The recent discussion about whether a color video of the Bandura experiment would be more "relevant" to students got me thinking about the issue a little more broadly. Indeed, the very phenomenon being demonstrated in the Bandura film -- social modeling -- interacts quite remarkably with with the topic.
Many people's response to their belief that today's students would react with indifference to a b&w video was to think of what sort of thing would better engage their attention: a color video (I have my doubts that mere color video seems all that "new" and "relevant" to students raised in the internet age, but let us continue). I think that is a self-defeating response. It reinforces the students' (false) view (if indeed students would respond in the way presumed) that any information presented in "old" technology must itself be obsolete, and that by making it color we would raise its level of "relevance" to the students Indeed, by succumbing to the presumed demand that everything be "new," we ourselves model (to use Bandura's term) very poor academic judgment for our students. Instead, we should model good academic judgment: rather than rushing about find a more "entertaining" format in which to present the information, we should demonstrate how to evaluate the information presented and how to ignore intellectually unimportant aspects. Indeed (the historian in me says), we should be pointing out the ways in which the authentic historical artifact (even if b&w) is actually more interesting, more fascinating, and more informative, than some artificial, "eye-candied" mockup produced more recently in order to better attract the attention of the unsophisticated user. For one thing, in addition to seeing the original phenomenon being demonstrated (violence being modeled by adults for children), we get to see exactly how this phenomenon was presented to the audience of the time in which it was made, and we can investigate what aspects of that particular presentation appealed most to audiences of that era. In short, we can study it not only as a /scientific/ phenomenon, but also as a /historical/ phenomenon. For instance, what impact do you think the recent adoption of television in nearly all the homes of America, the presence of the Viet Nam war on the nightly newscasts, the highly publicized protests of the war (and other issues) on the streets, several high-profile political assassinations, and the rise in urban violence around that time had on the scholarly and popular "uptake" of the Bandura experiment in decade after it was first published (1961)? Would it have had the same impact, say 10 years earlier (right after WWII, in the midst of the Korean War, and the McCarthy hearings)? What about 20 years later (in the wake of the defeat of the ERA, the election of Reagan, the rollback of government intervention in the economy, the early rise to political power of evangelical Christians). In short, when students are bored by important information we should be prepared to show them what is intellectually interesting about it, not just try to frame it in a superficially more entertaining way. Regards, Chris -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 Canada 416-736-2100 ex. 66164 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.yorku.ca/christo/ "Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his or her views." - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton ================================= --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
