STAGES OF OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

 Children See, Children do 

 Bandura explains that there are 4 stages of observation that a person must go through before they can act out a new behaviour.

Stage #1: Attention  To learn through observation, you must pay attention to another person’s behaviour and its consequences

Stage #2 Retention  You may not have occasion to use an observed response for weeks, months, or even years. Hence, you must store a mental representation of what you have witnessed in your memory

Stage 3: Reproduction  Enacting a modeled response depends on your ability to reproduce the response by converting your stored mental images into overt behaviour. This may not be easy for some responses. For example, most people can’t execute a breathtaking windmill dunk after watching Kobe Bryant do it in a game

Stage 4: Motivation  Finally, you are unlikely to reproduce an observed response unless you are motivated to do so. Your motivation depends on whether you encounter a situation in which you believe that the response is likely to pay off for you. 

Follow up questions:  1. Why do you think the children acted the way they did?  2. what does this video tell us about observational learning?  3. do you think children between the ages of 0-5 can tell the difference between aggressive behaviour and non-forceful or gentle behaviour? Do you think children need to be taught the difference between the two?

 4. Do you think that all children that are exposed to aggressive behaviour will become aggressive?  5. Do you think that parents who act violently in their homes are irresponsible parents? Why do you feel this way?

 Human aggression:   A A  