Vicarious Reinforcement Research Articles

The development of a conditioned reinforcer through direct and vicarious reinforcement

The study was designed to compare the effect and vicarious reinforcement in the development of a conditioned reinforcer. Task learning subjects received response contingent reinforcement which followed either a red or a blue light by about 3 sec. Observers watched the Task subjects. Some observers merely observed the Task subject, others observed but received reinforcements which depended upon the Task subject's responses. Conditioning was measured by subject's preference for the color associated with reinforcement. Under similar conditions, Task subjects showed conditioning while observers did not. The results suggest that the difference of conditioning in the two conditions may be interpreted as a difference in subject involvement.

Perceived Maternal Child-Rearing Experience and the Effects of Vicarious and Direct Reinforcement on Males

Perceived Maternal Child-Rearing Experience and the Effects of Vicarious and Direct Reinforcement on Males

Vicarious reinforcement effects on extinction

The present study was intended to demonstrate a vicarious partial reinforcement effect (PRE) and to determine the effects of vicarious reinforcement patterns on spontaneous recovery. Twenty-eight nursery school children were assigned to the four combinations of direct or vicarious reinforcement and continous or partial reinforcement conditions. All subjects participated in two consecutive extinction series. The PRE was found to occur whether the subjects had been reinforced directly or had observed a model reinforced. The PRE also occurred after spontaneous recovery. The PRE apparently can be included with other phenomena of “direct” learning which have been demonstrated to function in vicarious learning as well.

Direct reinforcement, sex of model, sex of subject, and learning by vicarious reinforcement

This experiment compared imitation of male and female models under a vicarious-reinforcement (VR) and a combination VR/direct-reinforcement (DR) condition. Both sexes were used as Ss, and female Ss performed significantly better than did male Ss. The sex of the model was only significant in the VR condition, where the female model was superior. The VR-DR treatment proved to be significantly more effective than VR alone.

The Effect of Vicarious Reinforcement on Imitation in Two Social-Racial Groups

The Effect of Vicarious Reinforcement on Imitation in Two Social-Racial Groups

THE EFFECT OF VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT ON IMITATION IN TWO SOCIAL-RACIAL GROUPS

2 experiments were performed in which young boys observed a male model exhibit aggressive behavior. In the first experiment, Head Start boys who observed a model who received considerable verbal positive reinforcement imitated significantly less than subjects who observed a model who received no reinforcement. The second experiment replicated certain portions of the first experiment but with University Laboratory School boys. The results showed that subjects who observed the reinforced model imitated more, but not significantly so, than subjects who observed the nonreinforced model. The Laboratory School subjects in the positive vicarious reinforcement condition imitated significantly more than their counterparts from Head Start. These results were discussed in terms of past history of reinforcement for imitation which may be linked to racial or socioeconomic variables.

Effect of Noncontingent Vicarious Reinforcement on Verbal Learning in a Group Situation

This study compared the effects of contingent and noncontingent vicarious reinforcement (VR) on group verbal conditioning by direct reinforcement (DR). The results indicated that noncontingent VR impedes learning. In addition, this experiment compared group and individual verbal conditioning and found that they were not significantly different in their effects.

"Vicarious Reinforcement and Imitation in a Verbal Learning Situation": Erratum.

"Vicarious Reinforcement and Imitation in a Verbal Learning Situation": Erratum.

Comparison of direct and vicarious reinforcement and an investigation of methodological variables.

Comparison of direct and vicarious reinforcement and an investigation of methodological variables.

Vicarious reinforcement and imitation in a verbal learning situation.

Vicarious reinforcement and imitation in a verbal learning situation.

