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Observational Learning

The belief that learning can occur from observing other people's behavior, and the consequences related to the behavior, is one of the most important principles of social learning theory. Observational learning is an important construct because a vast amount of research has revealed how social modeling can be used to decrease aggression; promote prosocial behavior such as altruism, consoling, empathy, generosity, and sharing; and facilitate the adoption of positive moral attitudes and behavior.

Prior to Albert Bandura's seminal research on observational learning, which began in the early 1960s, many researchers believed that children could not imitate behavior in the presence of an adult model, nor could they generalize imitative response patterns transferred to novel situations in which the model was absent. Bandura and his colleagues provided counterevidence to these hypotheses and empirically showed that ideas, values, attitudes, skills, and patterns of behaviors are learned by observing models rather than caused by instincts, drives, personality traits, stimulus-response associations, or schedules of reinforcement, or governed by stage conceptions of development.

Next, an overview of the outcomes of observational learning is discussed, followed by a review of the subprocesses underlying observational learning. The focus then shifts to a description of the types of models, concluding with an overview of the characteristics of effective models.

Outcomes of Observational Learning

Social learning theorists contend that observational learning leads to five important outcomes. First, people can learn new behaviors and attitudes by watching others. Second, observing others leads to response facilitation, which motivates the observer to perform the behavior or learn when to use an already learned behavior. Third, observational learning can lead to the strengthening or weakening of inhibitions. Inhibition occurs when models are punished for performing certain actions, which then terminates or prevents the observer from engaging in imitation. Disinhibition of behaviors occurs when models perform threatening or prohibited activities without any negative consequences, thereby leading the observer to perform the same act. A fourth outcome of observational learning is that people may develop emotional reactions to situations they had never experienced in the past. A fifth potential outcome of observational learning is that people's attention is often directed to a particular object or event.

Observational Learning Subprocesses

Bandura identified four required and interrelated subprocesses of observational learning: attention, retention, production, and motivation, which must occur in order for observational learning to take place. The first subprocess, attention, specifies that people cannot learn from observing a model unless they pay attention. People select certain models based on their own needs, interests, and self-efficacy beliefs related to agiventask.

The second subprocess of observational learning is referred to as retention, reflecting the importance of memory functioning in social learning theory. An individual may pay attention and observe the behaviors of a model, and yet does not perform the action until a later time. The observer must be able to remember the actions of the model and engage in the process of silent verbal coding.

Third, in order to reproduce someone else's behavior, the observer must have the necessary motor skills or physical ability to perform the behavior.

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