Do we need social interaction?
Harry Harlow’s ‘Surrogate Mothers’ and other
experiments
Group 1: Terrycloth
mother did not provide
food.
Group 2: Wire mother
provided food.
Isolation Chambers
Pit of Despair
Isolation of Monkeys
Partially and Fully isolated monkeys
Partially isolated (occasional social contact) –
• Repetitive circling of cages, blank staring, and
occasional self mutilation
Total social deprivation (6, 12, 24 months)
• 6 months = emotional shock when reintroduced:
rocking and clenching, rare anorexia
• 12, 24 months = “obliterated the monkeys socially”
All isolated monkeys exhibited little to no
recovery
Social Learning
Process of altering behavior observing and
imitating the behavior of others.
Observational Learning and Cognitive Learning
“Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to
mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on
the effects of their own actions to inform them
what to do.”
• Albert Bandura (1977)
Observational Learning
Observational Learning
Learning by observing others.
Modeling
The process of observing and imitating a specific
behavior.
Vicarious Reinforcement
You first engage in a behavior because you saw
someone else get rewarded
Directly tied to Operant Conditioning
Mirror Neurons
Fire both when performing actions and
when observing another doing so.
NOVA – Mirror Neurons
Modeling
Follow the Leader: The behavior of others
increases the chances that we will do the same
thing
Clapping, looking out the window, copying the
styles and verbal expressions of our peers
Observational Learning
Watch someone else perform a behavior,
then be able to perform the behavior
yourself
Learning a game, dance move, sport
Role Models
Role Models
Do we chose to be a role model?
How important are older siblings?
parents? peers?
"I don't believe professional athletes should be role
models. I believe parents should be role models.... It's not
like it was when I was growing up. My mom and my
grandmother told me how it was going to be. If I didn't
like it, they said, "Don't let the door hit you in the ass on
your way out." Parents have to take better control."
• Sir Charles Barkley
Albert Bandura’s Bobo Doll
Experiment
Children were exposed to adults displaying
aggression toward a bobo doll, and were
then observed in a room filled with toys
What happened?
Bobo Clip
The beating of Bobo…
TV and Violence
Before you turn 18, you will see approx. 18,000
simulated murders on TV & movies
Since the 1960s, more than 3,000 studies have
linked television violence to real violence
Results: viewers become
desensitized to violence,
become more fearful
behave more violently
Bandura’s Social-Cognitive Theory
Social-Cognitive Theory applies
fundamentals of social learning to
personality and behavior choices.
Social-Cognitive Theory Clip
Extinction of Phobias /
Disinhibition
Learning that seemingly threatening
experiences can be safe
Phobia treatment (counter-conditioning)
Safety of new environment
Application of Social Learning
Bad news – antisocial models may have
antisocial effects on children
Good news – prosocial (positive, helpful)
models can have prosocial effects
Consistency of words and actions.
Social learning plays a large role
Parents are extremely powerful models
Children See, Children Do
Latent (Incidental) Learning
Learning that occurs without knowledge
being immediately expressed
Accidental learning that occurs in the process
of another behavior
• Setting the table, putting in a light bulb
Knowledge is there, but does not come out until
a reinforcer appears
Cognitive Maps
E.C. Tolman studied in 1930s
Taught rats a maze through repetition, without
providing reinforcement (food)
Once a reinforcer was presented for completion of
the maze, the rats were just as quick to complete
as rats which received food upon every
completion
A mental picture of a place which allows you to
navigate to an unseen destination
Formation of Insight
An insight is a new way to organize stimuli
or a new approach to solving a problem
Once insight has occurred, no further
training is necessary
Wolfgang Kohler
Chimps with insight
Pigeon shows insight
Learned Helplessness
Condition in which a person gives up due to
repeated failure
Seligman’s electric shock dog studies
Hiroto’s study of college students (1974)
People feel they have no control over
environment; success seems more a matter of luck
than skill
Learned Laziness - Condition that occurs if
rewards come without effort, a person never learns
to work.
Martin Seligman on Depression
Learned helplessness is a leading cause of
depression
Stability
Temporary vs. Stable
Globality
Specific vs. Global
Internality
External vs. Internal
Behavior Modification
Systematic application of learning principles to
change people’s actions and feelings
Involves a series of well-defined steps to change
behavior.
The success of each step is carefully evaluated to find
the best solution for a given situation.
Common in sports training and drug treatment –
involves intense drive to become an ideal product
Modeling, classical conditioning, operant
conditioning
Self Control
Changing your own behavior
1. Define the problem specifically
This can often lead to a change in behavior
2. Behavioral contract
Study Habits
Considerations: negative emotions, environment,
conditioning
Bad Habits
How are bad habits formed?
Procrastination
Favoring immediate reinforcement and
accepting delayed punishment
Token Economies
Desirable behavior is reinforced with
valueless objects, which can be
accumulated and exchanged for valued
rewards
Used most commonly in prisons, mental
hospitals
Combats attention as reinforcement drawback
Does this result in long term learning?