幼児の観察学習に及ぼす課題特性と代理強化の効果

佐藤 正二; 佐藤 容子

doi:10.4992/jjpsy.49.183

EFFECTS OF TASK CHARACTERISTICS AND VICARIOUS REINFORCEMENT ON CHILDREN'S OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

SHOHJI SATO, YOKO SATO

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JOURNAL FREE ACCESS

1978 Volume 49 Issue 4 Pages 183-189

DOI https://doi.org/10.4992/jjpsy.49.183

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Published: November 20, 1978 Received: December 02, 1977 Available on J-STAGE: July 16, 2010 Accepted: - Advance online publication: - Revised: -
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Date of correction: July 16, 2010 Reason for correction: - Correction: ABSTRACT Details: Wrong : The present study was to examine the different effects of vicarious reinforcement on children's observational learning in two different discrimination tasks, in terms of the informational analysis.
A 2×2×2 factorial design was used. The first factor involved two different task conditions. In one task, which is called one-category condition, children observed a model who chose consistently the instances of one category (e.g., animal) from all 18 pairs of stimulus pictures; children in two-category condition, observed a model who chose the instances of one category (i.e., animal) from only nine pairs and those of another category (i.e., food) from the remaining nine pairs. The second factor dealt with whether the vicarious reinforcement was given to the subjects or not. And the last factor involved two kinds of tests given to the subjects after they had observed the models. Imitative Performance Test was designed to know to what degree the subjects imitatively made matching responses to the model's choices. Acquisition Test was used to see how well the subjects acquired the information of the model's choice responses. In addition, two different control groups (i.e., one group was given the one-category condition and the second group the two-category condition) were given to know the effect of without model observation.
The subjects were 72 kindergarten children ages from five years and ten months to six years and ten months with a mean of six years and five months. They were equally divided into six groups of four experimental and two control groups. The experimental subjects were exposed to an adult male model choosing one of two instances from a list of 18 pairs. Following the model observation, they were presented the same list and were required to make their own choices (Imitative Performance Test). Then they were asked to point to the same instances that the model had chosen (Acquisition Test). The control subjects did not observe the model and were only given the Performance Test which appraised the operant choice tendency.
The main results were as follows: (a) Children in one-category condition showed more matching responses than those in two-category condition on the Imitative Performance Test, but the difference was not found to be significant between the two on the Acquisition Test. (b) Scores on imitative performance obtained by the children in vicarious reinforcement (VR) group were higher than those in non vicarious reinforcement (NVR) group, whereas the acquisition scores did not differ significantly between the two. (c) VR and NVR groups showed higher in performance scores than the control groups, thus revealing the effect of model observation. (d) Imitative performance scores by the VR group were higher than those by the NVR group in two-category condition, while the difference was not significant between the two groups in one-category condition. It proved that the vicarious reinforcement has effects mainly on observer's performance in observational learning. These finding were discussed in terms of informational analysis hypothesis.
Right : The effects of vicarious reinforcement (VR) and the characteristics of task on children's observational learning were examined. Two tasks involving a multiple-item list in which each item consisted of a pair of pictures were given to the subjects. In one-category condition, the model consistently chose the instances of either animal or food, while in two-category condition, the model chose exclusively the instances of animal and food. The model was either positively reinforced or not entirely reinforced. The observers were examined on their spontaneous imitative performance and the recall of their observation on models. Performance scores indicated that the observers in one-category condition were not influenced by VR; while those in two-category condition were enhanced by VR with their imitative responses. These results were discussed in terms of the hypothesis of the informational analysis.

Abstract

The effects of vicarious reinforcement (VR) and the characteristics of task on children's observational learning were examined. Two tasks involving a multiple-item list in which each item consisted of a pair of pictures were given to the subjects. In one-category condition, the model consistently chose the instances of either animal or food, while in two-category condition, the model chose exclusively the instances of animal and food. The model was either positively reinforced or not entirely reinforced. The observers were examined on their spontaneous imitative performance and the recall of their observation on models. Performance scores indicated that the observers in one-category condition were not influenced by VR; while those in two-category condition were enhanced by VR with their imitative responses. These results were discussed in terms of the hypothesis of the informational analysis.

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