Author: Aima Shahid

One concept we learned about recently was social loafing. This phenomenon regards how individuals will put in less effort towards a goal when they are in a group, versus when they are tested individually. For example, in a study where participants were asked to pull on a rope, they put in less effort when they thought they were on a team, compared to when they thought they were doing it alone.

I think social loafing occurs quite a lot in the every day world. I have found that almost every single time I have been part of a group project, most people have tended to slack off, as they believed other people would carry the extra weight. In particular, in one of my classes last semester, I was in a group of five, working on a presentation for a history class. Because there were five of us, not everyone put in a fair amount of work, and some people simply stood idly by while others hurried to finish everything. When one knows they are not alone in working on a task, it makes sense that they would naturally put in less effort than usual. Sometimes it works out, as when one is in a group and people pool their talents. However, sometimes it results in people taking advantage of the fact that there are others to shoulder the burden.

A core concept learned in this unit was that of observational learning. The name is pretty straightforward and self explanatory, as observational learning occurs when humans and animals of a higher intelligence learn through observation. This is partially due to mirror neurons in the brain, that are activated during this. There are four specific elements that comprise observational learning. The behavior must be noticed, remembered, imitated, and the subject must be motivated to copy the behavior.

In a well known experiment, Albert Bandura conducted a test with a Bobo doll to study this concept. He had children watch adults interact with a Bobo doll, with one group observing the adult be polite and amicable, and the other observing the adult be aggressive and physically abusive towards the doll. Afterwards, he placed both groups in a room with toys. The children in the second group were far more likely to display aggressive tendencies, which supported the concept of observational learning.

However, it is important to remember the difference between correlation and causation. Studies have been conducted linking screen time and violence, but they were proven to be correlational.

When my little brother was younger, around the age of six or 7, many of his behaviors were learned through observational learning. One example in particular was when he watched my father reading. He would put on his reading glasses and settle into his armchair while swiping through a newspaper. Although my brother at the time arguably had no interest in everyday news and politics, he developed a habit of sitting in the exact same spot and pawing through the newspaper, just as my dad did. He learned this through observational learning, which supports the theory that children learn many things through simply watching others.