ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Modeling (psychology)

Modeling in psychology is like playing a game of pretend. Imagine you are playing with your friends and one of your friends wants to be a superhero. You might watch your friend and start to copy what they are doing, like pretending to have super powers and saving the day. This is similar to how modeling works in psychology.

In modeling, we watch and copy the behavior of people around us. We might copy how our parents speak or how our teachers act in class. We learn from watching others and modeling their behavior. Modeling can also happen through media, like TV shows or movies, where we might start to copy how our favorite characters speak or act.

When we model behavior, we can learn positive or negative behavior. For example, if our parent always uses kind words and helps others, we might copy that behavior and start being more kind and helpful. However, if we are around someone who uses mean words and does not help others, we might start to copy that behavior and become mean and unhelpful.

Overall, modeling in psychology is like playing a game of pretend where we watch and copy the behavior of others around us.
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