Response uncertainty and imitation: The interactive effects of age and task options

Thelen, Mark H.; Paul, Stephen C.; Dollinger, Stephen J.; Roberts, Michael C.

doi:10.1016/0092-6566(78)90063-6

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…similarity of confederates, their continued presence during the session, and the random presentations of modeling trials) were favorable for generating such an effect A second remarkable feature was the high proportion (71-42%) of kindergarten children classified as imitators under the modeling-only condition. This finding supports the theoretical views proposed by Thelen et aL (1978). These authors suggest that young children will imitate more than older children in relatively unstructured situations because of their limited experience in dealing with new situations in which they find themselves.…”

Section: Results Of Experimentssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…A 3 (imitation, nonimitation, modeling-only) x 2 (IC, GC) X 2 (first grade, kindergarten) analysis of variance for repeated measures (Winer, 1971) was performed on the arcsine transformed proportions of imitative responses. The analysis revealed a significant main effect for condition {F = 17-71, 2/36 d.f., P < 0-01) but not for confederate.…”

Section: Results Of Experimentssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Such an explanation might also account for the relatively high proportion (42-11%) of imitators among institutionalized retardates of about the same mental age (Hallahan el aL, 1977). However, unless the experience referred to by Thelen et aL (1978) is of a very specific nature, it is questionable that one year difference in chronological age alone could account for the clear tendency ofthe first grade children in this experiment (14-29% of them were imitators and 57-14% of them nonimitators) to respond differently in these situations In contrast, the number of imitators among the first grade children was substantially higher than among the kindergarten children after being imitated.…”

Section: Results Of Experimentscontrasting

confidence: 55%

“…These authors suggest that challenging rather than simple, nonchallenging tasks induce increased imitation. The two-factor theory (Yando et aL, 1978), however, would allow it to be speculated that these second graders avoided imitation on the letter card trials because ofthe irrelevance of this task within the experimental setting.…”

Section: Discussion Of Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The independent variables planned for this experiment were condition and confederate. Sex was not considered a relevant variable Kauffman et aL, 1977;Thelen et aL, 1978). A first examination of the data, however, required the inclusion of another independent variable, i.e.…”

Section: Apparatus and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Generalized Reciprocal Imitation in Children

Smeets

Kauffman

1980

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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RECENT years have witnessed an upsurge in interest in the change of attitudes and behaviors in children following being imitated. In general, experimental findings have revealed that, when given an ambiguous task, children tend to be attracted to, give rewards to, and imitate an observer who imitated them rather than an observer who did not imitate them (Fouts, Waldner and Watson, 1976;Hallahan et aL, 1977;Kauffman, Snell and Hallahan, 1976;Kauffman et al., 1977;Kauffman Gordon and Baker, 1978;Parton and Priefert, 1975;Thelen, Dollinger and Roberts 1975;Thelen and Kirkland, 1976; Thelen et aL, 1977). Thelen and his associates have mterpreted these findings through a modified reinforcement-affect model of attraction (Byrne and Clore, 1970;Byrne, 1971).This model implies that, for the tasks under consideration, the observer's imitations provide consensual validation and a reduction of uncertainty for the model. Consensual vaUdation and reduction of uncertainty increase attraction and reciprocal imitation ofthe observer by the model.A logical extension of this research area would be the exploration of possible generalization effects. The present study was designed to assess whether induced reciprocal imitation would generalize to an observer other than the one who had imitated the child and to a task different from the one on which the child had been imitated. Experiment 1 was designed to assess generalized imitation across observers. The children in this experiment interacted with an adult who imitated or did not imitate them and with another adult having no scheduled opportunities to respond (i.e. to imitate or not to imitate). It was reasoned that if behavioral similarity induced by the imitating adult acquires reinforcement properties over trials (Parton and Priefert, 1975), the child might, in the absence of any other cues mdicating no reinforcement (SA) strive to induce maximal behavioral similarity by copying the response of both adults. Such a generalization effect could be facilitated by using adults who share salient characteristics such as age, height, body build, sex and the degree of (un) familiarity, and by randomly alternating their modeling trials (Peterson, 1968). Experiment 2 was designed to demonstrate generalization effects across different (ambiguous) tasks. Findings related to this effect have been observed by Thelen and Kirkland (1976). In contrast to their studies, these authors used previously acquainted children both as confederates (i.e. one confederate older than and one •Requests for reprints to: Dr. P. M. Smeets,

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Section: Results Of Experimentssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Results Of Experimentssupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Results Of Experimentscontrasting

confidence: 55%

Section: Discussion Of Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Apparatus and Proceduresmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Generalized Reciprocal Imitation in Children

Smeets

Kauffman

1980

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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Being imitated, conformity, and social influence: An integrative review

Thelen

Frautschi

Roberts

et al. 1981

Journal of Research in Personality

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Therapeutic videotape and film modeling: A review.

Thelen

Fry²,

Fehrenbach³

et al. 1979

Psychological Bulletin

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This article reviews research involving the use of videotape and film modeling in clinical and analogue settings. Most of the research has been on phobias, test anxiety, dental and medical stress, and interpersonal skills. Critical methodological issues and the relevance of this research to modeling theory are also discussed. The need for improved methodology and the application of videotape and film modeling in more clinical populations is emphasized.

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Response uncertainty and imitation: The interactive effects of age and task options

Cited by 8 publications

References 18 publications

Generalized Reciprocal Imitation in Children

Generalized Reciprocal Imitation in Children

Being imitated, conformity, and social influence: An integrative review

Therapeutic videotape and film modeling: A review.

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