Ever seen a really studly guy pick up an even hotter girl? Ever try to replicate his moves exactly to try and get the same result? Well, whether you get the girl or not is irrelevant. It's the fact that you tried to copy the guy that's important. As human beings, we learn by observing, which, in psychology, is called "observational learning" (we're an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things -- just like pirates).
Observational learning is more prevalent when we're young, when we're still trying to figure out how things in the world work. Parents, this is why you have to be especially careful when raising your kids. Show them a bad habit one too many times, and they'll likely replicate it. Observational learning is linked to the social cognitive theory, which basically re-states what I've been saying: we learn from watching others, as well as through our own experiences.
Back in the 90s, shows like "Power Rangers" and "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" were criticized for promoting violence as the main way to solve problems, arguing that the romanticism of fighting was causing children to become more violent themselves. Indeed, according to this article both shows were implicated in the death of a five-year-old Norwegian girl, back in 1994, which caused "Power Rangers" to be pulled from the air. As this fan video explains, the reason violence in "Power Rangers" was problematic was because the consequences of violence were never shown. As the fan put it, "they fought monsters and went home". This gives young children the impression that being violent holds no negative consequences, and that it is a socially acceptable thing to do: thus the increase in violent tendencies.
With the advent of parental controls, TV isn't that big a problem anymore. But the media still holds a plethora of unsavory things for kids to duplicate, such as foul language. Luckily for us, there is a very easy solution. We must simply explain to the children that what they see in the media is not necessarily good to do in real life . They must also learn not to copy somebody without fully understanding what they are doing. Once we explain this to the children, we can put them on their guard and hopefully prevent any negative implications.
