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Related Concept Videos

Observational Learning01:12

Observational Learning

Albert Bandura's observational learning, also known as imitation or modeling, occurs when a person observes and imitates another's behavior. It is a quicker process than operant conditioning. A well-known example is the Bobo doll study, where children who saw an adult acting aggressively towards the doll were more likely to act aggressively when left alone, compared to those who observed a nonaggressive adult. Many psychologists view observational learning as a form of latent learning because...
Nonconscious Mimicry01:13

Nonconscious Mimicry

Nonconscious mimicry occurs when individuals alter their mannerisms to match the behaviors and expressions of those nearby, without intention.
Purposive Learning01:22

Purposive Learning

E. C. Tolman emphasized the purposiveness of behavior — the idea that much of our behavior is goal-directed. For instance, employees who aim for a promotion work diligently to meet their targets. Tolman argued that when classical conditioning and operant conditioning occur, the organism acquires certain expectations. In classical conditioning, a child might fear a dog because they expect it to bite. In operant conditioning, a person might consistently work overtime because they expect a bonus...
Cognitive Learning01:21

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...
Fundamental Attribution Error01:14

Fundamental Attribution Error

According to some social psychologists, people tend to overemphasize internal factors as explanations—or attributions—for the behavior of other people. They tend to assume that the behavior of another person is a trait of that person, and to underestimate the power of the situation on the behavior of others. They tend to fail to recognize when the behavior of another is due to situational variables, and thus to the person’s state. This erroneous assumption is called the fundamental attribution...
Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory01:29

Theory of Attribution II: Kelley's Covariation Theory

Attribution theory plays a crucial role in social psychology, helping to explain how individuals interpret the causes of behavior. One prominent model within this field is Harold Kelley's covariation theory, which provides a systematic approach to determining whether internal traits or external circumstances drive a person's actions. The model posits that individuals rely on three key types of information—consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness—to make these judgments.Consensus: Comparing...

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Related Experiment Video

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Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm
06:35

Examining Recall Memory in Infancy and Early Childhood Using the Elicited Imitation Paradigm

Published on: April 28, 2016

Over-imitation is better explained by norm learning than by distorted causal learning.

Ben Kenward1, Markus Karlsson, Joanna Persson

  • 1Department of Psychology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden. ben.kenward@wolfson.oxon.org

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
|October 15, 2010
PubMed
Summary

Children copy unnecessary actions in goal-directed tasks, but flexibly adjust based on context. This suggests over-imitation stems from ignorance of purpose or learning social norms, not causal inference.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Development
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Learning

Background:

  • Over-imitation is children's tendency to copy all actions in a sequence, even those seemingly irrelevant to the goal.
  • Previous theories suggested children infer causal necessity for all observed actions, even in transparent systems.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying over-imitation in young children.
  • To differentiate between causal inference and social norm learning as explanations for over-imitation.

Main Methods:

  • Study involved 4- and 5-year-old children observing goal-directed action sequences.
  • Children's imitation of unnecessary actions and their verbal explanations were analyzed.
  • Variations included adult performance of the unnecessary action and causally transparent/opaque systems.

Main Results:

  • Four-year-olds associated unnecessary actions with the specific goal, not the general apparatus.
  • Children flexibly omitted actions already performed by adults.
  • Five-year-olds did not verbally justify unnecessary actions causally, unlike necessary ones.

Conclusions:

  • Verbal data do not support the hypothesis that children over-imitate due to inferring causal necessity in transparent systems.
  • Over-imitation may arise from ignorance of an action's purpose or adherence to a prescriptive social norm.
  • In causally opaque systems, observed actions are more readily inferred as necessary, representing ordinary causal learning.