Modeling

Description of the Strategy

Modeling is said to occur when a child learns by observing others. A young boy “pretends” to smoke a cigarette like his father and get ready for work in the morning like his mother. Similarly, a teenager “swaggers” down the street like his or her favorite actor or actress. As noted early on by Albert Bandura, modeling is based on the principles of vicarious or observational learning. Research conducted within the broad framework of cognitive social learning theory, a theory pioneered by Bandura, shows that virtually all learning that results from direct experiences can also result from vicarious ones (i.e., as a function of observing the behavior of others and the consequences associated with that behavior). Children acquire new ...