Week 2

     I think the concept of social learning has helped me understand how we interpret everyday events and how these interpretations effect the social decisions we make concerning our media choices, how we look, and act around others. Social learning is how a person feels about something or someone after they have had an experience with it. For example if one has a positive experience going to the movies, they are more likely to go back to the movies than someone who has had a negative experience. Social learning affects the decisions we make after we already have expectations about an experience. Social learning can also be when someone mimics another person’s behavior. The behavior being mimicked is could be observed by a family member, friend or even the media.
     The media effects social learning to a great extent, a good example of this can be seen in the film Killing Us Softly. The film shows how advertisements in today society affect the way young girls and women behave. Girls are portrayed in the media to be passive, from these images girls are taught to be gentle and loving. In other sources of media we see images of beautiful women, with a perfect body and perfect skin; these images send the message to girls that looks are all that matter. In the film Killing Us Softly we learn that advertisements and media play such a role in women’s life that 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day. The Film Killing Us softly is a great example of how social learning affects or behavior and our thoughts.