This week, we began discussing social learning theories. These theories focus on the idea that learning is done by observing and picking things up from those around you. I personally found this to be very interesting because it made me think of video games. I have been a gamer for a very long time and one of my personal favorites has always been Grand Theft Auto V. The controversy around these games though makes me think about social learning theory. The idea is that people think from the perspective of this theory and believe that if someone plays a violent video game, they themselves will become violent people. This fits back to the experiments with the Bobo dolls all those years ago. The theory suggests that if I play these games too much, I will become a violent person. I can say that after playing the game for 11 years, I don't believe the effect has taken over. I would say that this can be a challenge that this theory presents. Many media sources take these ideas and run with them for clickbait but do not consider that people could have reasoning to know what to do and not to do. That is why I included the meme that I included below. I believe that it does a great job addressing how the issue is treated even though it is faulty. I do believe that the theory has a number of strengths though. One is the when it looks at motivation. I see this most often in students when they are in the hallways. Even though they are not supposed to be creating Tiktok videos, I see it often. This is a great example of social learning theories because when students see that a dance is popular, they want to imitate it. They are motivated to do it by the thought that they too could eventually get the number of followers that the original person has. If only I could get this in the classroom. Overall, I found this topic in particular to be very interesting and I will be looking into more of it further on my own.
Sources:
Cherry, K. (2022, October 14). How social learning theory works. verywell mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/social-learning-theory-2795074
Cherry, K. (2023, March 14). How observational learning affects behavior. verywell mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-observational-learning-2795402
DebateFilms. (2011, May 17). The brain: A secret history - emotions; Bobo doll experiment [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zerCK0lRjp8
Photo has citation included below picture
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