Effects of vicarious consequences on imitation and recall: Some developmental findings

Two experiments were conducted using a multiple-item list in which each item consisted of a pair of pictures. The model indicated which member of each pair she preferred and was either positively reinforced, negatively reinforced, or received neutral consequences. The S then indicated his preferences (imitation test). Following the imitation test, each S was asked to recall the model's choices. Age was an independent variable in both experiments. Imitation scores of the children, preschool to sixth-grade age range, were strongly influenced by differential vicarious reinforcement. Vicarious reward increased imitation and vicarious punishment decreased it. College students' imitation scores were only minimally influenced by differential vicarious reinforcement. Within- and between-subjects variations of vicarious reinforcement had similar effects. Recall scores were surprisingly high and were not significantly influenced by differential vicarious reinforcement. Interestingly, age and percentage of correct recall were negatively correlated.     

Effects of relative nurturance and social power on observational learning and imitation

Preschool children observed two models, one of whom (controller of resources) controlled rewards dispensed to the child and to the other model (rival consumer of resources). The nurturance of the controller was varied in terms of his relative generosity towards the subject and rival consumer. Controllers were imitated to a greater extent than consumers only when the controller had been more nurturant to the child than to the rival consumer. Imitation of the controller and consumer were affected differently by the various conditions of nurturance, but children's learning of each model's behaviors were affected similarly by the conditions. The learning and imitative performance of each model's behaviors were uncorrelated, and imitation of one model did not correlate with imitation of the other. However, the learning of the two models' behaviors was highly correlated.     

Children's understanding of directed motion events in an imitation choice task

We investigated children’s understanding of directed motion events using an imitation choice paradigm. A total of 34 children (mean age 33 months) watched a model act out an event containing a manner of motion (hopping or sliding), a motion path (up or down a ramp), and a goal (in or on a bowl). On the children’s apparatus, the locations of the goal objects were different from the model so that the children needed to choose whether to imitate the path or the goal of the model’s event. Children’s choice of which component to imitate, therefore, reflects how they prioritize these event components. Most children showed no bias to imitate the goal of the event and, instead, preferred to imitate the model’s path at the expense of the model’s goal. However, children who spontaneously played with the goal objects during a free play session showed a diminished path preference, choosing to imitate path and goal components equally often. We suggest that children’s prioritization of information within an event depends on how that information is structured within the event itself.     

Using a bad tool with good intention: young children's imitation of adults' questionable choices

We present three studies exploring 2- to 4-year-olds’ imitation on witnessing a model whose questionable tool use choices suggested her untrustworthiness. In Study 1, children observed the model accidentally select a physically optimal tool for a task and then intentionally reject it for one that was functionally nonaffordant. When asked to perform the task for her, children at all ages ignored the model’s intentional cues and selected the optimal tool. Study 2 found that when the model’s nonaffordant tool choice was emphasized by claims about its design, 3-year-olds increased imitation. They also imitated, as did 2-year-olds, when the model selected a suboptimal rather than nonaffordant tool. The 4-year-olds consistently avoided imitation. Study 3 replicated these findings with new tools and participants. Additional measures indicated that knowledge about artifact design predicted children’s tendency to ignore the model. These results shed light on developmental trends in the social and cognitive functions of imitation.     

Correspondence and mediational properties of the Fishbein model: An application to adolescent alcohol use

The generalizability of the Fishbein model for behavior prediction was extended to a new field behavior, alcohol drinking by adolescents. The model's two components (i.e., attitudes and normative beliefs) varied in their predictive importance depending on the behavior's situational context. Following this field demonstration, two issues related to properties affecting the model's predictive effectiveness were investigated. First, it was found that the predictability of alcohol-drinking intentions (BI) declined when attitudes (A_act) and normative beliefs (NB) did not correspond with BI in terms of alcohol type (beer, liquor, or wine) and drinking situation (home, party, or pub). A second experiment tested the hypothesis that exogenous variables (those other than A_act and NB) would have a direct influence on BI. A comprehensive test was provided within the context of Jessor's multivariate predictive system for adolescent alcohol use. Present data indicate only a marginal increase in explained variance occurred when applying this system, thereby generally indicating the sufficiency of the Fishbein model's two components.     

Imitation in language development: If,when, and why

In order to explore the function of imitation for first language learning, imitative and spontaneous utterances were compared in the naturalistic speech of six children in the course of their development from single-word utterances (when mean length of utterance was essentially 1.0) to the emergence of grammar (when mean length of utterance approached 2.0). The relative extent of imitation, and lexical and grammatical variation in imitative and spontaneous speech were determined. There were inter-subject differences in the extent of imitation, but each child was consistent in the tendency to imitate or not to imitate across time. For those children who imitated, there were both lexical and grammatical differences in imitative and spontaneous speech, and a developmental shift from imitative to spontaneous use of particular words and semantic-syntactic relations between words. The results are discussed as evidence of an active processing of model utterances relative to the contexts in which they occur for information for language learning.     

