Misunderstanding Role Models

I think there is a huge misunderstanding of how role modeling works.

There is an inordinate amount of worry spent about the images presented to children, the assumption being kids should be exposed to heroes and good behavīor in order to become good people.

What this theory totally misses is that role modeling is about how more than what.

As humans, we search for definitions for ourselves.  This is pretty clear if you think about how many fans at games wear the team colors, how many music fans buy the T-shirt of the band, people at religious gatherings, and so on.  Just as we learn to speak by learning that making certain sounds gets a certain result.  We learn to act in the same manner.

When anyone (whether it be a child or an adult) is searching for definition - they emulate others with whom they feel identity.

That is the key to my point - so I'll provide an example:  A child feels they are not living up to their parents expectations - so they feel like an outcast.  They will seek out the "outcast" identification behavīor from their surroundings and adopt it.  It is almost as though they are buying the outcast T-shirt. 

This could be a friend from school they adopt the behavīor of just as much as a character in the movie.

This is just as true with adults. 

While we have the capacity to see someone do good things and think "Wow, I will do good things too;" we have the tendency to subconsciously search for a behavīor which represents what we are feeling about ourselves or our state of being.