Studies in Observational Paired-Associate Learning: Informational, Social, and Individual Difference Variables

Learning from video modeling examples: Content kept equal, adults are more effective models than peers

“…Another line of research has compared the effects of learning from a high expertise (e.g., expert) model to a lower expertise (e.g., advanced student) model, the latter being closer in knowledge and skill to novice learners. Contrary to the model-observer similarity hypothesis, older findings indicate that for primary school children, a more expert model was more beneficial for a wide range of measures such as learning communication skills or pairedassociates relative to a low expertise model (e.g., Simon, Ditrichs, & Speckhart, 1975;Sonnenschein & Whitehurst, 1980). In line with the MOS-hypothesis, however, Braaksma et al (2002) showed more recently that secondary education students who had weak writing skills benefitted more from being instructed to focus on weak models who explained and demonstrated how to write an argumentative text (on video) than from focusing on strong models, whereas the reversed effect was found for more competent students.…”

“…First, in many of those studies, there were actual differences in how the models behaved across conditions or in other words, in the content of the examples. This applies, for instance, to studies that contrasted learning from coping models and mastery models because only coping models' behaviour contains expressions of uncertainty and/or errors (e.g., Kitsantas, Zimmerman, & Cleary, 2000;Schunk & Hanson, 1985;Zimmerman & Kitsantas, 2002), and to studies that compared high and lower expertise models because their explanations differ in quality (e.g., Lachner & Nückles, 2015;Simon et al, 1975;Sonnenschein & Whitehurst, 1980). This makes it hard to evaluate whether any differences in motivational or learning outcomes were due to (perceived) similarity or to differences in content.…”

Peer Models and Children's Behavioral Change

“…Two studies found that sex of peer model did not influence the children's learning of cognitive skills. In a paired-associate learning experiment (Simon, Ditrichs, & Speckhart, 1975), children learned lists following a study-test cycle. Between the study and test phases, some subjects were exposed to an audiotaped male or female peer who they had been led to believe was high or low in competence.…”

“…Four of the seven studies involved observational learning of cognitive skills or novel responses (Becker & Glidden, 1979;Simon et al, 1975;Sonnenschein & Whitehurst, 1980;Strichart, 1974). Each of these studies supports the idea that model competence enhances observational learning.…”

Concepts, Results, and Applications

“…In addition to improving mediated associative learning performance (Borkowski, Levers & Gruenenfelder, 1976;Brody, 1978;Greeson, Notes 1 and 2;Greeson & Jens, 1977;Simon, Ditrichs & Speckhart, 1975), modeling has been found to influence significantly a wide range of other conceptual behaviors, including concept attainment, conservation, and creativity (Arem & Zimmerman, 1975;Harris & Evans, 1973Harris & Hassemer, 1972;Zimmerman & Rosenthal, 1974). Furthermore, modeling-based instructional programs have proven to be especially effective in promoting the development of conceptual and linguistic skills in children with learning problems, such as retarded children and children from poverty backgrounds Jacobson, Berger, Bergman, Mi11ham, & Greeson, 1971;Jacobson & Greeson, 1971;Jacobson, Kellogg, Greeson & Bernal, 1971;Mansdorf, 1977) • Despite the importance of such findings, most studies of children's conceptual development have ignored or underemphasized Piaget's focus on the role of social learning variables, such as modeling, observation, and imitation (Zimmerman,Note 3).…”