In order to make this demonstration about vicarious conditioning, what would have to change?

| The Importance of Vicarious Learning | How Vicarious Learning Happens | Examples | Vicarious Learning in Parenting |

What is Vicarious Learning

Vicarious learning is learning through observing another’s experiences without performing the learned behavior directly​1​.

Humans have the ability to learn new behavior by direct experience or by observing others’ behavior and consequences. 

Direct experience is the more rudimentary form of learning method, based largely on the rewards and punishments that follow an action. 

However, we obtain most knowledge without experiencing it directly.

Babies learn to wave goodbye or blow a kiss by mimicking their parents. Toddlers learn language from hearing conversations. Then, they adopt more complex behavior and beliefs, such as social etiquette or gender expectations, because “this is what people normally do.”

This learning experience is called vicarious learning, also known as observational learning and imitative learning.

In vicarious learning, the learner attentively watches the behavior of a model, retains the observed actions, and then mimics them​2​.

The Importance of Vicarious Learning

Learning without direct experience allows humans to acquire knowledge without having to build up behaviors through tedious trial and error. It also allows us to avoid danger without directly experiencing it.

A teen does not have to experience an accident to know the dangers of drunk driving; a news report is enough to drive home the point.

Vicarious learning passes on a community’s beliefs, traditions, etiquette, and norms. Children grow up with a sense of what is right or wrong, and what is culturally acceptable.

For example, children know they can’t go out in public without wearing any clothes.

Using this type of learning can help formal learning take place without the presence of social learning situations.

How Vicarious Learning Happens

The acquisition and alteration of human behavior rely heavily on vicarious learning. 

Despite having simple labels such as imitation, copying, and matching, the Social Learning Theory suggests that it is a complex process involving several subprocesses​3​:

Attention

The first step is paying attention.

People don’t necessarily learn all the behaviors that they see. The mere exposure to a model does not guarantee that a person will pay close attention to it, choose the most relevant characteristics from its many attributes, and perceive those aspects accurately.

If a person fails to recognize the essential features of the model’s behavior, they can’t learn much from the vicarious observation.

Identification is important in this subprocess​4​.

People are more likely to pay attention and mimic the behavior of someone to whom they can identify and relate.

We see the power of peer learning in our daily lives as well. Teenagers are more likely to emulate their peers than historical role models they read about in school.

Retention

After noticing it, a person needs to be able to remember. A symbolic form of the behavior must be present for them to reproduce the model’s activities.

People who mentally rehearse or actually perform the modeled behavior are more likely to retain the information​5​.

Motoric Reproduction

After paying attention and retaining the behavior patterns, an individual must coordinate various actions in the correct sequence to perform them physically and make adjustments based on direct feedback.

Reinforcement and Motivation

Finally, to activate the learning, a person must have the drive to repeat the behavior.

Motivation to repeat a behavior pattern is influenced by the similarity of the model, the observer’s perception of their ability to perform it, as well as the rewards and punishments associated with it​6​.

For instance, in 1961, Bandura conducted the famous Bobo Doll experiment. 

Videos were shown to children showing adults acting aggressively toward dolls. In one group, the adult was punished afterward, while in another, they were rewarded. The group that observed aggression being rewarded later behaved aggressively toward dolls more than the group that observed aggression being punished. Despite not being directly rewarded or punished, the children’s behavior was reinforced vicariously​7,8​.

Observational learning can therefore be reinforced through vicarious reinforcement.

Here are some vicarious learning examples in our everyday lives.

Video Tutorials and Teaching

You can learn all kinds of everyday tasks from baking a cake to restoring your backyard deck from demonstration videos on platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Udemy. 

Video recordings provide learners with direct instructions on how to perform these hands-on tasks.

People who have visual learning styles or who have grown up watching video content instead of reading books may benefit most from these types of learning​9​.

Mentorship

The Big Brothers Big Sisters mentorship program is a great way for vicarious learning to take place. 

The program pairs a more experienced older individual with a younger participant, so the younger can learn from the older individual’s experiences.

This provides a unique learning opportunity for the younger person to learn from the older person’s experience about topics not taught in traditional classrooms. Moreover, they can learn from the older individual’s mistakes without having to make the same mistakes themselves.

Kids Watching Parents

Watching their parents is how children learn from birth. They observe their parents’ actions, reactions, and consequences to learn from them.

Vicarious Learning in Parenting

Parents are without a doubt the first role models for their children. From the moment a child is born, they are constantly learning and observing their parents.

Vicarious learning serves as a reminder to parents that their child’s learning environment extends beyond school.

Be a role model for your child

It is important for parents to set a good example for their children and help shape their behavior, attitude, values, and emotional development.

If you want your child to read books, then read books together as a family. 

If you want your child to be kind and polite to others, then watch the way you speak to them and other people.

Build a good parent-child relationship

Since vicarious learning involves multiple cognitive processes, simply providing a model, even a prominent one, will not automatically produce a learned behavior in children.

Your child must pay attention and be motivated to learn what you want to teach.

Building a good child-parent relationship with them is the best way to motivate them since relatedness is a powerful motivator​10​.

Positive behavior will be picked up on more readily by your child when they feel connected to you.

Be aware of peer influence

Adolescents often feel closer to their peers than to their parents​11​. Peer group association is one of the factors that can affect their many outcomes​12​.

Involvement in deviant peer groups is also a risk factor for teenage delinquency, according to research.

Therefore, keep a watchful eye on your child’s social circle without being intrusive. If you are concerned about their influence, talk to them. If you have a close relationship with them, it is easier to get them to listen to you.

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