Chapter 16 Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory Learning Objectives After reading Chapter 16, you should be able to: 1. Define and give examples of observational learning. 2. List and define the processes governing observational learning. 3. Define Bandura's concept of triadic reciprocal causation. 4. Explain and give at least one example of the effect that chance enconters and fortuitous events may have on a person's life path. 1
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Chapter 16Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory
Learning Objectives
After reading Chapter 16, you should be able to:
1. Define and give examples of observational learning.
2. List and define the processes governing observational learning.
3. Define Bandura's concept of triadic reciprocal causation.
4. Explain and give at least one example of the effect that chance
enconters and fortuitous events may have on a person's life path.
5. Define and discuss Bandura's concept of human agency.
6. Define and give examples of self-efficacy.
7. Describe the sources of self-efficacy.
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8. Define and give examples of proxy agency.
9. Define and give examples of collective efficacy.
10. Discuss Bandura's concept of self-regulation through moral agency.
11. Discuss ways in which people justify their own actions through
disengagement of internal control.
12. Describe Bandura's approach to understanding dysfunctional
behavior.
13. Briefly describe some of the recent research generated by Bandura's
theory.
Summary Outline
1. Overview of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory
Bandura's social cognitive theory takes an agentic perspective,
meaning that humans have some limited ability to control their
lives. In contrast to Skinner, Bandura (1) recognizes that chance
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encounters and fortuitous events often shape one's behavior; (2)
places more emphasis on observational learning; (3) stresses the
importance of cognitive factors in learning; (4) suggests that
human activity is a function of behavior and person variables, as
well as the environment; and (5) believes that reinforcement is
mediated by cognition.
II. Biography of Albert Bandura
Albert Bandura was born in Canada in 1925, but he has spent his
entire professional life in the United States. He completed a PhD
in clinical psychology at the University of Iowa in 1951 and since
then has worked almost entirely at Stanford University, where he
continues to be an active researcher and speaker.
III. Learning
Bandura takes a broad view of learning, believing that people learn
through observing others and by attending to the consequences of
their own actions. Although he believes that reinforcement aids
learning, he contends that people can learn in the absence of
reinforcement and even of a response.
A. Observational Learning
The heart of observational learning is modeling, which is more
than simple imitation, because it involves adding and subtracting
from observed behavior. At least three principles influence
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modeling: (1) people are most likely to model high-status people,
(2) people who lack skill or status are most likely to model, and (3)
people tend to model behavior that they see as being rewarding to
the model. Bandura recognized four processes that govern
observational learning: (1) attention, or noticing what a model
does; (2) representation, or symbolically representing new response
patterns in memory; (3) behavior production, or producing the
behavior that one observes; and (4) motivation; that is, the observer
must be motivated to perform the observed behavior.
B. Enactive Learning
All behavior is followed by some consequence, but whether that
consequence reinforces the behavior depends on the person's
cognitive evaluation of the situation.
V. Triadic Reciprocal Causation
Social cognitive theory holds that human functioning is molded by
the reciprocal interaction of (1) behavior; (2) personal factors,
including cognition; and (3) environmental events—a model
Bandura calls triadic reciprocal causation.
A. Differential Contributions
Bandura does not suggest that the three factors in the triadic
reciprocal causation model make equal contributions to behavior.
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The relative influence of behavior, environment, and person
depends on which factor is strongest at any particular moment.
B. Chance Encounters and Fortuitous Events
The lives of many people have been fundamentally changed by a
chance meeting with another person or by a fortuitous, unexpected
event. Chance encounters and fortuitous events enter the triadic
reciprocal causation paradigm at the environment point, after
which they influence behavior in much the same way as do
planned events.
VI. Human Agency
Bandura believes that human agency is the essence of humanness;
that is, humans are defined by their ability to organize, regulate, and
enact behaviors that they believe will produce desirable
consequences.
A. Core Features of Human Agency
Human agency has four core features: (1) intentionality, or a
proactive commitment to actions that may bring about desired
outcomes: (2) foresight, or the ability to set goals; (3) self-
reactiveness, which includes monitoring their progress toward
fulfilling their choices; and (4) self-reflectiveness, which allows
people can think about and evaluate their motives, values, and life
goals.
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B. Self-Efficacy
How people behave in a particular situation depends in part on
their self-efficacy, that is, their beliefs that they can or cannot
exercise those behaviors necessary to bring about a desired
consequence. Efficacy expectations differ from outcome
expectations, which refer to people's prediction of the likely
consequences of their behavior. Self-efficacy combines with
environmental variables, previous behaviors, and other personal
variables to predict behavior. It is acquired, enhanced, or
decreased by any one or combination of four sources: (1) mastery
experiences or performance, (2) social modeling, or observing
someone of equal ability succeed or fail at a task; (3) social
persuasion or listening to a trusted person's encouraging words;
and (4) physical and emotional states, such as anxiety or fear,
which usually lowers self-efficacy. High self-efficacy and a
responsive environment are the best predictors of successful
outcomes.
C. Proxy Agency
Bandura also recognizes the influence of proxy agency through
which people exercise some partial control over everyday living.
Successful living in the 21st century requires people to seek
proxies to supply their food, deliver information, provide
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transportation, etc. Without the use of proxies, modern people
would be forced to spend most of their time securing the
necessities of survival.
D. Collective Efficacy
Collective efficacy is the level of confidence that people have that
their combined efforts will produce social change. At least four
factors can lower collective efficacy. First, events in other parts of
the world can leave people with a sense of helplessness; second,
complex technology can decrease people's perceptions of control
over their environment; third, entrenched bureaucracies discourage
people from attempting to bring about social change; and fourth,
the size and scope of worldwide problems contribute to people's
sense of powerlessness.
VII. Self-Regulation
By using reflective thought, humans can manipulate their
environments and produce consequences of their actions, giving
them some ability to regulate their own behavior. Bandura
believes that behavior stems from a reciprocal influence of external
and internal factors.
A. External Factors in Self-Regulation
Two external factors contribute to self-regulation: (1) standards of
evaluation, and (2) external reinforcement. External factors affect
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self-regulation by providing people with standards for evaluating
their own behavior.
B. Internal Factors in Self-Regulation
Internal requirements for self-regulation include: (1) self-
observation of performance; (2) judging or evaluating
performance; (3) and self reaction, including self-reinforcement or
self-punishment.
C. Self-Regulation through Moral Agency
Internalized self-sanctions prevent people from violating their own
moral standards either through selective activation or
disengagement of internal control. Selective activation refers to
the notion that self-regulatory influences are not automatic but
operate only if activated. It also means that people react
differently in different situations, depending on their evaluation of
the situation. Disengagement of internal control means that
people are capable of separating themselves from the negative
consequences of their behavior. People in ambiguous moral
situations—who are uncertain that their behavior is consistent with
their own social and moral standards of conduct—may separate
their conduct from its injurious consequences through four general
techniques of disengagement of internal standards or selective
activation. The first is redefining behavior, or justifying otherwise
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reprehensible actions by cognitively restructuring them. People
can use redefinition of behavior to disengage themselves from