HERE, HERE! Excellent points Chris! On Jun 4, 2008, at 9:07 AM, Christopher D. Green wrote:
> > 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]) > ======================================================== Steven M. Specht, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Psychology Utica College Utica, NY 13502 (315) 792-3171 "Mice may be called large or small, and so may elephants, and it is quite understandable when someone says it was a large mouse that ran up the trunk of a small elephant" (S. S. Stevens, 1958) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
