Social Learning from Beyonce

The social learning theory of media effects can be seen in children imitating sexual dancing, like in the case of Beyonce’s “All the Single Ladies” music video.

Social learning is a way in which the media effects society where people imitate images they see. In this theory, when people are presented repeatedly with images, they eventually start to imitate what they are presented with. In this way, society starts to reflect what is shown in the media. This makes the media a very powerful force, which is sometimes problematic when the media shows images that we don’t want society to imitate.

One of the best examples of this is in the numerous YouTube videos of small children imitating Beyonce’s dancing in her “All the Single Ladies” music video. I have embedded one of the better videos in this blog. In the video, a girl of about three years old dances along with Beyonce’s video, imitating everything, even slapping her bottom. This type of dancing, much less bottom slapping, is generally not considered normal three-year-old behavior but because of her exposure to Beyonce’s video, she does these actions anyway. It is clear that the girl has chosen to act more like the images she sees. This example very simply shows how media affects our society through social learning.