Logan:  Principles of Learning

              PRINCIPLE: OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING -- IMITATION

          Conditioning is facilitated if the organism has first 
          observed another experienced organism subjected to the
          conditioning situation.

     Although observation learning is most commonly studied in
operant/instrumental conditioning or discrimination learning, it is
important to introduce the topic early in a survey of the basic
Principles of Learning and it does indeed apply to classical
conditioning.  Which is more, observational learning is operationally a
classical (sensory) conditioning procedure. That is to say, it involves
the sequential presentation of stimulus events to the observer without
regard to the observer's behavior.  The principle states that the
observing organism learns about the contingencies between the stimuli
from observing a model being subjected to those contingencies.  However,
 although such learning can be very significant, it is not as effective as
actually being directly subjected to the contingencies.

      For example, a dog might be placed in the experimental room somewhat
away from the experimental subject who is brought into the room, placed in
the restraining apparatus, and exposed to the conditioning sequence of a
metronome preceding food delivery to the model. Following this 
preexposure, the observer is a more willing participant in the experiment
and displays more rapid conditioning.  In fact, some CR may be observed
on the very first trial.

     It should be noted that the observer must also be motivated at the
time of observing the model, and there are some indications that there may
be an optimal amount of preexposure for maximal benefit from the
experience.  Of special importance is the perceived similarity of the
model to the observer; a dog profits more from watching another dog
engaged in the conditioning situation.  

     Observational learning would appear at first glance strongly to
favor the cognitive interpretation of conditioning.  After all, the
dog has simply watched the experienced subject being put through its
paces and yet behavior is modified by such observations.  The
behavioristic theorist, however, refers to this phenomenon as VICARIOUS
LEARNING and contends that the observing subject actually
makes incipient, fractional responses during the observation period.
Specifically the observer certainly heard the metronome and clearly
saw the food being delivered.  The observer presumably also salivates at
the sight of food, since that event has certainly been previously 
conditioned to salivation, and so the procedure is actually a special
case of higher-order conditioning.  Consistent with this general view is
the fact that observing organisms often show emotional responses when
another organism is exposed to an emotionally-significant event
such as a painful shock.  If one is correct that the organism vicariously
responds to the US that is presented to another organism, then the
evidence of observational learning does not resolve the basic controversy.

     The resolution of the cognitive-behavioristic controversy need not
detain us from the empirical phenomenon of observational/vicarious
learning.  It is a well documented principle not only with humans but
with many other mammals as well.  As indicated, the principle also
obtains in the other learning paradigms that we shall be discussing and
it is important to note that imitation is learnable.  Human children in
particular are reinforced for imitative behavior while, for example,
learning to talk.  Hence, although observational/vicarious learning is
not dependent on special training, its importance is very significantly
increased in organisms who have indeed been taught to profit from the
experience of others.

     One of the most familiar contexts for observational learning in
modern society is television.  At issue is the extent to which
violence (and sex, etc.) on T.V. begets violence in the streets.  What
empirical evidence there is on the matter is consistent with the
implications of the Principle of Observational Learning.  Indeed,
television has the potential of having a major impact on learning.

     Earlier it was noted that our attitudes, beliefs, and prejudices
reflect classical conditioning of emotional responses.  Many of these
are learned vicariously.  You may never personally have been maligned by
a person of another race but observing others reveal these prejudices
will strongly influence your opinion through the principle of
observational learning.  There is also the other side of the coin:
many people think that "it can't happen to me."  For example, many is the
recovering alcoholic wh has convinced himself or herself that
controlled social drinking is again possible.  Much more often than not,
this conviction turns out to be very much in error.

TERMS: Conditioning (classical, higher-order, instrumental, operant,
sensory), conditioned response, imitation, vicarious learning,
discrimination learning, motivation.