Social Cognitive Theory
The date is broken down and categorized according to social cognitive theory so that it can be easily accessed and comprehended. It focuses on one’s own behavior, environment, and personality. It automatically responds to preexisting beliefs based on factors like race, gender, age, skin color, etc. The hypothesis proposes that since the beginning, kids notice and learn. They establish their preferences and become accustomed to characteristics that are similar, which causes them to be afraid of the unknown (Schunk & DiBenedetto, 2020).
This kind of diversity makes the community feel bad and creates complicated stereotypes about different groups. The social and ecological elements make a gradually expanding influence as a top priority which prompts bias. The four components make an example of prejudice and segregation. According to McLeod (2016), a person is motivated by any kind of appreciation when they pay attention to a particular behavior, then retain it by seeing the consequences of those actions, then adopt it.
It is true that humans see things as a whole rather than in their individual parts. No matter how much racism, prejudice, and discrimination are discussed, I still hold preconceived notions about people of color in my immediate environment.
Asian Prejudice
When it comes to Asian prejudice, I have observed that the preconceived notion is so ingrained that no research should precede judgment. For instance, the recent Covid-19 pandemic spread the virus, and there is a rumor that the Chinese are to blame. Americans are hostile toward Chinese immigrants because of this stereotype. According to social-cognitive theory, observation is the first step toward behavior; the entire world is aware that Covid-19 spread throughout China (Abdullah, 2019). Even on the reality show America’s Got Talent, a Chinese comedian addressed various misconceptions about Chinese people, goods, and diseases. She made a lighthearted apology for causing a global pandemic and stated that she had been in the United States the entire time (“I Was Made in China” – the funniest AGT audition ever?!). | Australia Has Ability 2022, n.d.)
This demonstrates the way that a solitary look can prompt a programmed course of negative judgment for this situation Chinese race and the existing worldwide pandemic. In terms of motivation, the social-cognitive theory is also applicable; People observed and eventually accepted that the Chinese were to blame for the pandemic because motivation is goal-oriented (Schunk & DiBenedetto, 2020). To make the Coronavirus justifiable, it required somebody to be responsible and for this situation, the Chinese race became a casualty and experienced racial separation. ( White Like Me is a documentary made by Tim Wise, who was inspired by the book Black Like Me, in which a white man paints and dyes himself black to see how people will treat him. He is surprised to find that the black community is not treated as a second-level citizen but as a tenth-level citizens (Watson, 2011). The struggle for colored people from the civil rights era to the present is discussed in this documentary. Tim drew matches between white man honor and blankness to shaded man battle and disparity in political, social, and school systems.
The beginning of the documentary focused on Tim’s motivation to discuss contemporary racism as he talked about his early years in a black school. The anti-apartheid movement and David Duke’s presence as a white supremacist, Ku Klan member, and neo-Nazist were discussed in the video (Pride, 1993). Additionally, he talked about white privileges, which are so readily available to them. History demonstrated that racism was rooted in the constitution that established the Naturalization Act, and then Barack Obama became the first African-American to run for president (Nationality Act of 1790, 2019). It was a historic and inspirational moment for many, but the slogans “kill him,” “terrorist,” and “treason” made it abundantly clear that America has a long way to go.
The documentary made it clear that the majority of those in charge of corrections were black. The crime percentages were not flooded, yet the drug war made individuals of color at the dubious end while white men burglarized, accepting he wouldn’t be thought. White Americans also began to experience reverse discrimination, believing that black people are disadvantaged by all welfare programs (What Is Reverse Discrimination?). | Swartz Swidler, n.d.) The video made it clear that there was a conservative side that thought that talking about racism made it worse and that a society that is colorblind was the way to get rid of it. According to Kanopy – Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Film, and Top Documentaries, n.d., he offered a practical approach to color consciousness rather than color blindness to enable people to coexist while accepting all aspects and refraining from highlighting one that discriminates them.
The narrative returns to when the dark were slaves and working in horticultural or homegrown help work. Slavery and uncivilized black people were observable in all white communities, according to a fundamental principle of social cognitive theory. Black people were thought to be incapable and incompetent, which is why up until Barack Obama took office, all 46 presidents were white men. The polarization impact among Vote based and conservatives was portraying racial components in fights (Alvernia College, 2018). The supporters of Obama’s party continued to vote against him based solely on racist behavior.
Video content exhibits the stereotype base mentioned in theory through the concept of compartmentalization and overgeneralization. According to Schounk & DiBenedetto (2020), the cognitive component of the theory suggests that a person’s individual beliefs influence their decisions. It was clear from this video that conservative Americans who disapproved of welfare programs that support the black community were actually concerned about losing what they believed to truly be theirs. They shout, “I need my country back,” “I want America back,” and so on.
The social mental hypothesis concept of inspiration lies in remunerations. According to the documentary, policies like the Social Security Act, the Federal Housing Act, and the GI Bill all explicitly benefit white Americans, and as a result of efforts to eliminate racial differences, these privileges are now being asked to be shared (What Is Reverse Discrimination?). | n.d. Swartz Swidler)
References
Abdullah, S. M. (2019). Similiarity Artikel: Social Cognitive Theory: A bandura thought review published in 1982-2012. Journal PSIKODIMENSIA, 18(1), 85–100. http://eprints.mercubuana-yogya.ac.id/id/eprint/16382/
Alvernia University. (2018, May). Group polarization in social psychology | Alvernia Online. Alvernia Online. https://online.alvernia.edu/articles/group-polarization-social-psychology/
David, E. J. R., Schroeder, T. M., & Fernandez, J. (2019). Internalized racism: A systematic review of the psychological literature on racism’s most insidious consequence. Journal of Social Issues, 75(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12350
Greenwald, A. G., & Lai, C. K. (2020). Implicit social cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 71(1), 419–445. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010419-050837
Kanopy – Stream Classic Cinema, Indie Films, and Top Documentaries. (n.d.). Www.kanopy.com. https://www.kanopy.com/en/capella/mylists/customplaylists/5421548
Landman, T. (2020). Measuring modern slavery: law, human rights, and new forms of data. Human Rights Quarterly, 42(2), 303–331. https:/doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2020.0019
McLeod, S. (2016). Albert Bandura’s social learning theory. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/bandura.html
Nationality Act of 1790. (2019). Immigration History.https://immigrationhistory.org/item/1790-nationality-act/
Pride, R. A. (1993). The emergence of David Duke and the politics of race (review). Southern Cultures, 0(1), 123–126. https://doi.org/10.1353/scu.1993.0015
Schunk, D. H., & DiBenedetto, M. K. (2020). Motivation and social cognitive theory. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 60(1), 101832. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2019.101832
Watson, B. (2011, October). Black Like Me, 50 Years Later. Smithsonian; Smithsonian.com. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/black-like-me-50-years-later-74543463/
What Is Reverse Discrimination? | Swartz Swidler. (n.d.). Swartz-Swidler. Retrieved February 7, 2023, from
“I Was Made In China” – Funniest EVER AGT Audition?! | Australi a’s Got Talent 2022. (n.d.).
