{"id":293,"date":"2020-05-05T18:43:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T18:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=293"},"modified":"2021-09-05T16:19:06","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T16:19:06","slug":"observational-learning","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/chapter\/observational-learning\/","title":{"raw":"Observational Learning","rendered":"Observational Learning"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Learning Objectives<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nBy the end of this section, you will be able to:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Define observational learning<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Discuss the steps in the modelling process<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Explain the prosocial and antisocial effects of observational learning<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p id=\"77632\" class=\"ui-has-child-title\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Previous sections of this chapter focused on classical and operant conditioning, which are forms of associative learning. In\u00a0<\/span><strong style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"><span id=\"term435\">observational learning<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">, we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modelling, what they do or say. For instance, have you ever gone to YouTube to find a video showing you how to do something? The individuals performing the imitated behaviour are called\u00a0<\/span><strong style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"><span id=\"term436\">models<\/span>.<\/strong><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> Research suggests that this imitative learning involves a specific type of neurone, called a mirror neurone (Hickock, 2010; Rizzolatti, Fadiga, Fogassi, &amp; Gallese, 2002; Rizzolatti, Fogassi, &amp; Gallese, 2006).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ui-has-child-title\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Humans and other animals are capable of observational learning. As you will see, the phrase \u201cmonkey see, monkey do\u201d really is accurate (<\/span><a class=\"autogenerated-content\" style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/6-4-observational-learning-modeling#Figure06_04_Monkey\">Figure L.16<\/a><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">). The same could be said about other animals. For example, in a study of social learning in chimpanzees, researchers gave juice boxes with straws to two groups of captive chimpanzees. The first group dipped the straw into the juice box, and then sucked on the small amount of juice at the end of the straw. The second group sucked through the straw directly, getting much more juice. When the first group, the \u201cdippers,\u201d observed the second group, \u201cthe suckers,\u201d what do you think happened? All of the \u201cdippers\u201d in the first group switched to sucking through the straws directly. By simply observing the other chimps and modelling their behaviour, they learned that this was a more efficient method of getting juice (Yamamoto, Humle, and Tanaka, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"Figure06_04_Monkey\" class=\"os-figure\">\r\n<figure>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"488\"]<img id=\"88721\" src=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/resources\/b0e34542680870214b8ec78937c17d7bed78dff8\" alt=\"A photograph shows a person drinking from a water bottle, and a monkey next to the person drinking water from a bottle in the same manner.\" width=\"488\" height=\"266\" \/> Figure L.16\u00a0This spider monkey learned to drink water from a plastic bottle by seeing the behaviour modelled by a human. (credit: U.S. Air Force, Senior Airman Kasey Close)[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\n<p class=\"os-caption-container\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Like Tolman, whose experiments with rats suggested a cognitive component to learning, psychologist Albert Bandura\u2019s ideas about learning were different from those of strict behaviourists. Bandura and other researchers proposed a brand of behaviourism called social learning theory, which took cognitive processes into account. According to\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"term438\" class=\"no-emphasis\" style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Bandura<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">, pure behaviourism could not explain why learning can take place in the absence of external reinforcement. He felt that internal mental states must also have a role in learning and that observational learning involves much more than imitation. In imitation, a person simply copies what the model does. Observational learning is much more complex. According to Lefran\u00e7ois (2012) there are several ways that observational learning can occur:<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<ol id=\"fs-idm58056048\" type=\"1\">\r\n \t<li>You learn a new response. After watching your coworker get chewed out by your boss for coming in late, you start leaving home 10 minutes earlier so that you won\u2019t be late.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>You choose whether or not to imitate the model depending on what you saw happen to the model. Remember Naomi and their parent, Yao? When learning to surf, Naomi might watch how Yao pops up successfully on their surfboard and then attempt to do the same thing. On the other hand, Naomi might learn not to touch a hot stove after watching Yao get burned on a stove.