Written Report Kay Dean

8/13/2019 Written Report Kay Dean

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POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

STA. MESA, MANILA

Observational LearningOperant Conditioning

Written Report

Prepared by:

Jessa Wenica C. Pallomina

BBTE IV1D

Prepared for:

Dr. Milagrina A. GomezDean, College of Education


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Observational Learning Compared To Imitation

Observational learning differs from Imitation in that it does not require a duplication ofthe behavior exhibited by the model. For example, the learner may observe an unwanted

behavior and the subsequent consequences, and thus learn to refrain from that behavior. For

example, Riopelle, A.J. (1960) found that monkeys did better with observational learning if theysaw the "tutor" monkey make a mistake before making the right choice. Heyes (1993)

distinguished imitation and non-imitative social learning in the following way: imitation occurs

when animals learn about behavior from observing conspecifics, whereas non-imitative sociallearning occurs when animals learn about the environment from observing others.

Observational learning is presumed to have occurred when an organism copies animprobable action or action outcome that it has observed and the matching behavior cannot be

explained by an alternative mechanism. Psychologists have been particularly interested in the

form of observational learning known as imitation and in how to distinguish imitation from other

processes. To successfully make this distinction, one must separate the degree to which

behavioral similarity results from (a) predisposed behavior, (b) increased motivation resultingfrom the presence of another animal, (c) attention drawn to a place or object, (d) learning about

the way the environment works, as distinguished from what we think of as (e) imitation (thecopying of the demonstrated behavior) (Zentall 2012).

Observational learning

Tomasello (1999) described various ways of observational learning without the process

of imitation in animals: Exposure- Individuals learn about their environment with a closeproximity to other individuals that have more experience. For example, a young dolphin learning

the location of a plethora of fish by staying nears its mother.

Stimulus Enhancement - Individuals become interested in an object from watching

others interact with it (Spence 1937).

Increased interest in an object may result in object

manipulation, which facilitates new object-related behaviors by trial-and-error learning.

For example, a young killer whale might become interested in playing with a sea lion pup

after watching other whales toss the sea lion pup around. After playing with the pup, the killerwhale may develop foraging behaviors appropriate to such prey. In this case, the killer whale did

not learn to prey on sea lions by observing other whales do so, but rather the killer whale became

intrigued after observing other whales play with the pup. After the killer whale became

interested, then its interactions with the sea lion resulted in behaviors that provoked futureforaging efforts.

Goal Emulation-Individuals are enticed by the end result of an observed behavior andattempt the same outcome but with a different method. For example, Haggerty (1909) devised an

experiment in which a monkey climbed up the side of a cage, stuck its arm into a wooden chute,

and pulled a rope in the chute to release food. Another monkey was provided an opportunity toobtain the food after watching a monkey go through this process on four separate occasions. The

monkey performed a different method and finally succeeded after trial and error.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imitationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imitation


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Peer model influences

Observational learning is very beneficial when there are positive, reinforcing peer modelsinvolved. Although individuals go through four different stages for observational learning:

attention; retention; production; and motivation, this does not simply mean that when an

individual's attention is captured that it automatically sets the process in that exact order. One ofthe most important ongoing stages for observational learning, especially among children, is

motivation and positive reinforcement.

Performance is enhanced when children are positively instructed on how they can

improve a situation and where children actively participate alongside a more skilled person.

Examples of this are scaffolding and guided participation. Scaffolding refers to an expertresponding contingently to a novice so the novice gradually increases their understanding of a

problem. Guided participation refers to an expert actively engaging in a situation with a novice

so the novice participates with or observes the adult to understand how to resolve a problem.

Observational learning across cultures

Cultural variation can be seen in the extent of information learned or absorbed by

children through the use of observation and more specifically the use of observation without

verbal requests for further information. For example, children from Mexican heritage familiestend to learn and make better use of information observed during classroom demonstration thenEuropean heritage children.

