Social Learning Theory

In todays society children are brought up around media in many different forms. Specifically, exposure to video games is the day in a life of millennial children. We have seen over the past decade movement of children starting video games at a very young age. Kids are no longer using their imagination in a sandbox on a playground, but rather they are able to see there imagination come to life in front of there eyes, in what is now modern video games. In June of two-thousand-and-three, Devin Moore, shot and murdered two police officers, and one dispatcher at the police station in a violent senseless crime (Phillips, 2007, p. 33). Devin was originally arrested as a suspect for a stolen vehicle that he was in on time of arrest. He was then escorted …show more content…
Bandura also created the idea of Moral Disengagement where individualize rationalize criminal behavior to order to stretch there moral beliefs and tell themselves that it is okay to do those acts (Bandura, 2002, pg 102). This theory states that behavior is learned from the individuals environment through observational learning, and that a cognitive process of the individual happens after behavior is modeled and before a response (McLeod , 2016, Par. 1). Why Bandura was so groundbreaking in Social Learning Theory was because he concluded that an individual must have a cognitive thought about the behavior that has been modeled, and that individuals don't just mimic what they see but rather think about it before mimicking (McLeod, 2016, Par …show more content…
As stated above Devin Moore committee a brutal murder of 2 police officers and a dispatcher in alabama (Phillips, 2007, pg. 33). What could have led him to commit this senseless act. Devin Moore was an avid Grand Theft Auto player and was said to be obsessed with this game. We can look at Social Learning Theory and apply this theory to why Devin Moore committed this act of Violence. We can look at Bandura’s bobo doll experiment directly to access why Devin would commit this senseless acts. Just like Bandura’s finding from his Bobo doll Experiment, there are four attributes governing Social Cognition. The first attribute Bandura states governs social cognition is Attention (Artino, 2007, pg 7). Devin is continually exposing himself to this modeled behavior to which is the video game Grand Theft Auto. He is paying direct attention to this video game, and is constantly exposing himself to this behavior that is being modeled through this video game, as he is obsessing over playing. The Next attribute governing Social cognition is Retention (Artino, 2007, pg. 7). As Devin constantly plays this video game, he is reminding himself of these actions. The next attribute governing social cognition is motor reproduction. As Devin continually plays the video game Grand Theft Auto, it is a constant reminder that these things are actually possible as Devin reenacts them daily as he plays. He sees himself