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<p id=\"eip-585\">Bandura identified three kinds of models: live, verbal, and symbolic. A live model demonstrates a behaviour in person, as when Yao stood up on their surfboard so that Naomi could see how they did it. A verbal instructional model does not perform the behaviour, but instead explains or describes the behaviour, as when a soccer coach tells their young players to kick the ball with the side of the foot, not with the toe. A symbolic model can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviours in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/6-4-observational-learning-modeling#Figure06_04_Yoga\">Figure L.17<\/a>).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"Figure06_04_Yoga\" class=\"os-figure\">\r\n<figure>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"650\"]<img id=\"87625\" src=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/resources\/93291d0d9f0c43e6cb204826a68adad0a50db761\" alt=\"Photograph A shows a yoga instructor demonstrating a yoga pose while a group of students observes her and copies the pose. Photo B shows a child watching television.\" width=\"650\" height=\"324\" \/> Figure L.17\u00a0(a) Yoga students learn by observation as their yoga instructor demonstrates the correct stance and movement for her students (live model). (b) Models don\u2019t have to be present for learning to occur: through symbolic modelling, this child can learn a behaviour by watching someone demonstrate it on television. (credit a: modification of work by Tony Cecala; credit b: modification of work by Andrew Hyde)[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\n<div class=\"os-caption-container\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">LINK TO LEARNING<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Latent learning and modelling are used all the time in the world of marketing and advertising.\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\" href=\"http:\/\/openstax.org\/l\/jeter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">This Ford commercial starring Derek Jeter<\/a><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">\u00a0played for months across the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut areas. Jeter is an award-winning baseball player for the New York Yankees. The commercial aired in a part of the country where Jeter is an incredibly well-known athlete. He is wealthy, and considered very loyal and good looking. What message are the advertisers sending by having him featured in the ad? How effective do you think it is?<\/span><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', serif;font-size: 1em;font-weight: bold\">Steps in the Modelling Process<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<section id=\"fs-idm90042416\">\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm47939712\">Of course, we don\u2019t learn a behaviour simply by observing a model. Bandura described specific steps in the process of modelling that must be followed if learning is to be successful: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. First, you must be focused on what the model is doing\u2014you have to pay attention. Next, you must be able to retain, or remember, what you observed; this is retention. Then, you must be able to perform the behaviour that you observed and committed to memory; this is reproduction. Finally, you must have motivation. You need to want to copy the behaviour, and whether or not you are motivated depends on what happened to the model. If you saw that the model was reinforced for their behaviour, you will be more motivated to copy them. This is known as\u00a0<strong><span id=\"term439\">vicarious reinforcement<\/span><\/strong>. On the other hand, if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy them. This is called\u00a0<strong><span id=\"term440\">vicarious punishment<\/span><\/strong>. For example, imagine that four-year-old Lake watched their older sibling Opal playing with their parent's makeup, and then saw Opal get a time out when their parent came in. After their parent left the room, Lake was tempted to play in the make-up, but did not want to get a time-out from their parent. What do you think Lake did? Once you actually demonstrate the new behaviour, the reinforcement you receive plays a part in whether or not you will repeat the behaviour.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idp13756704\">Bandura researched modelling behaviour, particularly children\u2019s modelling of adults\u2019 aggressive and violent behaviours (Bandura, Ross, &amp; Ross, 1961). He conducted an experiment with a five-foot inflatable doll that he called a Bobo doll. In the experiment, children\u2019s aggressive behaviour was influenced by whether the teacher was punished for their behaviour. In one scenario, a teacher acted aggressively with the doll, hitting, throwing, and even punching the doll, while a child watched. There were two types of responses by the children to the teacher\u2019s behaviour. When the teacher was punished for their bad behaviour, the children decreased their tendency to act as the teacher had. When the teacher was praised or ignored (and not punished for her behaviour), the children imitated what the teacher did, and even what the teacher said. They punched, kicked, and yelled at the doll.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div id=\"fs-idm85115728\" class=\"psychology link-to-learning ui-has-child-title\"><section>\r\n<div class=\"os-note-body\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">LINK TO LEARNING<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">Watch this\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/openstax.org\/l\/bobodoll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">video clip about the famous Bobo doll experiment<\/a>\u00a0to see a portion of the experiment and an interview with Albert Bandura.