Recently in class, we have talked about learned behavior and how a lot of the time adapt new behaviors from observing and imitating people around us (pg. 87). So how does this affect our community? Going off of the recent local election I’m going to take this in a political direction. In terms of newly learned behaviors, these can occur from observing and listening to opinions and actions of school board members, local court officers, tax commissoners, as well as any other local public official. These are the people that we vote in (well some of us) so of course, we are going to take to some of their behaviors but is this actually a good thing?
No matter what side you associate yourself with or whoever you vote for has something about them that you like whether it be their actions, values, or beliefs. So voting for them you want others to adopt the same type of things. This causes the community to adopt the same types of behaviors and values. As you listen to them and the things that your local officials vote for you will then begin to adopt certain behaviors as will the community.
People tend to be very impressionable when it comes to politics. We are influenced as a community by others’ behaviors, opinions, as well as local news stations. A lot of the times people will hear an opinion from someone and think to themselves maybe I should think that too and then that person starts to spread that same information. Then we fall into a community where people based an opinion on someone else’s opinion and behavior.
Community is very important and as it would be a perfect world if we all got along but we also need that opposing view. We need people to argue and have their own opinions. As sometimes it is good to learn new behaviors and opinions from others we should be taking them and adding to our own not just adopting that single behavior or opinion. The difference in one another is what makes communities grow and become stronger.
Politics has divided the world in many ways, including creating tension in communities. Around election time, I’ve seen instances where communities will treat people of the opposing side with hatred and disrespect solely because of their political beliefs. Hatred and disrespect can easily be observed and replicated, so I agree that learned behaviors can most definitely impact communities. This relates to Albert Bandura’s social learning theory which states “emphasizes the importance of observing, modeling, and imitating the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of others. Social learning theory considers how both environmental and cognitive factors interact to influence human learning and behavior.” Because of Bandura’s discovery of this theory, it is important that we make actions that benefit the community instead of dividing it. If we continue making negative behaviors, there will be no such thing as a “community” because we failed at working together and respecting one another.
Reference: Mcleod, S. (n.d.). Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory | Simply Psychology. Retrieved November 5, 2021, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html.