Bandura and Social Learning Theory

(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.