<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/div>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm28805040\">What are the implications of this study? Bandura concluded that we watch and learn, and that this learning can have both\u00a0<span id=\"term441\" class=\"no-emphasis\">prosocial<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<span id=\"term442\" class=\"no-emphasis\">antisocial<\/span>\u00a0effects. Prosocial (positive) models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behaviour. Parents in particular should take note of this finding. If you want your children to read, then read to them. Let them see you reading. Keep books in your home. Talk about your favourite books. If you want your children to be healthy, then let them see you eat right and exercise, and spend time engaging in physical fitness activities together. The same holds true for qualities like kindness, courtesy, and honesty. The main idea is that children observe and learn from their parents, even their parents\u2019 morals, so be consistent and toss out the old adage \u201cDo as I say, not as I do,\u201d because children tend to copy what you do instead of what you say. Besides parents, many public figures, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, are viewed as prosocial models who are able to inspire global social change. Can you think of someone who has been a prosocial model in your life?<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm91671136\">The antisocial effects of observational learning are also worth mentioning. Research suggests that this learning may help to explain why children who experienced abuse often grow up to abuse others (Murrell, Christoff, &amp; Henning, 2007). Children who experience abuse, who grow up witnessing their parents deal with anger and frustration through violent and aggressive acts, often learn to behave in that manner themselves. Sadly, it\u2019s a vicious cycle that\u2019s difficult to break.<\/p>\r\n<p id=\"fs-idm65050016\">Some studies suggest that violent television shows, movies, and video games may also have antisocial effects (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/6-4-observational-learning-modeling#Figure06_04_Videogames\">Figure L.18<\/a>) although further research needs to be done to understand the correlational and causational aspects of media violence and behaviour. Some studies have found a link between viewing violence and aggression seen in children (Anderson &amp; Gentile, 2008; Kirsch, 2010; Miller, Grabell, Thomas, Bermann, &amp; Graham-Bermann, 2012). These findings may not be surprising, given that a child graduating from high school has been exposed to around 200,000 violent acts including murder, robbery, torture, bombings, beatings, and rape through various forms of media (Huston et al., 1992). Not only might viewing media violence affect aggressive behaviour by teaching people to act that way in real life situations, but it has also been suggested that repeated exposure to violent acts also desensitizes people to it. Psychologists are working to understand this dynamic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/section>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">Learning Objectives<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>By the end of this section, you will be able to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Define observational learning<\/li>\n<li>Discuss the steps in the modelling process<\/li>\n<li>Explain the prosocial and antisocial effects of observational learning<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"77632\" class=\"ui-has-child-title\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Previous sections of this chapter focused on classical and operant conditioning, which are forms of associative learning. In\u00a0<\/span><strong style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"><span id=\"term435\">observational learning<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">, we learn by watching others and then imitating, or modelling, what they do or say. For instance, have you ever gone to YouTube to find a video showing you how to do something? The individuals performing the imitated behaviour are called\u00a0<\/span><strong style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"><span id=\"term436\">models<\/span>.<\/strong><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"> Research suggests that this imitative learning involves a specific type of neurone, called a mirror neurone (Hickock, 2010; Rizzolatti, Fadiga, Fogassi, &amp; Gallese, 2002; Rizzolatti, Fogassi, &amp; Gallese, 2006).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"ui-has-child-title\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Humans and other animals are capable of observational learning. As you will see, the phrase \u201cmonkey see, monkey do\u201d really is accurate (<\/span><a class=\"autogenerated-content\" style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/6-4-observational-learning-modeling#Figure06_04_Monkey\">Figure L.16<\/a><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">). The same could be said about other animals. For example, in a study of social learning in chimpanzees, researchers gave juice boxes with straws to two groups of captive chimpanzees. The first group dipped the straw into the juice box, and then sucked on the small amount of juice at the end of the straw. The second group sucked through the straw directly, getting much more juice. When the first group, the \u201cdippers,\u201d observed the second group, \u201cthe suckers,\u201d what do you think happened? All of the \u201cdippers\u201d in the first group switched to sucking through the straws directly. By simply observing the other chimps and modelling their behaviour, they learned that this was a more efficient method of getting juice (Yamamoto, Humle, and Tanaka, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"Figure06_04_Monkey\" class=\"os-figure\">\n<figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 488px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"88721\" src=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/resources\/b0e34542680870214b8ec78937c17d7bed78dff8\" alt=\"A photograph shows a person drinking from a water bottle, and a monkey next to the person drinking water from a bottle in the same manner.