Vicarious learning: observing others to educate ourselves

When we set out to learn something, we do not always do it through our direct experience; many times we look at what others are doing.

This is called vicarious learning, a phenomenon that, simple as it may seem, when it was first formulated by the psychologist Albert bandura It was a revolution in the field of behavioral science. Let's see why.

What is vicarious learning?

Technically, vicarious learning is the type of learning that occurs when observing the behavior of other individuals (and the results who have these behaviors) causes a conclusion to be drawn about how something works and what behaviors are most useful or most harmful.

That is, it is a form of self-education that occurs when we look at what others are doing, not to imitate them for the simple fact that they do it as it would happen in fashions, but to see what works and what does not.

The term "vicar" comes from a Latin word that means "to transport", which serves to express that in it knowledge is transported from the observed to the observer.

Neurobiology Observational Education

Vicarious learning exists among members of our species because within the human brain there is a class of nerve cells known as mirror neurons. Although it is not yet known very well how they work, it is believed that these neurons are responsible for making us capable of put ourselves in the shoes of others and imagine what it would be like to experience what they do in our own body.

Mirror neurons are also believed to be responsible for such curious phenomena as yawn infections or the chameleon effect. However, between the neurobiological and behavioral levels there is a large empty space both conceptual and methodological, so it is not possible to know exactly how these "micro" processes are translated into patterns of conduct.

Albert Bandura and social learning

The concept of vicarious learning began to take shape with the emergence of Social Learning Theory in the mid-20th century. At that time, the psychological current that had been dominant in the United States, the behaviorism of John watson Y B. F. Skinner, was beginning to enter into crisis.

The idea that all behavior was the result of a learning process produced by the stimuli that one experienced on their own body and the responses that emitted as a reaction (as stated, for example, in punishment-based learning) began to be seen as an overly simplistic conception of learning, because according to psychologists of the cognitivist currenthad little regard for cognitive processes such as imagination, beliefs, or expectations each.

This fact created the breeding ground for Albert Bandura, a psychologist trained in behaviorism, to create something called Social Cognitive Theory. According to this new paradigm, learning could also arise by observing others and seeing the consequences of their actions.

In this way, a cognitive process came into play: the projection of oneself on the actions of the other, something that requires using an abstract type of thinking. The construct of vicarious learning was born, but to show that his theory served to describe reality, Bandura conducted a series of curious experiments.

However, there is no consensus on whether or not this "addition" served to complete the behavioral root learning model, since this also has take into account the perception of the behavior carried out by others, although without appealing to cognitive entities of a substantive nature such as "imagination" or "motivation".

The tentetieso experiment and observation

To test his claim that vicarious learning was a fundamental and Widely used, Bandura used a group of boys and girls and made them participate in a curious game of observation.

In this experiment, the little ones watched a big tentaty doll, that kind of toys that despite being shaken or pushed always return to an upright position. Some children watched an adult play quietly with this doll, while another separate group of children watched the adult hit and violently treat the toy.

In the second part of the experiment, the little ones were filmed while playing with the same doll that had seen before, and it was possible to see how the group of children who had witnessed the acts of violence they were much more likely to use the same type of aggressive play compared to other children.

In case the traditional behavioral model based on operant conditioning explained all forms of learning, this would not have happened, as all children would have had an equal chance of acting peaceful or violently. Spontaneous vicarious learning had been demonstrated.

The social implications of vicarious learning

This Bandura experiment not only served to strengthen a psychological theory in the academic field; it also gave reasons to be concerned about what children observe.

Parents no longer had to worry about simply not acting unfair to them by punishing them when they didn't play or giving them undeserved rewards, but instead they also had to make a serious commitment to setting an example. Otherwise, not only could their image be resented, but they could be teaching bad habits without them or their offspring noticing.

In addition, based on this idea, the Cultivation Theory, according to which we internalize beliefs about the functioning of the world from the fictitious worlds constructed by television and cinema.

It was understood that the contents seen and read through the media could have a strong social impact. Not only can we learn certain things about the actions that work and those that don't; also we are able to learn and internalize a global image about what the society we live in is like depending on the type of experiences we regularly observe.

Limitations to consider

However, knowing this does not tell us much about what the effects are of, for example, a 10-year-old child watching an action and violence movie recommended for over 16s.

Vicarious learning is a concept that refers to a general form of learning, but not to the effects that a specific event has on the behavior of a specific individual. To know this, many variables must be taken into account, and today this is impossible. That is why it is worth being cautious about, for example, the way we watch television affects our behavior.

Bibliographic references:

• Aggarwal, J.C (2009). Essentials Of Educational Psychology. Vikas Publishing House.
• Arias Gómez, D.H. (2005) Teaching and Learning of Social Sciences: A didactic proposal. Bogota Cooperativa Editorial Magisterio.
• Bandura, A. (2005). Psychologists and Their Theories for Students. Ed. Kristine Krapp. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale.
• Bandura, A. (1973). Aggression: A social learning analysis. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
• González, D. (2007). Didactics or direction of learning. Bogota Cooperativa Editorial Magisterio.
• Whitebread, D.; Coltman, P.; Jameson, H.; Lander, R. (2009). "Play, cognition and self-regulation: What exactly are children learning when they learn through play?". Educational & Child Psychology. 26 (2): 40–52.