Observational Learning In Psychology

Bandura (1985) found that humans, who are social animals, naturally gravitate toward observational learning. For example, children may watch their family members and mimic their behaviors.

In observational learning, people learn by watching others and then imitating or modeling what they do or say. Thus, the individuals or objects performing the imitated behavior are called models (Bandura, 1985).

Even infants may start imitating the mouth movements and facial expressions of the adults around them.

Bandura (1977) identified four cognitive processes that determine observational learning: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation.

Attention

• Noticing the Model: Learners must first pay attention to the behavior, since nothing can be learned from a model that goes unnoticed.
• Model Traits: Models who are high-status, talented, intelligent, or otherwise similar to the observer tend to draw more attention (Bandura, 1985).
• Observer Traits: The observer’s own mood and current interest also shape how closely the behavior gets watched.
• The Learning Environment: Attention depends on the environment too: distraction, poor visibility, or an overly complex action can all reduce what is noticed and registered.
• In Practice: This is why trainers often break a complex action into smaller steps and cut down distractions so learners can follow it clearly.
• Example: Someone climbing the corporate ladder may watch and mimic the behavior of managers and vice presidents (Debell, 2021).

Retention

• Storing the Behavior: Attention alone is not enough; observers must also retain the behavior so they can reproduce it later.
• How It’s Stored: The behavior can be stored as a mental picture of what the model did, or as a verbal description that can be rehearsed in words.
• Aiding Retention: Mnemonic devices or spaced repetition help structure the information so it is easy to remember and later perform with little effort (Debell, 2021).
• Rehearsing the Behavior: Mentally picturing the action, or physically practicing fragments of it, both strengthen the stored memory.
• Why It Matters: A behavior that is broken down into clear, meaningful steps is remembered better than one stored as a single unstructured sequence.
• Long-Term Storage: A well-retained behavior can be recalled and performed long after the original observation, sometimes years later.

Motor Reproduction

• Turning Memory Into Action: Retention gives the observer a mental guide; motor reproduction is putting that guide into actual physical movement.
• Physical Limits: Even a well-remembered behavior cannot be performed if the observer lacks the strength, coordination, or physical maturity to do it.
• Time to Master: Reproducing a complex behavior accurately often takes hours of practice, and can take years to fully craft and perfect (Debell, 2021).
• A Matching Process: The observer’s own attempt is compared to the retained model and gradually adjusted until it lines up, rather than being copied perfectly in one try.
• Feedback Helps: Comparing an attempt against the remembered model, with help from a coach, teacher, or mirror, lets the observer correct mistakes and improve.
• Example: A young child who has watched an adult drive a car cannot reproduce that behavior until they are physically old enough.

Motivation

• The Final Requirement: Even a well-learned behavior is not performed unless the observer is motivated to produce it.
• Intrinsic vs Extrinsic: Motivation can come from within, or externally through rewards and punishments.
• Three Sources: Motivation can come from an observer’s own past rewards for a behavior, from seeing a model rewarded or punished, or from the observer’s own sense of pride or guilt.
• Watching Consequences: Seeing what happens to the model, rather than experiencing it directly, is often enough to raise or lower an observer’s motivation to act.
• Why It’s Separate: Motivation determines whether a learned behavior is shown, not whether it was learned in the first place.
• Example: The extrinsic motivation of someone seeking to climb the corporate ladder could include the incentive of earning a high salary and more autonomy at work (Debell, 2021).

Bandura concluded that people and animals alike watch and learn and that this learning can have both prosocial and antisocial effects.

Vicarious reinforcement is the term for this effect: seeing a model rewarded or punished shapes whether an observer performs a behavior, without the observer experiencing any consequence themselves.

Bandura (1965) demonstrated this directly. Children who watched a model punished for aggression imitated it less than children who saw the model rewarded or unpunished. When later offered a reward for reproducing the behavior, however, all three groups performed it equally well.

This showed that the model’s consequences affect performance, not learning. Even the children who saw punishment had already learned the behavior; they simply had less reason to show it.

Prosocial or positive models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behavior. For example, parents, by reading to their children, can teach their children to read more.

Parents who want healthy-eating children can model that behavior themselves, eating well and exercising, and spend fitness time together as a family.

Observational learning argues that children tend to copy what parents do above what they say (Daffin, 2021).

Observational learning has also been used to explain how antisocial behaviors develop. For example, research suggests that observational learning is a reason why many abused children grow up to become abusers themselves (Murrell, Christoff, & Henning, 2007).

Abused children tend to grow up witnessing their parents deal with anger and frustration through violent and aggressive acts, often learning to behave in that manner themselves.

Some studies have also suggested that violent television shows may also have antisocial effects, though this is a controversial claim (Kirsh, 2011).

Observational Learning and Behavioral Modification

Observational learning can be used to change already learned behaviors, both positive and negative.

Bandura argued that if all behaviors are learned by observation, they can also be unlearned the same way. Because people model their behavior on those around them, undesirable behaviors can be altered or relearned through new models.

Bandura suggested showing people a model in a situation that usually causes them some anxiety.

For example, a psychologist treating a fear of blood draws might show the client a model using relaxation techniques while calmly getting blood drawn.

By seeing the model interact nicely with the fear-evoking stimulus, the fear should subside. This method of behavioral modification is widely used in clinical, business, and classroom situations (Daffin, 2021).

In the classroom, a teacher may use modeling to demonstrate how to do a math problem for a student. Through a prompt delay, that teacher may then encourage the students to try the problem for themselves.

If the student can solve the problem, no further action is needed. If the student struggles, a teacher may use one of four types of prompts: verbal, gestural, modeling, or physical.

Similarly, a trainer may show a trainee how to use a computer program to run a register.

As before, the trainer can use prompt delays and prompts to test the level of learning the employee has gained.

Reinforcers can then be delivered through social support after the trainee has successfully completed the task themself (Daffin, 2021).