ABSTRACT
The inhibition of imitation may be caused by various factors, such as antagonistic stimulation occurring at the time of the demonstration, former experience, or rules imposed by law. An example of suppression of imitative behavior was observed in a study by W. Wyrwicka and A. M. Long. An experimental case of inhibition of imitative behavior was demonstrated in a study of A. Bandura et al. on imitation of aggressive behavior in young children. Another case of inhibition of imitation was demonstrated in a study on the effect of symbolization on observational learning in young children. When children were instructed to count from 1 to 5 while viewing the model’s performance, the number of their correct responses decreased and the delayed imitative process was clearly disturbed. The existence of inhibition in imitation is supported by some clinical studies.
