(MUSIC). My initial research and observational learning
centered on the social modeling of aggression.
In our experiment,
preschool children observed an adult model
beat up an inflated Bobo
doll
in novel ways.
She pummeled it with a mallet,
flung it in the air,
kicked it repeatedly,
and threw it down and beat it.
And these novel acts were embellished with hostile remarks.
The children were then left in the playroom
that had a variety of toys.
Now, the children who had observed the aggressive modeling
adopted much of it.
They even invented new ways for attacking the doll.
Children who had not observed the adult model
were less aggressive and never hit the Bobo
doll in the novel ways that were bottled.
The children who had been exposed to the aggressive modeling
showed an increased attraction to guns
even though the adult model never used them.
At the time we did this research,
it was widely believed that seeing others venting aggression
would drain away the viewer's aggressive drive.
As you can see,
exposure to modeled aggression is hardly cathartic.
Televised violence has four major effects.
It teaches aggressive styles of behavior,
weakens restraints over aggression,
desensitizes and habituates viewers to human cruelty
and shapes viewers images of reality.
With the enormous advances in the technology of communication,
observational learning from the symbolic environment
is placing an increasingly powerful role
in people's everyday lives.
Human attitudes,
values,
styles of behavior
are now being modeled worldwide.
As a result,
televised modeling
is becoming an influential vehicle for political
and social change.
We now have global broadcasts
of societal conflicts
as they are happening.