Oops, We're Doing It Again

"How Amanda's Brain Works" could probably be a grad class unto itself.  I have a lot of random things jumbling around in my head and sometimes they link up in odd ways.  (The theorists and psychologists would have a field day…)  Here are two examples.  Both came to mind as I was reading the chapter in our text on Social Cognitive Theory, I was particularly intrigued by the section on Modeling, specifically symbolic models ("a person or character portrayed in a book, film, television show, video game, or other medium.") and Bandura's four characteristics of effective models:

1. The model is competent
2. The model has prestige and power
3. The model behaves in stereotypical "gender-appropriate" ways
4. The model's behavior is relevant to the observer's situation

Reflection 1:  for some reason as I read through the above list of "characteristics of effective models," point #4 got lodged in my head.  What does "relevant to the observer's situation" mean?  I suddenly remembered an episode of the TV show "Will and Grace" where, for some reason, this happened:

















Obviously there is learning taking place as a result of modeled behavior.  The model in question is competent (or at least was perceived as such in 2000, when the video originally came out; more recent events could call Ms. Spears' competency into question); has prestige and power due to her celebrity status; and is certainly behaving in gender-stereotypical ways. But how about point #4?  I cannot remember the episode of Will & Grace fully, so I'm not sure if the behavior was relevant or was presented as a non sequitur simply for laughs…

… but that got me thinking, in turn, of "what other resources exist on YouTube if one wanted to learn this routine?"  A quick search turned up this:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dance+routine+compilation+oops+I+did+it+again 

So… a LOT of people apparently thought that this dance routine was relevant enough to learn, record, and share.  (I wonder how many of them can still do the routine on demand?)  I missed the "Britney boat" -- I was in college by the time that she was taking the teens-and-tweens world by storm, so I never thought that learning to dance like Britney was particularly relevant enough to spend the time on.

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Example 2:  Similar to example 1, except surrounding the idea of Comic-Con (the New York Comic-Con just finished), cosplay, and this article (http://theweek.com/article/index/269570/why-the-rise-of-cosplay-is-a-bad-sign-for-the-us-economy), which a friend of my posted on Facebook earlier this week.  Again, if one's reality is one of boredom, relative powerlessness, and feeling adrift… then emulating (or modeling your behavior after) a character that, even if fictional, is powerful and competent probably feels pretty good.  But is it relevant?  How would one even DEFINE relevance in this case?

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I guess of Bandura's 4 characteristics of effective models, point #4 (relevance to observer's situation) is the most subjective and hardest to quantify.  A particular observer/learner's situation can be extremely nuanced and can involve a lot of invisible elements; what's relevant to me and what's relevant to you could be completely different, even if we are placed into the same situation.  That is why it's so important for a teacher to try to know his/her students to the greatest extent possible -- to find that "relevant" aspect.