When a teacher compliments two students for attractive illustrations in their…
2016
When a teacher compliments two students for attractive illustrations in their arithmetic notebook, other students turn in illustrated arithmetic notebooks. This is an example of:
Answer: C. Vicarious reinforcement — Vicarious reinforcement occurs when individuals observe someone else being rewarded for a behavior and then imitate that behavior to obtain similar rewards.…
- A.
Direct reinforcement
- B.
Self reinforcement
- C.
Vicarious reinforcement
- D.
Reciprocal causality
Attempted by 30 students.
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Correct answer: C
Vicarious reinforcement occurs when individuals observe someone else being rewarded for a behavior and then imitate that behavior to obtain similar rewards.
In this case, other students observe the teacher praising two students for their neat illustrations. As a result, they also start illustrating their notebooks — not because they were directly rewarded, but because they witnessed others being rewarded.
Hence, this situation exemplifies vicarious reinforcement, a concept from Bandura’s Social Learning Theory.