HUFFPOST COLLEGE

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 diversely in many stages of life. In 1977
social learning theorist Albert Bandura declared that peoples behavior is based upon
the observational learning that we experience in our environment.

According to Banduras research, The Bobo Doll Experiment (Bandura 1961), children
observe the people around them and will often in turn repeat that behavior.
In our society there are many different models, people or things we observe, that give
us guidelines for how to act in 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 the behavior people imitate and
whether or not it will be imitated continuously is
determined by the type of reinforcement that
accompanies the particular behavior. For
example, if a person imitates a behavior such as
high-fiving every person they see and receives
smiles and attention as well as compliments for
being nice, then that person may continue to
exhibit that behavior. 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. People use
imitation as a social glue which allows us to be able to
exhibit mannerisms, accents, and facial expression in order for use to have a universal
and understandable way of communicating.
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/Humanssubconsciously-mimic-other-accents-psychologists-claim.html>.

 MailOnline, 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>.