Not directly experienced but occurs through observing someone else being reinforced for their behaviour. What is this called?

• A. Direct reinforcement
• B. Vicarious reinforcement
• C. Self-reinforcement
• D. Punishment

Answer: (B)

The concept at work is learning by watching the consequences others receive, known as vicarious reinforcement. In social learning theory, people can imitate a behavior when they observe someone else being rewarded for it. Because the model’s behavior is followed by reinforcement, the observer perceives that similar actions will be rewarded and is more likely to imitate them later, even though they aren’t reinforced themselves in that moment.

So this scenario fits vicarious reinforcement exactly: you learn about the potential value of a behavior by seeing someone else be reinforced for it, rather than experiencing reinforcement directly yourself. It’s different from direct reinforcement, where you’re rewarded for your own actions; self-reinforcement, where you reward your own behavior; and punishment, which aims to decrease a behavior.