Modeling Theory: Some Traditions, Trends, and Disputes

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the limitations ascribed to modeling in the experimental methodology rather than in the phenomenon itself. Several experiments are conducted requiring a higher-order form of modeling. These studies use a paradigm in which persons display a consistent style of behavior to diverse stimuli; tests for generalized modeling effects are subsequently conducted by different experimenters in different social settings with the models absent and with different stimulus items. The results disclose that observers respond to new stimulus situations in a manner consistent with the models' dispositions even though subjects had never observed the models responding to these particular stimuli. It is shown that modeling influences effect broader and more complex psychological changes than is commonly assumed. With few exceptions, the experiments conducted in the laboratory use a nonresponse acquisition procedure in which a person simply observes a model's behavior; however, otherwise the person exhibits neither overt responses nor is administered any reinforcing stimuli during the acquisition period. As in this mode of response acquisition, observers can learn the modeled responses only in representational forms, the modeling paradigm provides an interesting means of studying symbolic processes and their performance guiding functions.