Negative modeling: what is it and how does it work?

We explain this concept so often used in educational psychology.

Observing others is fundamental during development since it is the way we learn how to guide our own behavior.

This idea is what lies in the concept of modeling, explained in greater depth by Albert Bandura. People perform actions and whoever observes them introduces them into their behavioral repertoire. Observing others is fundamental during development because it is the way we learn how to guide our own behavior.

This idea is at the heart of the concept of modeling, explained in greater depth by Albert Bandura. People perform actions and whoever observes them introduces them into their behavioral repertoire..

However, not all behaviors are good. Sometimes undesired actions are imitated, and this is the idea that would be related to the concept of negative modelingexplained in more detail in this article.

Negative modeling, what is it?

Within Albert Bandura's proposal of social learning, negative modeling is understood as the fact of imitating behaviors of others that are not considered appropriate for being a socially adjusted individual..

They are usually behaviors that involve some kind of harm to others or to oneself, but with enough social pressure to imitate it believing that it may involve some kind of benefit.

Theoretical framework on which it is based

The term modeling, in a more general and neutral vision, refers to the process of observational learning, refers to the observational learning process in which the behavior of an individual or group of individuals serves as a stimulus for the thinking, attitudes and behavior of others.attitudes and behavior of other people.

Within psychology, the study of imitation has been practically ignored until 1941 when Miller and Dollard tried to approach it from a behaviorist perspective. Later, in 1963, Albert Bandura proposed a theory of behavioral imitation to try to explain the development of personality through social learning. Over time, the term 'imitation' was progressively replaced by the term 'modeling' within academia.

According to Bandura himself, most human behavior is the result of having observed it in others and having acquired it through modeling. Thus, a person, seeing how others behave, gets an idea of what behavioral repertoires he or she should carry out and uses them as a guide. The influence of the behavior of others on oneself may depend on several factors, such as the status attributed to the referent subject or the degree of kinship.

Broadly speaking, the process of imitation begins with the observation of a behavior. Subsequently, the observer feels identified with the person performing the behavior and proceeds to imitate it. If the action involves some kind of short-term benefit or reward, it is more likely to be assimilated into the behavioral repertoire.

Examples of negative modeling

As has already been indicated, negative modeling is understood as the imitation of behaviors considered undesirable or inappropriate because they involve harm to both the performer and third parties.

The ability to imitate other people is highly adaptive for the human species.It offers us a wide range of behaviors that we can know in advance will have some kind of benefit, since it is logical to think that if others carry it out it is because it has allowed them to gain something by doing it.

However, all that glitters is not gold. Often, without knowing it, actions and ways of doing things are imitated that are not adaptive in the long term. Young people, especially children, are more sensitive to learning bad habits, especially because they do not yet have the ability to discern between right and wrong. To understand this further, let's look at some detailed examples of negative modeling in practice..

1. Violent entertainment

The media exert a great influence on our actions, thinking and attitudes.

The mass media is constantly bombarded with movies and series in which scenes of murders, assaults and robberies are shown.

It is also possible to see in more than one film that addictions are implicitly promoted, such as alcohol consumption, and, although nowadays it is more regulated, they are not at all surprising. and, although nowadays it is more regulated, the scenes in which someone appears smoking are not at all surprising.

All this can exert a great influence on the mind of the child or adolescent who has witnessed scenes in which this violent content appears, and may believe that imitating their favorite actors makes them 'cool'.

In the most extreme cases, having enjoyed this type of content may be behind fights at school, aggression towards parents or misbehavior, clearly unwanted behaviors.

However, it is important to qualify what has just been said at this point. Not all entertainment, whether in the form of movies, series or video games, should be diabolized. It is the responsibility of parents to monitor what their children are exposed to.

2. Domestic violence

Domestic violence is unfortunately a social scourge. Whether it is the husband who assaults his wife or the parents who mistreat their children, this type of violence contributes to the person being modeled in a very negative way..

As an adult, he may carry out the same aggressions towards his partner and children, or he may imitate his abused mother and become submissive and incapable of freeing himself from his chains.

3. Racism and xenophobia

Although there is currently a very critical conception of racism, especially of its Biological aspect, there is still a lot of work to be done, there is still much work to be done, and discriminatory comments based on race are not infrequent..

A child who grows up in an environment where wrong beliefs about people of a particular ethnicity or nationality abound is very likely to end up doing the same and, moreover, to believe them.

Not only are the racist comments that the child will make unwanted behavior, but he or she will also inherit all the discriminatory thinking that his or her parents have taught him or her.

4. Plagiarism culture

This example in question may seem a bit far-fetched, but it is certainly a very widespread type of behavior in our society to plagiarize the work of others, clearly undesirable and harmful behavior if discovered.

If the child who goes to class learns to copy and paste what is written in his textbook because his teacher has told him to do so, although it may seem harmless, it contributes to the assimilation of the culture of plagiarism and the culture of not generating new ideas.

Surprisingly, nowadays, we are surprised that a politician or a social referent copied a work while studying a degree or master's degree. In turn, these same famous people do not receive the appropriate legal consequences.

All this, promoted by the educational field itself and, at a more general level, the media and the legal system, favor the belief that copying what others have worked so hard to create is legitimate..