Many theories have been developed over the years to try to explain why people behave the way they do. Many questions have been raised when thinking about this and social learning theory is a popular theory to explain this. No one really thought about social learning theory until Albert Bandura wrote down his idea. He actually wrote a book called “Social Learning Theory.” In this book, he states that behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observational learning (Saul McLeod). Bandura's social learning theory emphasizes the importance of learning and observing people's behavior, reactions, and emotions (Bandura). He believed that if humans depended solely on learning their own actions, this learning would be "extremely laborious, not to mention dangerous." People learn from others every day in different ways, from watching their parents to watching a TV commercial. We are always observing the way others act, whether we are aware of it or not. Individuals observed and imitated are considered models. Models are not just famous people in advertisements, they can be your parents, your peers, your teachers and the characters on your television. All of these models can provide an example of the behavior of a masculine and feminine person. Although not always the case, people are more likely to imitate someone of the same gender and probably someone they view as similar to themselves. Behaviors imitated by the person are generally either punished or reinforced. For example, if a little girl plays nicely with a stuffed animal and someone compliments her, the girl is more likely to repeat this imitated behavior. His behavior was reinforced. Reinforcement can be external or internal...... middle of paper ...... influence children to be more violent. Knowing that trial and error can have a big effect on your future behavior, Bandura believes that observational patterns have a big impact on your behavior. Although social learning is a means used to describe general human behavior, many people use it to explain the main effects of media. He says that not only children but also adults' attitudes, emotional reactions and new behaviors are influenced by television modeling. A man named George Gerbner argued that television violence would cause a false climate of fear, but Bandura warned that it was worth being afraid of television violence. There will probably never be a warning label on violent TV shows or movies like those on things that have more physical effects, but Bandura thinks people should know what they can do to your behavior..