Another example is seen in the immersion, of children in some

Indigenous communities of the Americas, into the adult world and the effects it has on

observational learning and the ability to complete multiple tasks simultaneously.

This might bedue to children in these communities having the opportunity to see a task being completed by

their elders or peers and then trying to emulate the task. In doing so they learn to value

observation and the skill-building it affords them because of the value it holds within theircommunity. This type of observation is not passive, but reflects the child's intent to participateor learn within a community.

Indigenous Communities of the Americas

Children observe elders, parents, and siblings completing tasks and learn to participate inthem as they grow. Observational opportunities tend to be more prominent in indigenous

communities, because children integrate in adult activities. They are seen as contributors

themselves and therefore they learn to observe multiple tasks being completed at once and can

learn to complete a task, while still engaging with other community members without beingdistracted.

The heightened value towards observation allows children to multi-task in activelyengage in simultaneous activities. The exposure to an uncensored adult lifestyle incorporating

children allows them to observe and learn the different skills and practices that are valued in their

communities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americashttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigenous_peoples_of_the_Americas


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Children from indigenous heritage communities and backgrounds learn through

observation, a learning strategy that can carry over into adulthood.

Children of indigenous

heritage communities commonly use contextual cues in their understanding and ideas. In anative Northern Canadian and an Indigenous Mayan community children often learn as third-

party observers to stories and conversations by others.

Indigenous communities utilize observational learning by providing more opportunity to

incorporate children in everyday life, where observational learning is expected and may be more

inherent to some cultures more than others. This integration of children into everyday life can beseen in some Mayan communities where children are given full access to community events,

which allows observational learning to occur more often. Children in communities such as the

Mazahua in Mexico are known to intensely observe ongoing activities.

Within certain indigenous communities a characteristic of observational learning is that

people do not typically seek out explanation beyond basic observation because they are

competent in learning through observation. In a Guatemalan footloom factory amateur adult

weavers observed skilled weavers over the course of weeks without questioning or being givenexplanations; the amateur weaver moved at their own pace and began when they felt confident.

The framework of learning how to weave through observation can serve as a model thatparticular members or groups within a society use as a reference to guide their actions in

particular domains of life.

Indigenous parent's teaching styles are shaped by their influence with western schooling.

In traditionalMayan families,given the difference of the education levels of mothers, those with

more years of formal education often prompt children to take turns in learning to solve a

problem, while mothers with less education facilitate open ended discussion with the children. Ina similar study among Mayan fathers and children showed that fathers with 03 years of

education operated through a mix of observation and shared collaboration between adults andchildren, compared to the fathers with higher levels of education who structured a discussion.

Observational Learning and Children with Autism

There are not a lot of studies done on the acquisition of knowledge through observation,

but there are none on observational learning in children with low-functioning autism accordingto Nadel, Aouka, Coulon, Grad-Vincendon, Canet, Fagard & Bursztejn (2011). This group of

researchers set out to consider whether or not children with low-functioning autism are able to

learn through observation only.

They used two groups; children aged four to nine diagnosed with Autism Spectrum

Disorder (ASD) and a control group of children. They further divided each group into two

subgroups, based on developmental age (24 or 36 months). All four groups then receiveddifferent tasks that corresponded to their developmental age. The task involved a red box that

contained candy, which the children tried to get. This study lasted nine daysduring which all

the children were given the box on the first day and given time to try to get the object out. Theywere then shown a demonstration video twice but were not given the box after the demonstration
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_peopleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_peoples


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to try to get the candy. The following day, the participants were only given the box with no video

demonstrations to test for observational learning. This was repeated seven days later.

Nadel et al. (2011) found that the children who did not have autism showed improvement

after the first demonstration. The children of a younger developmental age improved one week

later, and the older children improved after only one demonstration. Children with autismimproved after the second demonstration only.

