Observational Learning

Observational Learning

Observational learning, also known as modeling, was studied a great deal by a scientist named Albert Bandura.  Bandura believed that many of us learn through copying others.  Modeling is said to have two components, observation and imitation.  You watch somebody do something and then you attempt to copy it.  Bandura set up a very famous experiment called the Bobo Doll experiment to elucidate his ideas.

The Bobo Doll Experiment

Bandura had children witness a model (man who was working for Bandura) aggressively attacking a plastic clown called the Bobo doll. The children would watch a video where the man would aggressively hit a doll and pummel it on the head with a hammer, hurls it down, sits on it and punch it on the nose repeatedly, kick it across the room, flings it in the air, and bombard it with balls.  After the video, the children were placed in a room with attractive toys, but they could not touch them. Therefore, the children became angry and frustrated. Then the children were led to another room where there were identical toys used in the Bobo video (with Bobo dolls).  Bandura and many other researchers founded that 88% of the children imitated the aggressive behavior. Eight months later, 40% of the same children reproduce the violent behavior observed in the Bobo doll experiment.

It is obvious that we do learn some of our behaviors from observing others.  Even today as I walk through the halls at school, I see you guys observing each other, looking for desirable behaviors.  These behaviors that lead to social elevation (popularity) are observed and imitated.  Like if a popular girl wears a certain type of skirt, her behavior is observed and two months later those skirts are all around the school.  The same goes for language, music and even attitudes towards teachers and other students.  Most of this research has gone into investigating the fact that some violent behaviors are learned just by watching violence.  Think about what that says about our movies and video games and their effect on our lives.