Social learning in typical and atypical
development Exam Questions and Answers’
What is social learning? - - -
correct answer ✅Learning by observing the behaviour of others
What is social learning good for? - - -
correct answer ✅Children need to learn both physical rules (e.g.,
gravity makes things fall) and social conventions (e.g., it is rude to
not/slurp while eating)
Social learning is especially important for learning about social
conventions, which vary greatly across geographies and time
What is special about children's social learning? - - -
correct answer ✅Enables cumulative culture: changes are
incorporated into the repertoire and transferred across generations
Infinite feedback loop of imitation and innovation
Loukola et al (2017): Bumblebees show cognitive flexibility by
improving on an observed complex behaviour - - -
correct answer ✅Aim: Exploration of bees behavioural flexibility
,Social learning in typical and atypical
development Exam Questions and Answers’
Method
Transporting a small ball to a defined location to gain a reward.
Bees were pretrained to know the correct location of the ball.
Subsequently, to obtain a reward, bees had to move a displaced ball
to the defined location.
Main findings:
Bees that observed demonstration of the technique from a live or
model demonstrator learned the task more efficiently than did bees
observing a "ghost" demonstration (ball moved via magnet) or
without demonstration.
Instead of copying demonstrators moving balls over long distances,
observers solved the task more efficiently, using the ball positioned
closest to the target, even if it was of a different color than the one
previously observed.
Relation to other species (e.g., humans):
Such unprecedented cognitive flexibility hints that entirely novel
behaviors could emerge relatively swiftly in species whose lifestyle
, Social learning in typical and atypical
development Exam Questions and Answers’
demands advanced learning abilities, should relevant ecological
pressures arise.
Social vs non-social learning - - -
correct answer ✅Social learning: learning through cues provided
by other social agents
Non-social learning: learning from the inanimate environment
Mechanisms of social learning - - -
correct answer ✅Observational conditioning, stimulus or local
enhancement, imitation, tool use, teaching.
What is learning through observation? - - -
correct answer ✅It can be done while being actively taught or
passively while watching
Relies on basic associative learning mechanisms: x and y tend to co-
occur; evolutionarily ancient
development Exam Questions and Answers’
What is social learning? - - -
correct answer ✅Learning by observing the behaviour of others
What is social learning good for? - - -
correct answer ✅Children need to learn both physical rules (e.g.,
gravity makes things fall) and social conventions (e.g., it is rude to
not/slurp while eating)
Social learning is especially important for learning about social
conventions, which vary greatly across geographies and time
What is special about children's social learning? - - -
correct answer ✅Enables cumulative culture: changes are
incorporated into the repertoire and transferred across generations
Infinite feedback loop of imitation and innovation
Loukola et al (2017): Bumblebees show cognitive flexibility by
improving on an observed complex behaviour - - -
correct answer ✅Aim: Exploration of bees behavioural flexibility
,Social learning in typical and atypical
development Exam Questions and Answers’
Method
Transporting a small ball to a defined location to gain a reward.
Bees were pretrained to know the correct location of the ball.
Subsequently, to obtain a reward, bees had to move a displaced ball
to the defined location.
Main findings:
Bees that observed demonstration of the technique from a live or
model demonstrator learned the task more efficiently than did bees
observing a "ghost" demonstration (ball moved via magnet) or
without demonstration.
Instead of copying demonstrators moving balls over long distances,
observers solved the task more efficiently, using the ball positioned
closest to the target, even if it was of a different color than the one
previously observed.
Relation to other species (e.g., humans):
Such unprecedented cognitive flexibility hints that entirely novel
behaviors could emerge relatively swiftly in species whose lifestyle
, Social learning in typical and atypical
development Exam Questions and Answers’
demands advanced learning abilities, should relevant ecological
pressures arise.
Social vs non-social learning - - -
correct answer ✅Social learning: learning through cues provided
by other social agents
Non-social learning: learning from the inanimate environment
Mechanisms of social learning - - -
correct answer ✅Observational conditioning, stimulus or local
enhancement, imitation, tool use, teaching.
What is learning through observation? - - -
correct answer ✅It can be done while being actively taught or
passively while watching
Relies on basic associative learning mechanisms: x and y tend to co-
occur; evolutionarily ancient
