Observational Learning

When was the last time you watched someone perform a task with the intention of learning it yourself? Whether you were shadowing a seasoned employee at a new job, watching a YouTube tutorial to learn a new skill, or observing a professional athlete to perfect your physical performance, you’ve experienced the power of learning through observation.

The idea of observational learning stems from social learning theory, a perspective introduced by psychologist Albert Bandura that suggests that observation and modeling are key to learning.¹ This learning process plays an important role in how we adopt new behaviors and beliefs.

Unlike other forms of learning, observational learning does not require reinforcement or punishment. Learning occurs through simply observing another person’s actions. However, sometimes the actions of others have consequences that influence how likely we are to imitate their behavior.

Of course, observational learning isn’t as simple as sitting down and passively watching someone do something — if this was the case, picking up new skills would be far too easy. Bandura proposed that learning through observation requires four active cognitive processes.² These are:

• Attention: The learner must be paying attention to the model and their behavior.
• Retention: The learner must remember the behavior. The better you remember the behavior, the more likely you’ll be able to replicate it.
• Reproduction: The learner must be physically able to replicate the behavior. This stage involves translating your memory of the behavior into the actual performance of the behavior.
• Motivation: The learner must have the motivation to replicate the behavior. This stage ultimately determines whether these learned behaviors emerge as action.

The first two processes describe how we learn new behaviors while the second two processes describe how we perform these learned behaviors. Importantly, all of these processes can be impacted by our self-efficacy.³ Self-efficacy is our belief in our ability to replicate the modeled behavior. If we believe we can perform the observed behavior, we are more likely to pay attention, retain relevant details, and attempt to imitate it.
These processes can also rely on the consequences of the observed behavior. Bandura’s research revealed that people are more likely to imitate behaviors that were rewarded and less likely to imitate behaviors that were punished.¹ This demonstrates one of the greatest values of observational learning — the ability to learn from other people’s mistakes!

• Model: The individual performing the behavior being learned. In observational learning, the model can be a real person demonstrating the behavior specifically for learning purposes, such as a yoga teacher leading a class, or a symbolic model simply executing the behavior in books, movies, or television. The model can also take the form of verbal instructions, like how a tennis coach might verbally describe how to properly grip a tennis racket.
• Vicarious Reinforcement: The process of learning by observing someone else being rewarded for a behavior. This increases the likelihood of the observer mimicking the model's behavior.
• Vicarious Punishment: The process of learning by observing someone else being punished for a behavior. This reduces the likelihood of the observer imitating the behavior.
• Social Learning Theory: A theory of learning proposing that behaviors can be acquired by observing and imitating others. Social learning theory suggests that learning is both a behavioral and cognitive process that can take place even in the absence of direct reinforcement. 
• Mirror Neurons: Neurons that fire when we perform a specific action, but also when we observe someone else performing this same action. These neurons are likely involved in observational learning and might also play a role in how we experience empathy and understand the actions of others.5

Psychologists Albert Bandura and his colleagues identified observational learning in the 1960s and 70s. Bandura rejected the psychoanalytical basis for behavior — a view that was prominent at the time — and set out to discover how one’s environment plays a role in behavior change.¹ He was determined to evaluate the role of observation in learning, with a particular interest in how modeling violent behavior could encourage aggression and affect one’s moral judgment.

The Bobo Doll Experiment

Bandura and his colleagues conducted one of the most famous experiments on this subject, the Bobo doll experiment, in 1961.⁵ Bandura intended to study the effect of observational learning on children’s behavior and determine whether children would model aggressive behaviors when the model was no longer present. 

In the study, children participants were divided into three groups: a control group, a group exposed to an aggressive model, and a group exposed to a subdued and nonaggressive model. The experiment took place in a room set up with several toys, including a large Bobo doll — an inflatable clown-like doll that wobbles around a low center of mass. In the first experimental group, children witnessed an adult behaving aggressively towards the doll, displaying distinctive acts beyond just bopping it, such as sitting on it and punching it repeatedly, hitting it with a mallet, and tossing it across the room. Children in the second experimental group witnessed the adult playing peacefully with tinker toys and ignoring the Bobo doll completely.

All children were then allowed to play in a room with the doll and other toys. The result? Children exposed to the aggressive model were significantly more likely to imitate the aggressive behavior, reproducing many of the specific aggressive actions of the model toward the Bobo doll. The nonaggressive and control groups exhibited virtually no imitated aggression. This study demonstrated that children can learn aggressive behavior even without direct reinforcement.

Bandura’s follow-up studies revealed that children would imitate aggressive behavior regardless of whether the model was a real person or a cartoon. He also found that vicarious reinforcement and punishment could influence whether or not children would express these learned behaviors.

Social Learning Theory

Bandura’s various discoveries about observational learning led to the development of social learning theory in 1977.⁶ He had initially outlined this theory a decade prior, with the early version focused entirely on a behavioral perspective. His revised social learning theory included a cognitive component. In his theory, Bandura acknowledged that learning could also occur without an observable behavior change — we can learn through observation, but this doesn’t mean we’ll overtly express every behavior we learn. Bandura also argued that learning is not passive and outlined the four cognitive processes involved in observational learning we discussed earlier.