\" width=\"488\" height=\"266\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure L.16\u00a0This spider monkey learned to drink water from a plastic bottle by seeing the behaviour modelled by a human. (credit: U.S. Air Force, Senior Airman Kasey Close)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"os-caption-container\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Like Tolman, whose experiments with rats suggested a cognitive component to learning, psychologist Albert Bandura\u2019s ideas about learning were different from those of strict behaviourists. Bandura and other researchers proposed a brand of behaviourism called social learning theory, which took cognitive processes into account. According to\u00a0<\/span><span id=\"term438\" class=\"no-emphasis\" style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Bandura<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">, pure behaviourism could not explain why learning can take place in the absence of external reinforcement. He felt that internal mental states must also have a role in learning and that observational learning involves much more than imitation. In imitation, a person simply copies what the model does. Observational learning is much more complex. According to Lefran\u00e7ois (2012) there are several ways that observational learning can occur:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ol id=\"fs-idm58056048\" type=\"1\">\n<li>You learn a new response. After watching your coworker get chewed out by your boss for coming in late, you start leaving home 10 minutes earlier so that you won\u2019t be late.<\/li>\n<li>You choose whether or not to imitate the model depending on what you saw happen to the model. Remember Naomi and their parent, Yao? When learning to surf, Naomi might watch how Yao pops up successfully on their surfboard and then attempt to do the same thing. On the other hand, Naomi might learn not to touch a hot stove after watching Yao get burned on a stove.<\/li>\n<li>You learn a general rule that you can apply to other situations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p id=\"eip-585\">Bandura identified three kinds of models: live, verbal, and symbolic. A live model demonstrates a behaviour in person, as when Yao stood up on their surfboard so that Naomi could see how they did it. A verbal instructional model does not perform the behaviour, but instead explains or describes the behaviour, as when a soccer coach tells their young players to kick the ball with the side of the foot, not with the toe. A symbolic model can be fictional characters or real people who demonstrate behaviours in books, movies, television shows, video games, or Internet sources (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/6-4-observational-learning-modeling#Figure06_04_Yoga\">Figure L.17<\/a>).<\/p>\n<div id=\"Figure06_04_Yoga\" class=\"os-figure\">\n<figure>\n<figure style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" id=\"87625\" src=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/resources\/93291d0d9f0c43e6cb204826a68adad0a50db761\" alt=\"Photograph A shows a yoga instructor demonstrating a yoga pose while a group of students observes her and copies the pose. Photo B shows a child watching television.\" width=\"650\" height=\"324\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Figure L.17\u00a0(a) Yoga students learn by observation as their yoga instructor demonstrates the correct stance and movement for her students (live model). (b) Models don\u2019t have to be present for learning to occur: through symbolic modelling, this child can learn a behaviour by watching someone demonstrate it on television. (credit a: modification of work by Tony Cecala; credit b: modification of work by Andrew Hyde)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<div class=\"os-caption-container\">\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">LINK TO LEARNING<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\"><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">Latent learning and modelling are used all the time in the world of marketing and advertising.\u00a0<\/span><a style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\" href=\"http:\/\/openstax.org\/l\/jeter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">This Ford commercial starring Derek Jeter<\/a><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">\u00a0played for months across the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut areas. Jeter is an award-winning baseball player for the New York Yankees. The commercial aired in a part of the country where Jeter is an incredibly well-known athlete. He is wealthy, and considered very loyal and good looking. What message are the advertisers sending by having him featured in the ad? How effective do you think it is?