Observer / Demonstrator Personality And Social Learning Retention

All behavior is learnt from the environment. We learn new things new behavior through operant or classical conditioning.

DeLamater, John D., and Daniel J. Meyers. Social Psychology. 7th ed. N.p.: Cengage Learning, May 20, 2010. Print.

Observational learning is another simple behavioral training technique. It’s as simple as its name, you learn by watching others. For example, let’s say you are trying to learn to balance a book on your head. You’ve been watching your parent do it and you try it out as well by imitating their behaviors that you previously observed. That’s a basic example of learning by observation. This helps us better understand human behavior in this way: it tells us that humans observe other behavior and try to imitate it in order to achieve the same, or a similar effect. That is another basic aspect of human behaviors that also occurs on a daily basis.

People, especially younger children, are learning daily from their role models and the environment. Any type of behavior display socially is learned primarily by observing and imitating the actions of others. The social behavior is also influenced by being rewarded and/or punished for these actions.

(1963) bobo doll studies has been discussed to demonstrate that experiments that lack ecological validity still have influential results. Nevertheless, even though the experiment was controlled, and results were valid it is absent of telling whether the children would go on to demonstrate the behaviour in the real world. Subsequently, Skinners (1979) experiments were deliberated to show that ecological validity was deficient, however, the outcome of observing animals learning behaviour in their natural habitat would not have been controlled enough to discover if animals can learn behaviour. Finally, Loftus and Palmer (1974) experiments were considered to show that ecological validity can still be maintained under control conditions but this can affect how participants answer the question. Nevertheless, this is so that ethical issues are not

Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory describes the process through which people acquire new info, forms of behavior, or attitudes from others firsthand or vicariously. The likelihood of a behavior presenting itself will rely on the amount of reinforcement it receives and the value that the individual associates to it. While some behavior may be rewarded, others may produce unfavorable responses. An individual will learn from the consequences of these actions and when a similar situation arises, they will alter their behavior according to what was most successful in the past.

The social learning approach as explained in P1, suggests that learn new behaviours and information by observing other that are around them. This is also known as observational learning.

The learner will make observations and build an understanding of similarities and differences in animals.

Learning by observation is a type of learning in which an individual observes the behavior of others, sees the consequences of the behaviors, and then attempts to carry out the same behavior. Social learning is based on the standards of classical and operant conditioning and observational learning. It is a commonly shared belief that people have an instinctive ability to imitate the behavior of others. However, this ability is not unique to humans. Animals have also showed evidence of being able to mimic humans and other animals (Mazur, 2013). Chimpanzees, or Pan Troglodytes, have demonstrated social learning through many different experiments in different settings. Chimpanzees have shown the ability to observe the behavior of a model and reproduce the behavior. However, chimpanzees have also demonstrated the mental capacity of understanding when behaviors do not elicit a desired reaction and not repeating these behaviors under these circumstances. This paper will focus on chimpanzees and their ability to learn new behaviors through social learning.

In continuing with the shark example, lemon sharks have demonstrated behavioral adaptations through social learning. “Social learning is taxonomically widespread and can provide distinct behavioral advantages, such as in finding food or avoiding predators more efficiently” (Guttridge, van Dijk, Stamhuis, Krause, & Gruber, 2013, p. 55). Social learning theories believe that individuals learn particular behaviors by observing those around them and then mimicking that behavior. Social learning in lemon sharks can occur when a particular behavior, such as foraging, is exhibited by the other sharks in their given population, and that behavior attracts positive attention, acting as either a stimulus or a reward. In a study by Guttridge et al. (2013), researchers were able to track some of the social behaviors that are demonstrated by the lemon shark, including following or leading the other sharks in their group, accelerated swimming at potential pray, and target zone entry based on obtaining a particular stimulus or reward. These learned behaviors will be advantageous to future populations since they will be demonstrated to the upcoming generations. Similarly, changes in migration patterns has been seen in several species of sharks, predominantly as a result of overfishing and pollution of their habitats.

The social learning theory suggests that people learn new behaviors through observation of factors in their environment, by taking note of other’s

In addition to using reinforcement, Sutherland (November, 2013) spoke about how trainers build off the animal’s naturalistic behavior to train new behaviors. As behavior analysts we know Sutherland is referring to a procedure called autoshaping, which combines both respondent and operant conditioning. Autoshaping is when an organism produces biological characteristics that can then be reinforced (Pierce & Cheney, 2013). Autoshaping shapes the behaviors that an organism is born with by adding reinforcement contingencies. Sutherland’s analysis of her experience at the exotic zoo demonstrates that principles of behavior analysis can be used and explained without using behavior analytic terms to explain the procedures.

Learning is one important task that has a lot of complication in itself. Learning somehow starts with observation for most of us human as well as some animal species. In a recent study (Vallentin et al., Science, 2016), courtship learning process in zebra finches is examined through their development.

     Observational learning occurs when a person or an animal uses observation of another’s actions and their consequences to guide their own future actions. The person being observed is referred to as a model. For this reason observational learning is also referred to as modeling. Observational learning involves four stages, attention, retention, reproduction and motivation-reinforcement. Attention is when the learner observers the actions of the model (The higher the status of the model the more attention the learner will pay and the closer their imitations will be to the models actions). Retention is when the learner retains in their memory what they have just observed. Reproduction is when the learner will reproduce or imitate the actions of the model that they have just observed. Reproduction is when the learner reproduces or imitates what they have just observed. Motivation-reinforcement can come in various ways. External reinforcement, through praise for doing something well, self-reinforcement, through the

For example, imitation and teaching explain that chimpanzee’s may watch their mother doing actions academically (problem-solving) she never gives her young enough feedback or just a simple look to reinforce his observation. He concludes by explaining that humans have a preexisting capacity that allows them to represent what they imagine by combining human elements (language) while, animals clearly do not.