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Imitation and its effects on our society

College Students
By Joseph Perez
April 5, 2015 8:25 EST

In our society many people imitate others regardless of whether they are selfaware or not. The desire to imitate happens throughout many stages of life. In 1977
social learning theorist, Albert Bandura, stated that behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning (Mcleod 1-2). In one of Albert Banduras experiments, The Bobo Doll Experiment (Bandura 1961), children observe adults behavior and then imitate the behavior when given the opportunity.
In our society there are many different models, people or things we observe, that
show us how to act in our society. Often times both children and adults observe other
individuals behaviors and will incorporate and reflect that very same behavior in similar situations that may happen later in life.
However when people begin to imitate a behavior there are two different types of rein1. How To Exercise Efficiently In
forcement that will determine whether or not
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the behavior that was imitate will be imitate
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continously. If a child imitates a models be3. Healthy Recipes For College
havior and the consequences are rewarding,
Students
the child is likely to continue performing the
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behavior (34-35). For example, if a person
5. 5 Things College Students Will imitates a behavior such as high-fiving every
Do
person they see and receives smiles and attention as well as compliments for being nice,
then that would be considered as rewarding or positive reinforcement and would most
likely cause the individual to keep high-fiving others. However if a person begins cursing around his or her group of friends who react negatively and disapprove of the behavior, then the person cursing will most likely realize that it is unwise to speak in
such a manner around that particular group of people.

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Imitation of others is a way for humans to be accepted amongst one another and is
almost required in most work, school, and group settings. Many times people might
attempt to imitate in order to fit in and become a
popular member of a social clique. Many people feel
isolated and dont want to stand out. Thats why, in
school, students will often do anything to fit in and
be popular; whether that means copying a famous
persons accent in order to receive some level of attention or copying the beliefs and opinions of the
group of people they are with, in order to achieve
acceptance.
Studies done on humanitys desire to copy others also
stems from people desiring to be able to empathize
and find things in common with one another. Some
evolutionary psychologists believe that automatic imitation may act as a social
glue (Derbyshire).
An example of imitation comes from parents, Parents seemingly cant help but imitate the facial expressions of their newborns smiling sticking their tongues out, and
so on (Derbyshire). This is an example many people will understand and goes to
show how easily we can mimic others without even realizing it.
Imitation is part of our societys need to coexist, be accepted, connected, and protected from being alienated. In college and any other school setting we often imitate
without knowing in order to fit in and be accepted, despite the fact that we are supposed to each be our own individual and not let ourselves get swept away by the
crowd.
References:
McLeod, S. A. (2011). Bandura - Social Learning Theory. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
"Copy That." Psychology Today. Alain Samson, 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <https://
www.psychologytoday.com/blog/consumed/201204/copy>.
Hough, Andrew. "Humans 'subconsciously Mimic Other Accents', Psychologists Claim." The
Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 7 Aug. 2010. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/7931299/Humans-subconsciously-mimic-other-accents-psychologists-claim.html>.

 Derbyshire, David. "Born Copycats! Why We Just Can't Fight the Subconscious Impulse to Imitate Others." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 20 July 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2016708/Born-copycats-Why-just-fightsubconscious-impulse-imitate-others.html>.