Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
An observed behavior refers to any action or activity that is witnessed and learned from watching others. It involves the process of observing, imitating, and replicating the behavior of someone else.
Imitation is when an individual copies or mimics the behavior of another person. For example, if you see your friend yawning and then you yawn as well, that's imitation.
Modeling refers to the process of observing and learning from others' behaviors in order to imitate them. It's like following a recipe when cooking - you watch how someone else does it and then replicate their actions.
Vicarious Reinforcement: Vicarious reinforcement occurs when an individual observes someone else being rewarded or punished for their behavior, which affects their likelihood of reproducing that behavior. It's like seeing your classmate get praised for raising their hand in class and deciding to do the same because you saw they were rewarded for it.