Watching someone else accomplish something encourages us
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When they first arrived at the lab, the students were told that their objective for the day was to make it to the top of the rock-climbing wall (one of the main features of Clemson’s Outdoor Lab). It was a daunting prospect; most of them had never even seen a climbing wall before. The scientists who were running the study were interested in which students would complete the task – and what might make them more likely to do so. Unbeknown to the children, they’d been split into two groups before their arrival. Group 1 had been shown a short video of someone climbing up a wall that looked very similar to the one at the location, while group 2 hadn’t been shown any videos at all. In every other way, the groups were identical.
Amazingly, just watching that video had a dramatic effect. Even though both groups of climbers were given the same instructions when they first arrived at the wall, the group that watched the ‘model’ rock climber ascend the wall they were about to tackle ended up doing a lot better. They felt more confident about their rock-climbing abilities, enjoyed the activity more and performed better.
Why did this small change make such a big difference? If Albert Bandura were to comment he’d probably attribute it to something called the ‘vicarious mastery experience’. This is when you witness or hear about someone else’s performance related to a task that you’re going to undertake yourself. You see other people’s examples, and it boosts your confidence.