B-24: Identify and distinguish between imitation and observational learning ©
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Target Terms: imitation, observational learning
Remember, imitation is just copying someone else’s behavior yourself. Observational learning is about making decisions about our own behavior based on others’ behavior and its outcomes.
Imitation
Definition: Copying another person’s behavior (either a real person or a symbol like a video or picture).
Clinical example: Lucy receives early intervention services. She is taught to imitate staff actions such as making speech sounds and making lines on paper.
Supervision example: Roman is training Jeffrey to graph data. For the technical aspects, Jeffrey focuses on imitating Roman’s graphing procedures.
Observational Learning
Definition: Observing other people’ behavior, as well as what happens as a result, and then using that information to make choices about own behavior.
Everyday example: Davide sees the car ahead of him get pulled over for speeding. He reduces his speed.
Everyday example: Charlene sees the child ahead of her in line get a lollipop by asking for one. Charlene asks too.
Why it matters: Learning through others is an integral part of functioning in society, especially learning from others “on the fly” without a formal instructional experience. Many of our clients need support with this skill set.