Ch. 11 learning and conditioning essay – Flashcards

In observational learning the behavior of a model is witnessed by an observer, and the observer's behavior is subsequently changed. For example the first day of school, you probably remember being a little afraid and unsure about what to do when you first arrived; where to stand, who to talk to , even where to go to the bathroom. After a while though, it all became much clearer because you could watch what other people did and follow them.

Contagious behavior is a more-or-less instinctive or reflexive behavior triggered by the occurrence of the same behavior in another individual. For example, suppose you and your friends are sitting around a table in the library, studying for a quiz. You start to yawn. One by one, each of your classmates also yawns. Not a good sign for how your study session will progress, but it is an excellent example of contagious behavior. Stimulus enhancement is another rudimentary form of social influence in which the probability of a behavior is changed because an individual's attention is drawn to a particular item or location by the behavior of another individual. For example, imagine that you are sitting in a waiting room, reading a very old magazine, when a father and his daughter walk in. The girl emits a giggle delight, so you look up and see that she is running toward a large bowl of candy in the corner that you had not previously noticed. Five minutes later, you help yourself to some candy. You do so, however, not because she took some candy (which as you will see would be an example of observational learning of an operant response), but simply because her behavior made you aware of the candy.

vicarious emotional responses are classically conditioned emotional responses that result from seeing those emotional responses exhibited by others. For example, because smiles are usually associated with pleasurable events, such as when a smiling mother feeds a baby, they quickly become conditioned to elicit pleasurable emotion. Smiles in others (NS1); Pleasurable events (US) --> Pleasant emotions in oneself (UR) Smiles in others (CS1) --> Pleasant emotions in oneself (CR)

In observational learning the person performing a behavior is the model and the person watching the behavior is the observer. From a classical perspective, smiles, giggles, and laughs are stimuli that elicit vicarious emotional responses in observers.

First we are very sensitive to the consequences of the model's behavior. If a model's behavior is reinforced, an observer is more likely to attend to the behavior. For example if you see a television commercial featuring husband receiving lavish praise and affection for sending flowers to his wife, you are likely to learn that sending flowers may result in positive reinforcement. A second factor that influences attention is whether the observer receives reinforcement for the behavior of attending to the model. Teaching is often based on this principle. Teachers demonstrate desired behaviors-something as basic as reading or as complex as writing a college essay-and reinforce their students' attention to their demonstrations. A third determinant of whether we attend to a model depends on whether the observer has sufficient skills to benefit from the modeling. For example if a model plays "chopsticks" on the piano, even a musically inexperienced observer may be able to pick up the tune quickly and with appropriate help play it herself. However, if a model plays beethovan sonata, the observer may give up all hope of ever being able to play the piano.

True imitation is a form of observational learning that involves the close duplication of a novel behavior (or sequence of behaviors). Pigeons were trained either to peck at or step on a treadle and then push a screen either to the left or to the right to obtain food. Observer pigeons were significantly more likely to demonstrate the sequence they had observed as opposed to a sequence they had not observed. pg.446

Stimulus enhancement deals with directing attention to a particular place or object, making it more likely that the observer will approach that place or object. This differs from true imitation because the particular stimulus that is performing the behavior is important for the observers to actually attempt it. And then through trial and error they themselves may receive the reinforcer, but not necessarily by actually imitating the behavior.

kittens learn more quickly to press a lever for food if they had observed their mothers pressing a lever than if they had observed a strange female cat pressing the lever. This in turn makes it more likely that the kitten would themselves manipulate the lever, and through trial and error receive food. Thus simple stimulus enhancement could result in a duplication of behavior that looks a lot like imitation. Orangutan living with humans showed anecdotal evidence of true imitation. They that observed orangutans regularly copied the complex actions of the humans whom they interacted, including learning to hang hammocks, build bridges, and use boats. In one case an orangutan even learned how to start a fire.