#social-learning

#social-learning

Classic training setups are optimized for control. You assign courses, enforce deadlines, and measure completion. However, it carries much less value when you need to prove that trainees' behavior changed in a way that the learning objectives mapped out. Learning is decontextualized. Courses exist separately from daily work. There's no visible peer influence. Learners don't see how others apply knowledge. Feedback is delayed or absent. Questions go unanswered, and insights disappear. Motivation is external. People learn to comply, not to improve.

Scientists have discovered canines with the unusual ability to learn the names of myriad objects can pick up such labels by eavesdropping on conversations. The team say such abilities are thought to rely on a host of social cognitive skills, from identifying the relevant word within a conversation to using cues from people's gaze, gestures, and voices to understand what the word refers to.

The cockatoos learned by watching others and then trying themselves, highlighting the power of social learning in animal behavior and adaptation.