Chapter 12 - Cognitive and Noncognitive Aspects of Social Learning

Abstract

It is well recognized that animals can acquire a new response by observing the behavior of others, however there remains some controversy concerning the mechanisms responsible for this learning. Of particular interest is observational learning, which is presumed to have occurred when an organism copies an improbable action or action-outcome that it has observed and the matching behavior cannot be explained by an alternative mechanism. Psychologists have been especially interested in the form of observational learning known as imitation and in how to distinguish imitation from other processes. To successfully make this distinction, one must distinguish imitation (the copying of the demonstrated behavior) from the degree to which behavioral similarity results from (i) predisposed behavior, (ii) increased motivation resulting from the presence of another animal, (iii) attention drawn to a place or object, (iv) learning about the way the environment works. Several of the processes that may be involved in observational learning are reviewed, including social facilitation, stimulus enhancement, several kinds of emulation, and various forms of imitation.