Observe the World Around you!

  Observation of our surroundings influences choices we make every day, whether it be an advertisement or a person we're observing. Sometimes though, observational learning can lead to an unfortunate situation where we could learn detrimental behaviors through observational learning.

  Observational learning is one of the most well-known and most enduring methods of learning that has existed, and that does exist today, we use it in many forms. Whether we be teaching someone a new skill or someone  picks up smoking from having seen someone else smoking; The effects can be either positive or negative in their effect on people, and unfortunately the effects are often of the latter.

A former KKK grand wizard David Duke is a
Representative infamous for his extreme
antisemitic and often racist views. 

  One of the periods that best exemplifies this problem is the time periods encapsulated by the 19th and early to mid-20th centuries. In this time racism was a very prevalent and difficult to quell issue that was definitely not helped at all by the effects of observational learning. Prominent ways of thinking in that time period typically included discriminating against Blacks and very violent acts against Blacks. Acts that would be considered unthinkable and irrational today were considered commonplace and fine due to Observational learning.
  Most of the ways people back then would learn these behaviors was simply by viewing other people. What we have is a classic example of something called 'The Tragedy of the Commons'. What this states is that when people see more people doing something (in this case, discriminating) they're more likely to do it themselves because everyone else is. This is more commonly referred to as 'Mob Mentality', but this goes far beyond the scale of mobs, and reaches just full-blown populations.
  How can we prevent ourselves from adopting things we can barely even control, though? Can we control ourselves, and prevent ourselves from learning through observation unwittingly? I believe we can control ourselves when it comes to observational learning. For example, if today you were to read this website, would you buy into it? Technically, observing the media is a form of observational learning , so would you be forced to abide by the principles it presents? I think we have a choice as to whether or not we take in these messages and conform to them. It's up to us to choose the right path.