By performing this experiment, Albert Bandura wanted to see whether vicarious reinforcement would impact the child's reproducibility of that behavior in the future.

Haverford College in Pennsylvania

Vicarious reinforcement is a key component of motivation in observational learning. It occurs when an observer's motivation to imitate a model's behavior increases because they have seen the model receive a reward or positive consequence, such as praise, for that behavior. For example, if a child observes a teacher being praised for acting aggressively toward a Bobo doll, the child is more likely to imitate those aggressive actions.

Vicarious Reinforcement

Siegler, R., Saffran, J. R., Eisenberg, N., Deloache, J., &amp; Gershoff, E. (2017). How Children Develop (5th ed.). Worth Publishers, Inc.

How Children Develop Textbook

Albert Bandura's Bobo Doll Experiment Research Question

A young child observes their older sibling receive praise and a sticker for eating all of their vegetables at dinner. The next day, the young child eagerly eats all of their vegetables for the first time. This change in the young child's behavior is best explained by which of the following principles?

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