Observational Learning

When given to the children they managed to repeat the action successfully. The ends came off which suggests that the children understood what the demonstrator's intention was. When there was no demonstration prior, or when a machine performed the demonstration, the children had no idea what to do with the dumbbell (lecture notes and Handout, 2001).
In this essay examples of imitation in humans but also examples of imitation in other animals were given, such as chimpanzees. The forms in which observational learning can occur have been included in those examples. It was also argued, by giving examples such as: Ant dipping, potato washing..., that social canalisation, which includes imitation, is responsible for the formation of some sort of primitive culture in animals. Most anthropologists and some psychologists, however, strongly believe that non- human animals do not have culture. In their definition, culture requires language and some certain other criteria.
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