AP Psych Unit 6: Observational learning

-aka social learning -learning by observing others

-the process of observing and imitating a specific behavior -most effective when consistent -ex: not touching stove when sister is burned

-frontal lobe neurons that fire when performing certain actions or when observing another do so -enables imitation and empathy -helps with theory of mind

-starts young 8 to 16 months: infants imitate novel gestures 12 months: look where adult looks 14 months: imitate things off of the T.

V -Giacomo Rizzolati: monkey see monkey do -people with autism experience it less -more likely to imitate people like us

reveal that humans have a mirror neuron system that supports empathy and imitation

-pioneering researcher for observational learning -belived what determines whether we'll imitate a model is partial reinforcement and punishments by the model and imitator

-banduras famous experiment -kid was in room and watched an adult lash out on a doll, the kid was taken to a room w. toys and then taken to another room w. a few toys including a doll -the kid lashed out on the doll just like the adult -example of imitation and is caused by reinforcement and punishment bc we see the consequence by observing the model

-positive, helpful behavior -prosocial model= prosocial effect -observational learning of morality begins early and models are effective when actions and words are consistent -ex: encouraging kids to read by surrounding them with those who do

-negative, harmful effects -aggression: may be passed on thru genes but is mainly environmental, agressive parents=aggressive you -T.V: 9 in 10 people watch tv daily and by 75 we spend 5 years watching tv

-imitation and desentization -tvs only show 74% of violence is unpunished and 54% dont show the victims pain

we are half of what we are by imitation