Social Learning Theory is What They Employ to Turn Your Children Against Your Values

 

"Most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling from others."  Albert Bandura

So what do a plummeting marriage rate, smaller families, less religious affiliation with the young and drag queen performances for children have in common?  Simple, they are not trends that originated organically. Once people get this, and how they connect, everything in society today makes sense, but I will deal with that later.

What I will cover now is method. How can one reprogram a society out of norms that existed for thousands and thousands of years? Well, there is this thing called "Social Learning Theory" (SLT) that is a very powerful weapon. Yet, what is so elegant of this theory is that it is so simple:  What you see is what you interpret as normal and how you should be.

Why do we wear clothes? Why do women shave their legs and men their faces? Why don't we eat with our fingers in western culture? Why don't we eat cats?  Most people would merely shake their heads at these questions and say it is what is normal. But is it? No, it is what we have observed as norms, and we adopt them.  The theory that explains this is SLT, originated by social psychologist Albert Bandura. He proposed that the reason for most of our behaviors is modeling. A child observes what his/her parents do, and what the consequences are. If rewards are what parents give the child, and he/she sees rewards or punishments later in social settings, then they will generally follow that pattern.

A simple example. Let's say a child has parents that are nudists. They live in the country and so they have privacy to do as they wish. Mom does household chores, gardening, everything naked. The child/children see this as the norm and feel comfortable not with this. Yet when it is announced that the grandparents are coming over, and they are not nudists, they see that being naked is situational, especially when they start school. They soon learn when and where their parent's lifestyle is acceptable, and when they learn it is not all that common in the general population, they are likely not to follow in their parent's barefoot steps, unless, they have a social group that shares and reinforces their parent's lifestyle.

Yet this is the case with all behaviors. If a young woman decides she will not shave, she will be harassed in middle school, and likely will conform to what others do. If a young boy goes to school and eats with his hands, children will scorn him and he will conform for the same reasons as the hairy young womanm as it hurts to be mocked. 

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Now let us extend that to other behaviors.  In a traditional society, children would be seen as a blessing and the birth of an additional child will be praised by parents, in laws, extended family and friends and neighbors. In such an environment saying you don't want children would be met with negative social sanctions. A traditional society reinforces pro-natal behaviors. Yet in our society powerful entities have decided we need smaller populations. In just two generations we went from four children per woman to less than two, and in many social circles childlessness is idealized. Schools propagandized us to see large families as evil, but that is not the main factor in our dying birthrate, it is lack of reinforcement from even the most conservative of religions to television showing (intentionally) late marriage, careerism and small families as the ideal norm.  This was planned. And then, as small families became more what you saw around you, it felt weird want more than two. I knew a teacher who had a child, and then his wife got pregnant with twins. He was genuinely concerned that everyone was going to judge them as being "white trash." 

This explains why pro-birth societies today find it increasingly difficult to get people to have children, especially in China. If the norms on telivision, social media and within close family have become smaller each generation. This is referred to as an institutional norm.  You can encourage people to have more kids, but if that even causes their sub-conscious to feel anxiety, if picturing themselves with three or four children later in life, it will not work.  Unless pro-natalist measures are met with showing examples of larger families in a positive light everywhere, especially in entertainment, it will not work.

On a related note, SLT explains political differrences depending on geographic locations.  If people are in areas where liberal attitudes have become the norm, then it is difficult to alter them. These people will have been programmed to see reality through the eyes of authority figures in entertainment, schools and media while conservatives will have a reality influenced by religion, history and conservative figures.  

So how to use SLT for more conservative ends? Simple, find out what the norms and ideals of your target audience is, and speak to those norms.  Every issue out there from economics to family structure to what is appropriate for children can have hooks by which conservatives can appeal. Until conservatives realize it the battle will seem like one of falling back and fortifying your base. That has been the Republican establishment's policy since the first Bush years. Once we apply psychology to politics we will win on every front.