The effectiveness of observational behavior

1. Another behavior that professionals aim to improve is the nutritional habits of young children. Many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of observational behavior on young children in regard to nutrition habits, such as fruit and vegetable consumption and nutritional literacy. One study published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior evaluated the effectiveness of screen-based peer modeling on children’s vegetable consumption. This study enrolled 42 children, aged 3-5 years old, who were asked to watch either a video of a peer eating a vegetable, a video that was non-food related, or no video at all. Researchers then evaluated the child’s vegetable consumption rate of all of the groups. It was found that children who watched the video with vegetables were more likely to eat more grams of vegetables that same day (Stainano et al., 2016). This study shows how public health professionals can use peer observational learning to help promote healthy eating habits in young children.

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2.As I previously mentioned, media can play a large role in observational learning, negative and positive! A TikTok trend led millions of people to Chole Ting’s fitness channel on Youtube. During quarantine, gyms were closed and people were looking for at-home workouts when Chole Ting started trending on the popular app. People were going crazy about it and encouraging others to try it for themselves. Staying active, especially when gyms are closed, has many benefits and this trend helped public health professionals promote a healthy lifestyle!

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