Lecture 5: Social learning

Historical Roots

• Skinner/Watson (behaviourists) believed that all of our behaviours were determined by direct experience

BUT is direct experience necessary for learning to occur?

Social learning

• “Social learning occurs when an organism’s responding is influenced by the observation of others, who are called models”

Real Snake

Lab-raised monkeys are not normally afraid of snakes.

Big deal

Observational conditioning

If a lab-raised monkey sees a wild monkey act afraid of a snake…

!

Performer Observer

Observational conditioning

… it will acquire a fear of snakes.

!

Observer

!

Performer Observer

= US

CS

!UR =

Observer

!CR =

Social Learning?

Instrumental Conditioning (Trial and error)

R Pecking the lid

Rft Access to milk

(Sd milkman gone)

Social facilitation vs Social Learning?Goal Enhancement

– Getting access to some wanted goal might facilitate later trial and error learning, e.g. access to cream which is not usually readily available

Stimulus Enhancement – Observe others and are often more likely approach places

that they are, e.g. the milk bottles

Increased Motivation to Act– Try more new things in the company of friends and parents

Contagious Behaviour– Mimicking an already learnt behaviour, e.g. yawning

Two-action test

Two-action test

OR

Capp et al (2005)

Capp et al (2005)

Capp et al (2005)

Capp et al (2005)

Capp et al (2005)

Social (instrumental) learning

Mimicry– copying without reference to a goal

Emulation– understanding there is a goal but not using the

same method to gain access to the goal

Imitation– copying with reference to a goal

• Mimicry is a copied action that is made without reference to a goal, or that may not be reinforced by some consequence.

• Replicating the action regardless of result

Mimicry

Emulation

• There is understanding of the goal but the specific response required to obtain the goal may not be well understood

• Eg. Chimpanzees obtaining food with a rake

Imitation

• Copied actions made with respect to the goal/consequence

• A replication of the same response(s) made by the ‘performer’.

E.g. infants solving two-action tasks in the same manner the demonstrater did

Bandura, Ross & Ross, 1961

Modeling• Children will not only imitate an adult’s specific

behaviour but also model general styles of behaviour (e.g., aggressive vs gentle play).

• Suggested cognitive aspects of social learning:– People actively watch others to gain knowledge about

the type of things that they do– Use that knowledge in situations where it’s useful,– Information is not always used immediately.

Bandura (1965)How does reinforcement influence modeling?

Three groups1) Model rewarded 2) Model punished3) No consequence

Model observed on TV

Two tests; no incentive and positive incentive

Bandura (1965)

Bandura (1965)

Modeling is reinforcement dependent

Modeling can occur through TV, not just in person

Social cognition theory

1. Attention to the model,2. Incorporate the model’s actions into

memory,3. Requires having the ability to reproduce the

actions of the model,4. The motivation to reproduce the actions of

the model– Was the model reinforced?– Is the reinforcer currently desired?

Applications

Advertising campaigns – Some real R-Rft associations, e.g.

smoking, drink driving, weight watchers– Some manufactured R-Rft associations– Often a role of CC too

Smacking a child…who has just bitten another child(?)