On being imitated: Effects on reward and reward value of the imitator

The effects of being imitated on the model's reward of imitating and nonimitating confederates and on the confederates' reward value were assessed. Forty-eight first graders served as subjects. It was found that more children showed a bias in giving reward to the imitating confederate than to the nonimitating confederate. This effect was particularly strong for children classified as having an internal locus of control. Second, no difference in confederates' reward value was obtained as measured by operantly conditioned responding on a marble-drop task.     

The value of being imitated

Theories and research on the topics of attraction, conformity, and imitation support the view that the relational stimulus arising from being imitated serves a reinforcing function. To examine this possibility, 48 preschool children performed a task in which some neutral stimuli were repeatedly associated with an adult's matching the behavior of the subject, and other neutral stimuli were associated with the same adult's mismatching the behavior of the subject. Preference for the stimuli associated with being matched was greater at the end of training than earlier, and the overall preference for the matched stimuli exceeded chance. The results are considered in terms of the thesis that similarity arising from being imitated served a reinforcing function and the thesis that response strategies were adopted by the children.     

Item-specific and relational encoding effects in children's recall and recognition memory for words

This study tests the hypothesis that children's deficiency in encoding itemspecific and relational information in episodic events contributes to age differences in recall and recognition. In two experiments, grade school children and college adults were presented with word triplets varying in categorical relatedness. The processing of the item-specific and relational information in the triplets was independently manipulated. Experiment 1 assessed cued recall, and Experiment 2 assessed recognition of both the central target and incidental contextual members of each triplet. The results showed that the processing manipulations had independent and different effects on recall and recognition, on memory for the members of the different kinds of triplets, on the use of the retrieval cues, and on memory for target and incidental words. Developmental differences were found in both recall and recognition, and of both target and incidental words, that varied with triplet type and the processing manipulations and that were attributable to differences in the encoding of item-specific and relational information in the triplets. The discussion contrasts alternative accounts of children's encoding deficiency, and suggests that the distinction between automatic, age-invariant, and strategic age-sensitive encoding processes needs to be redrawn.     

Selectivity and strategy in early search

Early information-processing strategies were examined in a study of very young children's search for hidden objects. Sixteen younger children (mean age: 1 year; 11 months) and sixteen older children (mean age: 2;6) received search problems in which observational and/or verbal information about an object's location was provided. The question of primary interest was how they would respond when given two conflicting sources of information, which differed in modality (observational vs verbal) and in currentness. Both younger and older children showed some use of an appropriate strategy of relying on the more current information, although they did not follow it consistently. Children also showed preferential use of observational over verbal information and response biases favoring the middle location. Age differences were found in children's use of verbal information, in the degree to which they benefitted from practice, and in response biases. These results suggested a distinction between two aspects of the development of search: the acquisition of new search skills and the establishment of appropriate priorities among skills already in the child's repertoire.     

Looking good versus doing good: which factors take precedence when children learn about new tools?

We present two experiments exploring whether individuals would be persuaded to imitate the intentional action of an adult model whose actions suggest that the correct way to complete a task is with an inefficient tool. In Experiment 1, children ages 5–10 years and a group of adults watched an adult model reject an efficient tool in favor of one that was inefficient, but claim it was “made for” the task. Results indicated low rates of imitation of the model’s intentional choice until 9 and 10 years of age. In Experiment 2, children ages 3–11 years again watched a model reject a functional tool in favor of a nonfunctional one. This time, the demonstration took place on video. For half of the participants, the model from the video was present to offer a choice between the two tools (high-pressure condition), and for the other half, she was absent (low-pressure condition). Children also completed a social desirability questionnaire to explore relationships between imitation choices and personality. Results indicated that rates of imitation were associated with higher scores on the social desirability scale among children ages 3–7 years. Among 8- to 11-year-olds – and especially among 9- and 10-year-olds – the decision to copy the model’s intentional choice was more likely when the model was present than when she was absent. The findings reveal the contributions of age, personality, and social pressure to differences in imitation.     

The role of comprehension in children's observational learning of a syntactic rule

This experiment tested the hypothesis that there is a relationship between children's comprehension of a syntactic form and the effectiveness of modeling in promoting imitation of that form. Nursery and kindergarten children received pretests for both comprehension and production of reversible passive sentences. Children who produced no passive sentences were classified either as high, intermediate, or low comprehenders on the basis of their comprehension test performance. Within each of these three groups, children were randomly assigned either to a modeling or to a no-modeling control condition. Children in the treatment condition heard a model use passive sentences to describe a series of pictures. As predicted, the imitation post-test scores of these children were significantly related to their comprehension pretest scores. No significant relationship between the post-test scores and the comprehension scores of control subjects was detected. Children exposed to the model in all three comprehension groups received significantly higher post-test scores than did their respective counterparts in the no-modeling condition. These results are discussed in terms of the hypothesis that language learning proceeds from comprehension to imitation to production.     

