Inhibitory and Disinhibitory Effects

When a person observes behavior or actions that somehow conflict with, or contribute to, that person’s values, one of two major effects can be determined.

The first is inhibitory effects, meaning that one’s own lessons and experiences have taught them a certain value. For example, a boy who watched his alcoholic father be abusive may decide to never drink.

The second effect is a disinhibitory effect. A disinhibitory effect occurs when one becomes more lax in his or her belief systems as a result of observing others. For example, a girl that grows up in a strict religious household that goes to church every Sunday, then goes away to college and sees that her roommates do not, may be influenced to decrease her churchgoing.

The social cognitive theory helps psychologists and others understand the media’s effect on people. It also helps the media produce positive messages (like the “Got milk?” campaign). More than anything else, it helps us understand our own behavior. As parents, most of us just want what is best for our children. Understanding the social cognitive theory allows us to know which television shows our children should not be viewing, and perhaps, why they behave the way they do after watching a certain show. We don’t have all the answers just yet in this growing science of the mass media, but we have come a long way since those golden days of television.



“In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.” -Albert Bandura