The authors believe this means that children with autism progress the same as typicalchildren, but take longer to learn. They also believe this means that children with autism can

form motor representations for a task without prior experience, and that they can correct motor

representations after previously not being able to do a task. The researchers argue that thedifference in the need for more demonstrations for children with autism was not due to a lack of

attention but more as a result of an increased difficulty of creating a motor representation of an

action that leads to a remote goal as opposed to an immediate goal.

In free play, children with autism often display self-stimulatory behaviors that inhibitappropriate behaviors and decrease their ability to learn new behaviors. In one study, the

researchers were looking to determine the effect of the observation of peers on appropriate toy-playing skills in autistic-like children. They also examined the effects training can have on

autistic-like children, in the training situation and in a generalization setting. No study before this

1986 work looked at the ability of autistic-like children to learn skills similar to those theylearned in training, by observing a peer in a non-training setting. This study strove for insight

into the generalization of autistic-like children's skills through observational learning.

Participants included three autistic-like boys with a mean chronological age of 4.4 and a

mean age of 2.5. Six other boys with a mean age chronological age of 4.3 and a mean age of 3.2,

and good receptive and language skills, served as peer models. Each participant took part in:

A pretest to determine ten different toys that the child did not play with appropriately A baseline test of free play, where children played in a room where the ten toys

determined in the pretest were present, as well as another peer

Two training sessions, each followed by a generalization and maintenance conditionIn the first training session, the participant watched a peer (who they did not see in the

baseline test) correctly play with a toy. The second training was the same as the first except that

the participant was exposed to both a new peer model and a new toy. The amount of exposure to

a modeled play task was the independent variable, and was manipulated through additional tasks,models, and settings. Tryon and Keane (1986) identified the dependent variables as the training

task acquisition, generalization in free-play, and the frequency of both self-stimulatory behavior

and imitative play behaviors.

The authors found that all three autistic-like boys could learn to imitate the peer model,

and could play with an unfamiliar toy in the training sessions by watching a peer model. In thefollowing generalization and maintenance sessions, all the autistic-like boys learned to play with

the unfamiliar toy that they had not been trained in. The researchers noticed that the boys


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decreased their self-stimulatory behaviors as a result of the imitative play learned in training. The

authors suggested that enhanced imitation of play behaviors may have been due to the use of

multiple peer models.

Other human and animal behavior experiments

When an animal is given a task to complete, they are almost always more successful after

observing another animal doing the same task before them. Experiments have been conducted on

several different species with the same effect: animals can learn behaviors from peers. However,there is a need to distinguish the propagation of behavior and the stability of behavior. Research

has shown that social learning can spread a behavior, but there are more factors regarding how a

behavior carries across generations of an animal culture.

B.F. SKINNERS THEORY OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

Derived from the theory of Thorndike, Skinner analyzed reinforcing stimuli based on the

law of effect. Skinner also emphasized the effects of the subjects action among the causes of

behavior.

The operant conditioning theory is based on Skinners experiments with animals.

Skinner uses the term operant behavior to refer to his idea that an organism has to do something

in order to get a reward, that is, it must operate on its environment. His basic premise is that any

organism (including man) tends to repeat what it was doing at the time its behavior was

reinforced and that the task is a matter of baiting each step of the way, thus gradually leading the

subject to the required performance.

In one of Skinners well-known experiments, a hungry rat was placed in a box. Upon its

accidental pressing of a lever in a box, it was rewarded with a food pellet which served as

reinforcement to the pressing behavior. Reinforced thus, the rat kept on pressing that bar, this

time no longer accidentally but intentionally. Skinner has shown that basic to operant

conditioning is the use of reinforcement.

Reinforcement is defined as any behavioral consequence that strengthens behavior. The

reinforcement increases the likelihood of the recurrence of a particular type of response. By

reinforcement, skinner refers to any event that increases the probability that a particular response

will increase in frequency. Responses may be reinforced by the presentation (positive) orremoval (negative) of particular consequences. Thus, reinforcement may be positive or negative.

