditioning http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Insight%20Learning