Social Learning Theory

The Effect of Video Games

Bandura developed the social learning theory by conducting an experiment with children and a bobo doll. A control group saw a video of how to nicely play with the bobo doll. The experimental group was shown a video of how to throw and hurt the bobo doll. It became clear that humans imitate what they see others do because that is how they perceive they are suppose to act. Bandura argued that the experiments demonstrated a link between violent media programs and aggressive behavior. Bandura came up with a four step process: attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation (Campbell 490). The social learning theory applies to my study of how video games affected my dorm mates and their behavior, just like

The ones who were playing were very active and engaged in the video game just as the one sitting out not playing, but simply watching the others was. There was a lot of cursing, which surprised me because they do not use foul language very often. The ones who were playing were fixated on the screen and their hands were glued to the controller. They did not acknowledge people walking through the lounge as they normally would by saying a friendly “Hello” or “Hi”. But in this situation there was no time for the player to take eyes off of the screen for fear someone would shoot and kill his character. The one who was waiting for the round to be over was also very active. When someone would miss an easy kill, he would say, “You just missed your chance to kill him”. I found their reaction quite amusing when someone would die because they would either cuss, flail their arms, or slam the controller down; or do a combination of all three. To an outsider, it was easy to see which player had just been shot and killed by their fellow friends. I was also surprised by how active other McClain residents were, when walking through the lounge to go up to their rooms or to go get something to eat from the Hamilton dining facility. Those people passing through, would try and help the person that appeared to be struggling, the one who had the least amount of points. It

Ian felt that he was emotionally invested into the game because he was able to choose his weapons and his player, physically he did not feel any different. He feels this same emotional pull in college because he gets to choose which courses he takes and when; and anytime he is in control of making a decision for himself. Obviously, he feels the same way when he plays any video game where a decision is needed for what happens next or what type of armor his player needs. He felt his reaction was appropriate because he wanted to be engaged in the video game and not be an easy target to hit. I felt as though he reacted because he wanted to win and how can someone win when they are not completely into the game emotionally or physically. He did admit that when he plays video games he gets lost in a world and does not know what is going on in reality. He completely concentrates only on the video game and only on the moment. Chris, Avery, and Tanner all had different answers. Chris felt he was much more physically involved then emotionally involved. His reasoning behind that was that he hit one of the controllers on the table so hard that the back came off and the batteries fell out, after he realized that he had not won. I felt that his reaction showed that he was emotionally more involved because he was angry that he did not win and that was how he took out his anger. Avery did not think