' s ▁social ▁learning ▁theory . ▁This ▁social ▁science ▁theory ▁suggests ▁that ▁people ▁learn ▁by ▁obser ving , ▁im it ating , ▁and ▁model ing ; ▁moreover , ▁it ▁suggests ▁specifically ▁that ▁people ▁learn ▁not ▁only ▁by ▁being ▁reward ed ▁or ▁pun ished , ▁as ▁tradition ally ▁seen ▁in ▁behavior ism , ▁but ▁by ▁watching ▁others ▁receive ▁re wards ▁or ▁pun ish ments ▁in ▁consequence ▁to ▁their ▁behavior ▁( observ ational ▁learning ). ▁The ▁experiments ▁are ▁important ▁because ▁they ▁resulted ▁in ▁much ▁further ▁study ▁related ▁to ▁observ ational ▁learning . ▁As ▁well , ▁the ▁data ▁offered ▁further ▁practical ▁working ▁hypoth eses , ▁e . g ., ▁regarding ▁how ▁children ▁might ▁be ▁influenced ▁from ▁watching ▁violent ▁media . ▁ ▁Crit ic isms ▁ ▁Cla ims ▁regarding ▁inher ent ▁bias ▁According ▁to ▁, ▁the ▁original ▁Band ura ▁experiments ▁were ▁bi ased ▁or ▁otherwise ▁fla wed ▁in ▁ways ▁that ▁weak ened ▁their ▁valid ity . ▁The ▁issues ▁these ▁research ers ▁perce ived ▁were : ? ▁ ▁Selection ▁bias . ▁Band ura ' s ▁subjects , ▁all ▁from ▁the ▁Stan ford ▁University ▁nur ser y , ▁were ▁necessarily ▁the ▁children ▁of ▁Stan ford ▁students . ▁Stud ents ▁of ▁a ▁pr estig ious ▁university ▁like ▁Stan ford ▁were ▁almost ▁exclus ively ▁c au cas ian ▁during ▁the ▁ 1 9 6 0 s , ▁and ▁largely ▁from ▁high - in come ▁families . ▁Thus , ▁bias ▁in ▁the ▁study ▁subjects ▁was ▁present , ▁with ▁regard ▁to ▁race ▁and ▁so cio e conom ics . ▁ ▁Tem por al