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', serif;font-size: 1em;font-weight: bold\">Steps in the Modelling Process<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<section id=\"fs-idm90042416\">\n<p id=\"fs-idm47939712\">Of course, we don\u2019t learn a behaviour simply by observing a model. Bandura described specific steps in the process of modelling that must be followed if learning is to be successful: attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation. First, you must be focused on what the model is doing\u2014you have to pay attention. Next, you must be able to retain, or remember, what you observed; this is retention. Then, you must be able to perform the behaviour that you observed and committed to memory; this is reproduction. Finally, you must have motivation. You need to want to copy the behaviour, and whether or not you are motivated depends on what happened to the model. If you saw that the model was reinforced for their behaviour, you will be more motivated to copy them. This is known as\u00a0<strong><span id=\"term439\">vicarious reinforcement<\/span><\/strong>. On the other hand, if you observed the model being punished, you would be less motivated to copy them. This is called\u00a0<strong><span id=\"term440\">vicarious punishment<\/span><\/strong>. For example, imagine that four-year-old Lake watched their older sibling Opal playing with their parent&#8217;s makeup, and then saw Opal get a time out when their parent came in. After their parent left the room, Lake was tempted to play in the make-up, but did not want to get a time-out from their parent. What do you think Lake did? Once you actually demonstrate the new behaviour, the reinforcement you receive plays a part in whether or not you will repeat the behaviour.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idp13756704\">Bandura researched modelling behaviour, particularly children\u2019s modelling of adults\u2019 aggressive and violent behaviours (Bandura, Ross, &amp; Ross, 1961). He conducted an experiment with a five-foot inflatable doll that he called a Bobo doll. In the experiment, children\u2019s aggressive behaviour was influenced by whether the teacher was punished for their behaviour. In one scenario, a teacher acted aggressively with the doll, hitting, throwing, and even punching the doll, while a child watched. There were two types of responses by the children to the teacher\u2019s behaviour. When the teacher was punished for their bad behaviour, the children decreased their tendency to act as the teacher had. When the teacher was praised or ignored (and not punished for her behaviour), the children imitated what the teacher did, and even what the teacher said. They punched, kicked, and yelled at the doll.<\/p>\n<div id=\"fs-idm85115728\" class=\"psychology link-to-learning ui-has-child-title\">\n<section>\n<div class=\"os-note-body\">\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff\">LINK TO LEARNING<\/span><\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">Watch this\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/openstax.org\/l\/bobodoll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">video clip about the famous Bobo doll experiment<\/a>\u00a0to see a portion of the experiment and an interview with Albert Bandura.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p id=\"fs-idm28805040\">What are the implications of this study? Bandura concluded that we watch and learn, and that this learning can have both\u00a0<span id=\"term441\" class=\"no-emphasis\">prosocial<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<span id=\"term442\" class=\"no-emphasis\">antisocial<\/span>\u00a0effects. Prosocial (positive) models can be used to encourage socially acceptable behaviour. Parents in particular should take note of this finding. If you want your children to read, then read to them. Let them see you reading. Keep books in your home. Talk about your favourite books. If you want your children to be healthy, then let them see you eat right and exercise, and spend time engaging in physical fitness activities together. The same holds true for qualities like kindness, courtesy, and honesty. The main idea is that children observe and learn from their parents, even their parents\u2019 morals, so be consistent and toss out the old adage \u201cDo as I say, not as I do,\u201d because children tend to copy what you do instead of what you say. Besides parents, many public figures, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, are viewed as prosocial models who are able to inspire global social change. Can you think of someone who has been a prosocial model in your life?<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idm91671136\">The antisocial effects of observational learning are also worth mentioning. Research suggests that this learning may help to explain why children who experienced abuse often grow up to abuse others (Murrell, Christoff, &amp; Henning, 2007). Children who experience abuse, who grow up witnessing their parents deal with anger and frustration through violent and aggressive acts, often learn to behave in that manner themselves. Sadly, it\u2019s a vicious cycle that\u2019s difficult to break.<\/p>\n<p id=\"fs-idm65050016\">Some studies suggest that violent television shows, movies, and video games may also have antisocial effects (<a class=\"autogenerated-content\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/6-4-observational-learning-modeling#Figure06_04_Videogames\">Figure L.18<\/a>) although further research needs to be done to understand the correlational and causational aspects of media violence and behaviour. Some studies have found a link between viewing violence and aggression seen in children (Anderson &amp; Gentile, 2008; Kirsch, 2010; Miller, Grabell, Thomas, Bermann, &amp; Graham-Bermann, 2012). These findings may not be surprising, given that a child graduating from high school has been exposed to around 200,000 violent acts including murder, robbery, torture, bombings, beatings, and rape through various forms of media (Huston et al., 1992). Not only might viewing media violence affect aggressive behaviour by teaching people to act that way in real life situations, but it has also been suggested that repeated exposure to violent acts also desensitizes people to it. Psychologists are working to understand this dynamic.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":29,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2116,"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/293\/revisions\/2116"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/29"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/293\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaleditions.library.dal.ca\/intropsychneuro\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}