Psychology of Learning

Module 12: Observational Learning 2

Key Terms

Achievement Standards: Internalized criteria for when self-reward is appropriate; learned through observing models’ self-reinforcement patterns.

Action Understanding: Automatically comprehending others’ actions by simulating them in one’s own motor system; mirror neurons create internal representations.

Active Participation: A feature of video games distinguishing them from passive television viewing; players perform violent actions themselves.

Autism Spectrum Disorder: A neurodevelopmental condition characterized by differences in social communication & restricted/repetitive behavior patterns.

Broken Mirror Hypothesis: The theory that autism involves reduced mirror neuron activity, explaining social learning deficits; recent reviews find insufficient support.

Cognitive Modeling: A form of modeling in which the model demonstrates behavior while also describing the thought process involved.

Cultural Spillover Theory: Theory that levels of acceptance of violence in media are reflected by acceptance of violence in society.

Cultural Transmission: The passage of knowledge, skills, & traditions across generations through social learning rather than genetic inheritance.

Cumulative Cultural Evolution: The process by which knowledge accumulates across generations, with each generation building on previous discoveries.

Delay of Gratification: Bypassing immediately available smaller rewards in favor of larger rewards not immediately available.

Desensitization: Reduced emotional responsiveness to violence following repeated exposure.

Emotional Contagion: The tendency to automatically mimic others’ emotional expressions & consequently converge emotionally.

Empathy: Understanding others’ emotions by simulating their emotional expressions in one’s own brain.

Emulation: The imitation of goals observed without necessarily using the exact same behaviors observed.

Learning-Performance Distinction: Bandura’s insight that observational learning occurs regardless of model consequences, but performance depends on expected outcomes.

Mirror Neurons: Neurons that fire both when an organism performs a behavior & when observing another performing the same behavior.

Normalization: The gradual process by which repeated media violence exposure shifts perceptions of acceptable behavior.

Overimitation: The tendency (especially in human children) to copy adult behaviors that are unnecessary for achieving goals; an adaptation for cultural learning.

Reciprocal Causation: When two variables influence each other bidirectionally; media violence & aggression may have reciprocal effects.

Selection Effects: The alternative explanation that correlations reflect aggressive individuals preferring violent media rather than media causing aggression.

Self-Regulation: The use of internal monitoring to determine appropriate times to demonstrate learned behaviors; controlling impulses for long-term goals.

Self-Reinforcement: Administering rewards to oneself contingent on meeting performance criteria; children observationally learn self-reinforcement patterns.

Social Transmission: The spread of behaviors or information through a social group via observational learning.

Theory of Mind: The ability to understand that others have mental states that may differ from one’s own; crucial for true social learning.

Vicarious Punishment: Observing a model receive punishment, decreasing the observer’s spontaneous performance but not preventing learning.

Vicarious Reinforcement: Observing a model receive reinforcement, increasing the observer’s motivation to perform similar behaviors.