Potato Salad, Mafia and an experiment in Social Learning

I received a Whatsapp message inviting me to a gathering, and when I found out who the host was, I immediately said yes.?

Here's why. I love his potato salad. You read it right; I said yes because of potato salad. But, of course, you've never eaten it, so you wouldn't know. It's the good stuff that leads you to sell a small piece of your kidney on the black market to get a taste. HUMMMMM!

To the disappointment of my taste buds but the saving of my kidney, he did not make potato salad. However, the night was quite an experience because of a game we played called Mafia and my aha moment of applying social learning in any setting.

Psychologist Albert Bandura theorized a concept called Social Cognitive Learning*. His four principles include

1. Attention - we must focus on specific behaviours to learn
2. Retention - we learn by internalizing information
3. Reproduction - we must be able to reproduce or imitate learned behaviours
4. Motivation - we need to be motivated to do anything

Now onto the game. Mafia is a who-is-it game of duplicity, deception, and LIES (big old lies in spades and buckets). The intention is to identify the killer(s) before they eliminate all civilians.?

You start the game by handing out cards; whoever ends up with a jack is a killer, and everyone else is a civilian.

I don't know what possessed me that night; I felt driven to win and determined that elimination was not an option. But I had two issues.?

1. This was the first time I had played this game; and
2. There were several seasoned players with extensive experience.

I needed to learn how seasoned players approached the game to see what worked and what didn't while ensuring I wasn't helping the killer eliminate civilians or getting killed myself.

Here's what I learnt

1. Attention - Focus on those who demonstrate the skills you wish to adopt. Thriving individuals display specific behavioural characteristics that anyone can learn (Natural talent doesn't trump learning and growth mindset).
2. Retention - During the game, it became unmistakable who were superior vs mediocre players. Recalling individuals' statements, arguments and redirection tactics became crucial to staying alive.?
3. Reproduction - Running patterns through one's mind helps avoid destructive patterns but adopting and reusing the appropriate ones keeps you safe. For example, those who protested too much were quickly voted out of the game—learning to balance the level of protest with calmness kept you alive longer.
4. Motivation - You need your own, me; I wanted to win.

So there you have it. How the lure of potato salad led to a night of applying social cognitive learning and discovering how its principles can apply in any situation,

Try it out. You never know how social learning can help you grow.

Bet you are wondering if I survived... I did, and I lived to see another day to get my potato salad without it costing me a piece of kidney.

See you next week.

*Bandura A (2005). The Evolution of Social Cognitive Theory in K.G. Smith & M.A. Hitts (Eds). Great Minds in Management (pp 9-35) Oxford University Press.