YouTube E-Learning and Bandura's Classic Research on Violent Television and Aggression
Susan Smith Nash, Ph.D.


In the early 1960s, psychologist Albert Bandura conducted research that successfully demonstrated that children will imitate aggressive behavior after observing it in live circumstances, and on television.  First, children watched an adult violently hit a large inflatable "Bobo" doll.  After seeing the aggressive, violent behavior, the children started imitating it and exhibiting the same behavior.  Later, a different group of children watched a depiction on television of the same adults beating up the Bobo doll.  This group of children also imitated the aggression. 

What Bandura found was very disturbing to behaviorists and other psychologists who believed that learning would not happen simply through observation, but instead, that the behavior had to be reinforced in order for true learning to take place. 

In other words, it is not necessary to obtain positive reinforcement in order to learn something.  The children who watched adults hitting the inflatable Bobo doll with wooden bats and with their fists certainly learned about aggressive behavior.  They did not have to experience it directly, but were able to learn vicariously.

What made the children turn and beat up the Bobo doll for themselves?  Here is a mystery. Did they take a few punches at the Bobo doll out of curiosity?  Did they do it because someone asked them to do so, and thus felt motivated by the prospect of praise or other kinds of rewards? 

Classic research conducted more than 40 years ago may not seem too relevant to e-learning until we consider how pervasive the use of video content has become in online learning. 

There are basically five different uses of video in online courses, all of which contain the potential for vicarious and observational learning:

1. Demonstrations of procedures and skills.  These are often professionally produced and are incorporated within the online modules.  Examples include procedures used in nursing, mechanics, technical fields, etc. 
   
   Implications:  Since students will learn what they are observing, it is important to show the procedure done correctly. If not, students will learn the wrong approach.  Be careful when showing mistakes.  You may be inadvertantly teaching (or learning) an incorrect approach.
   
   
2. Movies, television, film.  Excerpts or snippets from television and movies are often used to illustrate certain points in a course.  It is an opportunity to view critically, and to make connections between course content and examples.  Active viewing, with the help of guided questions is a good idea; otherwise, it is too easy to become a passive, uncritical viewer.
   
   Implications:  It is important to point out the connection to the course.  For example, excerpts from the movie, Erin Brocovitch, could be used in an Environmental Science course to point out how groundwater contamination by toxic chemicals used by a power plant can lead to community health issues, resulting in legal action against the company.  Unless the connection is made clearly, and the correct excerpts shown, the connections could be unclear, and students may focus on different parts of the movie (the critiques of her clothing, her struggles to find child care for her young children, etc.).
   
   
3. News and documentaries.  Some textbooks, such as Cengage, have made ABC News videos available.  In addition, PBS, the Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and other documentary producers are eager to sell their content in order to strengthen curriculum.
   
   Implications:  Students may be learning only one side of a story.  The media slant or bias may be subtle and go undetected.  Because learners will internalize what they are viewing, it may be important in some topics to provide different points of view.  Taking an "opposing viewpoints" perspective and encouraging active questioning and discussion is critical when using news and documentaries.
   
   
4. Instructor-posted video content.  Instructors may create their own content (introductory videos, explanations, more), often by sitting in front of their webcams and simply recording themselves as they sit at their computers and chat.  Other instructors may post or embed videos they find on YouTube or in other locations.
   
   Implications:  By creating their own videos, instructors have an excellent opportunity to model positive behavior, to motivate by showing enthusiasm, and to rehumanize what can be a very dehumanizing environment.  Since observational learning will take place, the instructor must be careful to not model negative behavior, or to teach something in error.  Attitudes and non-verbal behavior will transmit messages, as will the semiotic content.  These should be carefully observed and evaluated.
   
   
5. Student-posted YouTube videos.  Students may post them as an illustration of a point made in the discussion board. They may be posting videos as a part of an e-portfolio.  In either case, it is important to keep in mind that any violence, aggression, or antisocial behavior that is enacted will be learned by the viewer. 
   
   Implications:  There may be a valid and reasonable reason for including the content -- for example, an ethics course may be a good place to discuss certain behaviors such as bullying, and different kinds of bullying could be illustrated.  On the other hand, one can run the risk of teaching bullying, violence, sexual harassment, etc.  The resulting behavior is more than mere superficial copycatting.  Bandura's experiments have shown that emulatory violence becomes a part of the individuals repertoire of responses to generalized anxiety, stress, and other provocations in the world. Virginia Tech and Columbine are grim reminders that ideas are transmitted through multiple media, and that the videos that are the most viral are often the most violent, provocative, and emotionally wrenching.

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