Modern Research

More recent research on observational learning focuses on the neuroscience behind this learning process. Much of this research was initiated by the discovery of mirror neurons in the early 1990s. Mirror neurons are a type of visuomotor neurons — brain cells that coordinate vision and movement — that fire when we perform a specific action and when we observe someone else performing a similar action.⁴ There is still much research to be done to understand exactly how mirror neurons play a role in learning.

Albert Bandura: Professor of psychology at Stanford University and one of the world’s most influential social psychologists. Bandura is best known for developing social learning theory and the concept of self-efficacy. He authored hundreds of scientific papers and published several books. Bandura was granted numerous awards and honors for his extensive research and contributions to the field of psychology.⁷

Research on observational learning, and social learning overall, has helped us understand how we acquire skills and knowledge throughout our lives. Today, observational learning is recognized as fundamental to several learning processes, including how we acquire language, experience social empathy, learn societal roles, and develop our motor skills.

Childhood Education

The study of observational learning often focuses on childhood education. After all, a great deal of observational learning occurs in early childhood education settings where children imitate their peers, friends, parents, and educators, replicating the behaviors and attitudes of these models. Research suggests this is how children pick up cultural norms and learn their place in society.⁸

Interestingly, Western societies do not facilitate this process as smoothly as societies where children are more wholly integrated into the adult world. For example, it’s common in American communities to separate children from adult environments and place them in specially designed spaces curated to their needs. In other regions, such as Mexico, children are closely integrated into adult society where they can observe adult models in a real-world environment.

Notably, the process of learning through observation doesn’t always have positive results. By observing parents and other societal models, children can develop unconscious biases that could perpetuate social inequalities. Studying observational learning can help us understand how we can support children in their learning while mitigating biases to encourage inclusive behavior in the generations to come.

Motor Skill Development

Beyond offering a mechanism for how we learn behaviors and attitudes, there is also strong evidence to suggest that observational learning is involved in the development of motor skills. Several researchers have studied this in physical education students, finding that observational learning significantly improves children’s skills in sports like swimming, gymnastics, badminton, basketball, soccer, and dart-throwing.⁹

Research in this area also reveals that observational learning is effective when the model is yourself! Today, video analysis is an important element of many coaching methods. In line with what we know about observational learning, recording a player’s performance is a great way to help them improve their athletic skills.

Learning from Media Violence

The potential for media violence to encourage real-world violence is an ongoing topic of debate. Observational learning suggests that humans can learn and repeat the behaviors of fictional characters, including those in movies, TV shows, and video games. It stands to reason that violent or aggressive behavior would not be exempt from this process — we saw this with children in some of Bandura’s Bobo doll experiments.

Modern research also supports these findings. Several studies reveal that playing violent video games is related to an increase in aggressive thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors.¹⁰ What we don’t know, however, is how large of a threat this is and what we should do to address this issue.

Cultural Differences

Evidence suggests that not all cultures learn from observation in the same way, so what we know about observational learning might not apply to everyone. For example, one study found that children of European heritage requested more additional information while observing a demonstration than children of Mexican heritage, suggesting that cultural learning practices can play a role in how children learn through observation.¹¹
Moreover, collectivist cultures tend to be better at observational learning than individualist cultures. Experts suggest this is because individualist cultures prefer learning through experimentation and personal trial-and-error.¹¹ On the other hand, collectivist cultures prefer learning from their environment. These differences are important to consider when studying observational learning and implementing this learning style in an educational context.

Apprenticeships are an excellent example of observational learning in a real-world setting. Apprenticeships heavily rely on this form of learning, encouraging apprentices to acquire skills on the job by observing and imitating their mentors as they go about their regular, day-to-day work. The apprentices learn mainly by watching and listening, then attempting to tackle tasks themselves.

While apprenticeships are commonplace in the trades, some experts argue that apprenticeships are underutilized in office environments.¹² They suggest that employers and businesses implement modern apprenticeship programs to address the growing need for continuous skill development. Having employees learn by observing actual work can bridge skills gaps left by formal learning and ensure they’re well-equipped to handle specific tasks.

Consider this: over 80% of businesses reported facing critical skills gaps coming out of the pandemic.¹² Despite this, only 42% of employees are engaging in reskilling and upskilling opportunities provided by their employers. Providing apprenticeships can help businesses leverage the power of observational learning and build a culture of continuous development in workplaces where learning is typically separated from daily work and delivered more formally.

Behavior Change

Observational learning is just one form of learning that results in behavior change. There’s a lot more to learn about behavior change, including how to design interventions that help people move closer to their behavior goals. This article explores behavior change frameworks and how they can nudge people toward decisions that will benefit them.

Behaviorism

Observational learning grew out of the psychological school of behaviorism. Behaviorism is based on the idea that our external environment influences our behaviors by encouraging us to form associations between stimuli or consequences. Check out this article to explore the broader theory of behaviorism and how it's impacted the field of psychology.

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