Learning by Observation
Observational Learning (social learning)
is learning a new behavior by watching a
model perform that behavior.
• What are some examples of observational
learning you can think of.
Albert Bandura is a pioneer researcher
in the field of observational learning.
• Famous for the “Bobo doll” research.
Bandura’s Bobo Doll research
Points to remember from Bandura’s
research:
• There are four elements necessary for
observational learning to occur:
 Attention: the learner must pay
attention to the model
 Memory: the learner must be able to
retain the memory
 Imitation: the learner must be capable
of imitating the actions of the model
 Motivation: the learner must have the
desire to perform the action
Points to remember from Bandura’s
research:
• We are more likely to learn from people
we perceive as more similar to
ourselves, or a powerful influence.
• Consequences matter: Children did not
imitate behavior when models were
punished.
• Children were able to duplicate model’s
actions if told they would get a reward.
Group Activity: Choose one ad and answer:
1) How does this ad capture your attention? 2) How does the
celebrity in the ad appeals to you? 3) What qualities do you
associate with this celebrity? 4) Do these qualities relate to the
product that is being advertised?
“You can be someone’s
Super Hero”
Mirror neurons:
• Cutting-edge theory in neuroscience
• Frontal lobe neurons some scientists
believe fire when performing certain
actions or when observing others
performing the actions.
• May enable imitation and empathy.
Prosocial & Antisocial modeling:
• Prosocial = positive, constructive,
helpful behavior
• Examples in business, social movements &
families
• Antisocial = aggressive, destructive,
abusive behavior
• Correlation studies that show increase in
aggressive behavior with heavy doses of
media violence
Violence-viewing effect:
• Homicide rates in U.S. and Canada
doubled between 1957 and 1974 when
TV was introduced
• White South Africans saw a similar
doubling after TV was introduced in
1975
• Elementary school
children with heavy
media exposure tend to
get into more fights as
teens
These are mostly correlation studies
• Correlation does not prove causation
• Do more aggressive people tend to
watch more violent TV?
• Do children with more neglectful or
abusive parents park their kids in front
of TV more w/o monitoring programs?
• What prosocial effects are children with
high TV viewing habits missing by
watching so much TV?
Exit Ticket
• Write a paragraph about a time that you
learned something by observation.
• Please be specific – don’t just write as
sentence. Describe what you learned, how
you learned it, from whom you learned, did
it generalize to other things, were you aware
you were learning at the time or was it just
something you picked up? Try to be
complete in your answer.