The presentation of a positive reinforce increases the likelihood that a particular response will

occur. The withdrawal of a negative reinforce will also increase the likelihood of occurrence of

a desired response by presenting or withdrawing a positive or a negative reinforcer.


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Positive and negative reinforcers influence behaviors in opposite ways. Positive

reinforcers increase response frequency. Negative reinforcers strengthen behavior by their

removal. That means termination of the reinforcing stimulus increases response frequency.

To determine whether a particular event is reinforcing, observations are conducted. The

frequency of a selected response is first observed and then made contingent on the response. Therate of responding with the added consequences is observed next. If the response frequency is

increased, the selected event is therefore reinforcing.

To be effective in altering behavior, reinforcement must be made contingent on the

execution of appropriate responses. Reinforcement increases the rate of responding; however,

elimination of the reinforcing consequence decreases the rate. This will eventually lead to

extinction. In everyday life then, reinforcement is used to prevent the extinction of behavior.

Primary and Secondary reinforcers are two types of reinforcement. There are some

reinforcers that are innately reinforcing. They are powerful in increasing the chance that aparticular behavior will occur. These are called primary reinforcers.

In primary reinforce, the increase in response rate occurs without training. Given the

state of deprivation, primary reinforcers will alter the probability of responding. Sleep is

reinforcing for a sleep-deprived person. Food and water also belong to this category of

reinforcers.

Secondary reinforcers or conditioned reinforcers influence behavior through training.

These reinforcers are not innately reinforcing. This type of reinforcement is done specifically by

developing associations with a primary reinforce. Their power to reinforce behavior is acquired.

Money, grades, stars, and tokens are all secondary reinforcers.

Primary and secondary reinforcers may have the same effectiveness depending on how

they are used or managed in the conditioning process. Both types of reinforcers are most

effective when they immediately follow the responses they are intended to increase.

Other reinforcers, however, have a more general influence on behavior. Generalized

reinforces can function under more than one set of circumstances through association with more

than one primary reinforce (e.g., Money is a token associated with food, drink, and shelter).

Attention, approval, congratulations, and peer approval are other types of generalized

reinforcers.

As in classical conditioning, a process related to operant conditioning is extinction.

Extinction of a learned behavior in this case occurs as a result of its repetition while receiving no

further reinforcement. This process of extinction may be employed in terminating an undesirable

behavior.


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In contrast with reinforcers, punishment involves the withdrawal of a positive reinforcer

or the addition of a negative reinforcer. Withdrawal of a positive reinforcer, or removing a

pleasant experience, may involve removing TV watching privileges. Presenting an unpleasant

event, on the other hand, or the addition of a negative reinforcer could be confining the child to

his room.

Skinner proposed that in terms of effect, punishment is not the opposite of reinforcement.

For Skinner, punishment leads to 3 undesirable effects:

1. Punished responses only disappear temporarily.2. Emotional predispositions such as guilt or shame may be conditioned through the use

of punishment.

3. Any behavior that reduces the aversive stimulation accompanying the punishmentwill be reinforced.

For example, a child may lie to his mother that he is sick so that he can avoid going toschool, thus avoiding taking the test. The test which serves as an aversive stimulus will only

reinforce the negative behavior of lying.

The contribution of Skinners theory to learning involves the acquisition of complex

behavior through the process of shaping.

Shaping behavior is the acquisition of complex behaviors such as playing tennis, and

solving problems. The procedure of first reinforcing responses that only resemble the desired

response is referred to as reinforcing successive approximations. This calls for reinforcing

behavior like kicking the ball when the child is just learning how to play soccer.

The importance of shaping is that it can generate complex behaviors that do not occur

naturally through shaping by a series of contingencies in a program. Each stage of the program

evokes a response and also serves to prepare the organism to respond at some later point.

Shaping is different from behavior modifications that occur with puzzles, mazes and

other Pavlovian tasks. It does not entail trial and error at random points in the learning process.

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Written Report Kay Dean