児童の学習に及ぼすモデルの課題解決行動と代理的強化の効果

児童の学習に及ぼすモデルの課題解決行動と代理的強化の効果

Imitation in children as a function of perceived similarity to a social model and vicarious reinforcement.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of perceived similarity to a social model and the model's response consequences on imitation in children. Preadolescent boys viewed a film in which a male model was portrayed as being either similar or dissimilar to S in terms of background and interests. The model being observed received either reward, punishment, or no consequences for performing a series of instrumental actions. High perceived similarity to the model resulted in greater imitation than low perceived similarity. High perceived similarity to the model appeared to facilitate acquisition of imitative responses as well as performance. The effects of response consequences to the model on imitation were not as widely generalized as the effects of perceived similarity. Previous research has shown that one determinant of matching behavior is the degree to which the subject perceives himself as similar to the model. It has been hypothesized, for example, that the perception of similarities existing between persons leads to perceiving or creating still further similarities. Stotland and his associates have tested this hypothesis using several different procedures. Stotland and Patchen (1961) found that perceived similarity to a model in background and personal characteristics produced a shift in attitudes of prejudice and authoritarianism toward those of the model. In a similar study (Burnstein, Stotland, & Zander, 1961), it was found that sixth-, seventh-, and eighthgrade boys adopted more of the sea-diving preferences of a deep-sea diver portrayed as being similar to them in background and other characteristics than of a deep-sea diver described as dissimilar. Also, Stotland, Zander, and Natsoulas (1962) found that subjects who believed themselves to be similar to a confederate on preferences for musical compositions matched the confederate's 1 This study was part of a doctoral dissertation submitted to the graduate school of the University of Minnesota. The author wishes to express her gratitude to Willard W. Hartup for his generous advice and assistance. The research was supported, in part, by the John E. Anderson Research Fund and completed with the aid of the facilities of the Numerical Analysis Center at the University of

Vicarious reinforcement and noninstrumental punishment in observational learning.

Vicarious reinforcement and noninstrumental punishment in observational learning.

Model similarity and observer learning.

During Phase I 5 groups of 9 Ss each were instructed to say words at a signal to obtain a baseline of animal responses. 4 of the groups then said words intermittently with a taped model during Phase II. Two groups were exposed to a “normal” model and two groups were exposed to a “retardate” model. Half of the Ss under each taped condition received vicarious reinforcement, i.e., hearing “good” from an E when the model gave a critical response. Half under each tape condition received no vicarious reinforcement. The fifth group, a control group, heard no tapes and received no reinforcement. Model-observer similarity emerged as a significant factor. Reinforcement facilitated learning under both model conditions. The control group showed no increment in critical responses across trials.

Comparison of the effects of positive and negative vicarious reinforcement in an operant learning task.

Comparison of the effects of positive and negative vicarious reinforcement in an operant learning task.

Determinants of the effects of vicarious reinforcement.

Determinants of the effects of vicarious reinforcement.

Effects of inter- and intra-response class differences upon learning via vicarious reinforcement

This study examined the effect of differences in reinforced word classes upon acquisition of a verbal response. Subjects learned by observation of another person being reinforced for saying critical words (vicarious reinforcement—VR). Seventy-two male undergraduate S s, who were run individually, said a word in response to a signal light. The S responded alternately with the tape-recorded voice of another person performing the same task for 50 trials. The taped voice gave critical words with increasing frequency (20% to 80%). Each critical word was followed by another voice saying “good.” The 3 × 2 factorial design consisted of three levels of critical word-class size (size being determined on the basis of a preliminary task), and two levels of intra-class strength (word frequency). Results showed the mean proportion of critical responses per block of 10 trials given, to be a direct function of both word-class size and word frequency.

VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT IN CHILDREN AT TWO AGE LEVELS.

VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT IN CHILDREN AT TWO AGE LEVELS.

Vicarious learning of common and uncommon associations in children

The vicarious acquisition of common and uncommon verbal associations was studied in 347 children. Results indicated that a disposition for uncommon responding could be learned vicariously and was dependent solely on the model’s performance; instructions to the model, as well as the presence or absence of vicarious reinforcement, were insignificant variables. No systematic relationships were found between imitative behavior and scores derived from 3 children’s personality scales.

THE APPROVAL MOTIVE, VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT AND VERBAL CONDITIONING.

This study investigated the relationship of approval motivation to verbal conditioning under vicarious reinforcement. Fifteen college students completed 20 operant trials in a sentence construction task. They then observed E reinforce a “programmed” confederate who emitted critical responses according to a typical acquisition curve. Fifteen control Ss observed identical confederate behavior with the reinforcements omitted. An additional 15 control Ss did not receive the observation phase. All Ss then were given 40 nonreinforced trials. A significant conditioning effect occurred only for Ss with high need for approval in the vicarious reinforcement condition. Results were related to previous verbal conditioning research.