When I think of behavior modeling, I find myself reflecting on how my mom raised me. Growing
up my home life was sometimes chaotic. Dad, of course was not in the picture, my mom has
bipolar disorder, she always tried to keep the peace however regardless she was my biggest
supporter and inspiration to be better. Now looking at the parenting styles, I can see how I have
modeled behaviors from both my parents. I would classify myself as misunderstood in my
feelings due to the fact that I was recently diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. I was
never really satisfied with how my life or my body and how I would criticize myself too much
about it, and I found myself hurting because of my inner saboteur.
Reluctantly, for several years I have found that I criticize myself harshly which mimicked how my
mom was with herself. I did reach out to seek help and obtain proper diagnosis and treatment.
But not for a lack of trying, I have faced consequences from the poor behavior that I was
exhibiting. The consequence that I faced from that behavior was that I lost a strong bond that I
had with myself. I absolutely 100% lost myself and I am still trying to pick up those pieces to
love myself again.
The Social Learning Theory that we present in our book holds that people learn and make
decisions in specific social contexts. Shiraev (2016), on page 186, adds that learning can also
happen as a result of one's own curiosity, deliberate instruction from a superior, or exposure to
specific experiences. According to this theory, each of us should be conscious of the potential
effects of our decisions on those around us.
