DEVELOPMENTAL ASPECTS OF VARIABLES RELEVANT TO OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

This study investigated 4 hypotheses relevant to developmental changes in observational learning and found that there would be greater understanding of the motivations and feelings of a same-sex rather than an opposite-sex model and that this differential understanding would increase with age.

Abstract

LEIFER, AIM1E DORR; COLLINS, W. ANDREW; GROSS, BARBARA M.; TAYLOR, PETER H.; ANDREWS, LEWIS; and BLACKMER, ELIZABETH R. Developmental Aspects of Variables Relevant to Observational Learning. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1971, 42, 1509-1516. This study investigated 4 hypotheses relevant to developmental changes in observational learning. The first and second were that the ability to reconstruct a modeled sequence of behavior and the understanding of the motivations and feelings of models would increase with age. The third and fourth were that there would be greater understanding of the motivations and feelings of a same-sex rather than an opposite-sex model and that this differential understanding would increase with age. Ss were 4, 7, and 10 years of age. They were shown a 20-minute entertainment film and then asked to sequence photographs from the film and to explain the motivations and feelings of various characters. Data supported the first and second hypotheses, but not the third and fourth. The relevance of cognitive and developmental variables to observational learning and imitation is discussed.