If you pick up pretty much any gossip magazine you’re sure to see lots of inappropriate, and quite frankly unflattering behavior being committing by the rising stars of young Hollywood. From sex tapes to boyfriend scandals to all-night partying to nervous breakdowns, there are a lot of negative actions happening in the celebrity circuit. And as a parent, it’s pretty terrifying to see your young children watch, and maybe even idolize, those celebrities. According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D., a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, children mimic what they see from public figures, especially when those behaviors are rewarded. “Through a process known as vicarious reinforcement, we start to model the behavior of individuals whose actions seem to be getting rewarded.” In other words, when a celebrity gets media attention for bad behavior (think DUI, being sexually provocative etc.) kids are more likely to want to act the same way. It’s a vicious cycle, and as a parent, it’s a pretty scary scenario.
