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Unlearning a Behavor is Difficult, but not Impossible
When we become a product of our environment
“You sound just like him,” said a close friend, who was also my wasband’s childhood friend.
That wasn’t a compliment by any means. I had just said something in response to what my friend had said. I had an irritated and dismissive look that accompanied the comment.
He was right. He pointed out a behavior I had picked up along the way. A behavior I didn’t like being a recipient of — a comment or statement that may seem light-hearted at first but comes across as a put-down.
I thought long and hard about what he said. I was already at the point where I didn’t like the person I had become to survive in the marriage. I now was disgusted with the fact that I added a negative behavior to my repertoire. Ugh!
Analyze that
Albert Bandura’s greatest contribution to the field of psychology was his Social Learning Theory which posits that as humans we have the propensity to imitate the behaviors of others.
I am amazed at how easy it is to pick up negative behaviors but how difficult it is to unlearn them.
There is such a thing as the Chameleon Effect which refers to mimicking facial expressions, gestures, and…