Relative influence of sincere,insincere, and neutral symbolic models

The study investigated how the sincerity of models affects their influence, using a delay-of-reward paradigm. Subjects were 40 fifth and sixth graders (ages 9 and 10 years, respectively), selected for delayed gratification patterns. In the experimental manipulation, sincerity or insincerity was explicitly attributed to the model or, in a neutral-model condition, no information about the model's sincerity was given. Subjects then observed the symbolically presented model's immediatereward choices, opposed to their own preferences. Immediately after treatment, children in all model conditions and in a fourth, no-model control group responded to a second delay-preference test. It was found that the influence of models varied substantially as a function of experimentally attributed sincerity. Insincere models had considerably less effect than sincere and neutral models, who provoked substantial and equivalent changes. Insincere models did not evoke significantly different change than occurred in the control group. A postexperimental inquiry showed the experimental manipulation had affected perceptions of the model's sincerity and liking for the model, with the insincere model rated considerably lower than the sincere and neutral models. The relevance of cognitive appraisal in observational learning was discussed.     

The effects of instructional variables on young children's organization and free recall

The relationship between verbal instruction and children's free recall was examined. Sixty first-grade children (mean age 84 months) were trained to categorize pictures of common objects. Half were given organizational instructions emphasizing categorization, and half were given instructions emphasizing the individual objects. Similarly, half were given detailed verbal instructions and encouraged to listen, and half were taught using a question type format that encouraged participation. Immediately and after a 2- to 3-week delay, children who were shown an organizational strategy categorized the materials during study and attained higher recall scores than children who were shown a specific strategy. After the 2- to 3-week delay, children in the explanation groups out-performed children in the question-asking groups. The child's competence as measured by intelligence and performance in school did not contribute to amount recalled when subjects were given instructions emphasizing the general strategy. However, children of high competence benefited more from specific training by recalling more items than did children of low competence. These findings point to the importance of instructional variables in studying changes in children's processing capabilities.     

Imitation as a function of response commonality,serial order,and vicarious punishment

The effects of response commonality, serial order of modeled responses, and vicarious punishment on young boys' recall and acceptance of 20 commodity prefereces of an adult were examined in a 2 (common dimension vs no-common dimension) × 2 (vicarious punishment vs no-vicarious consequences) × 2 (recall or acceptance test) × 5 (response-block) factorial experiment. As predicted, the presence of a common dimension resulted in improved recall of the modeled responses, vicarious punishment was more effective under common dimension than no-common dimension conditions, and a serial order effect for recall of the modeled responses was obtained. The overall pattern of results is discussed in terms of the conceptualization that imitation requires both that the observer (1) has acquired and retained the model's responses and (2) has been placed in circumstances which favor activating this learning into overt performance.     

Not all is forgotten: Children's associative matrices for features of a word learning episode

Word learning studies traditionally examine the narrow link between words and objects, indifferent to the rich contextual information surrounding objects. This research examined whether children attend to this contextual information and construct an associative matrix of the words, objects, people, and environmental context during word learning. In Experiment 1, preschool-aged children (age: 3;2–5;11 years) were presented with novel words and objects in an animated storybook. Results revealed that children constructed associations beyond words and objects. Specifically, children attended to and had the strongest associations for features of the environmental context but failed to learn word-object associations. Experiment 2 demonstrated that children (age: 3;0–5;8 years) leveraged strong associations for the person and environmental context to support word-object mapping. This work demonstrates that children are especially sensitive to the word learning context and use associative matrices to support word mapping. Indeed, this research suggests associative matrices of the environment may be foundational for children's vocabulary development.     

Effects of household sex composition on the salience of one's gender in the spontaneous self-concept

It was hypothesized that being a boy or a girl becomes more salient in a child's self-concept to the extent the other sex numerically predominates in the child's household. This prediction was based upon an information-processing, distinctiveness postulate that a person contemplating a complex stimulus (such as the self) selectively notices and encodes its more distinctive, information-rich aspects. The spontaneous self-concept elicited by nondirective “Tell us about yourself” interviews of 560 school children were scored for spontaneous mention of one's gender. As predicted, boys spontaneously mentioned their maleness more often when they came from households where females were in the majority; girls mentioned their femaleness more often when from households with male majorities; boys mentioned their maleness more often when from father-absent than from father-present homes. Incidental findings are that gender is more salient in the negation self-concept (“Tell us what you are not”) than in the affirmation self-concept (“Tell us about yourself”) especially for girls and that gender becomes increasingly salient as the child grows older.     

Facilitating accuracy of imitative articulation through reception training

Accuracy of imitation of nonsense words was examined in first- and second-grade children (65–99 months of age) as a function of prior reception training. Two experiments were conducted, involving within-subject comparisons. In the first, one group of words was trained as labels for nonsense objects, a second received noncontingent feedback yoked to the labeling words, a third was presented an equal number of times to control for exposure, and a fourth group was not included in the training phase. Testing involved accuracy of imitation of all four groups of words. Both the feedback and exposure words were imitated less accurately than the labeling words, but more accurately than the nonexposure controls. The second experiment examined the length of the label-object association, using an overtraining procedure. Words which came under the discriminative control of objects for greater numbers of trials were imitated more accurately than those meeting only a minimum discrimination criterion.