Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory
Biography of Albert Bandura
Social Cognitive Theory’s Basic
Assumptions:
1. Characteristics of humans is
plasticity; humans have the
flexibility to learn a variety of
behaviors in diverse situations
a. He places emphasis on
vicarious learning or learning
by observing others
2. Through a triadic reciprocal
causation model that includes
behavioural, environment and
personal factors, people have the
capacity to regulate their lives.
a. Two environmental forces:
chance encounters and
fortuitous events
3. Agentic perspective, meaning that
humans have the capacity to
exercise control over the nature and
quality of their lives.
An important component of the triadic
reciprocal causation model is self-efficacy.
People’s performance is generally enhanced
when they have high self-efficacy: that is,
the confidence that they can perform
those behaviors that will produce desired
behaviors in a particular situation.
In addition to self-efficacy, both proxy
agency and collective efficacy can predict
performance. With proxy agency, people
are able to rely on others for goods and
services, whereas collective efficacy refers
to people’s shared beliefs that they can
bring about change.
4. People regulate their conduct
through both external and internal
factors. External factors include
people’s physical and social
environments, whereas internal
factors include self-observation,
judgmental process, and self-
reaction
5. People typically attempt to regulate
their behavior through moral
agency, which includes redefining
the behavior, disregarding or
distorting the consequences of their
behavior, dehumanizing or blaming
the victims of their behavior, and
displacing or diffusing responsibility
for their actions.
o Born on December 4, 1925 in
Mundare
o Only boy in the family of five older
sisters
o After graduating from high school,
Bandura spent a summer in the
Yukon working on the Alaska
highway
o His decision to be a psychologist was
accidental
o President of American Psychological
Association (APA) in 1974
o President of Western Psychological
Association in 1980
o Honorary President of Canadian
Psychological Association in 1999
Learning
Social Cognitive Theory is that humans are
quite flexible and capable of learning a
multitude of attitudes, skills and behaviors
and that a good bit of those learning are a
result of vicarious experiences.
1. Observational Learning
- Bandura believes that
observation allows people to
learn without performing any
behavior. People observe
natural phenomena, plants,
animals, waterfalls, the motion
of the moon and stars, and so
forth; but especially important to
social cognitive theory is the
assumption that they learn
through observing the behavior
of other people.
- Observational learning is much
more efficient than learning
through direct experience. By
observing other people, humans
are spared countless responses
that might be followed by
punishment or by no
reinforcement.
 Modeling
- The core of observational
learning
- Learning through modeling
involves adding and subtracting
from the observed behavior and
generalizing from one
observation to another
 - It is more than matching the the behavior to be modeled. (How
actions of another; it involves can I do this? What am I doing? Am I
symbolically representing doing this right?)
information and storing it for 4. Motivation: Observational learning
use at a future time is most effective when learners are
motivated to perform the modeled
Factors of Modeling: behavior. Attention and
1. Characteristics of the model representation can lead to the
are important (e.g. people acquisition of learning, but
are more likely to model performance is facilitated by
high-status people than low motivation to enact that particular
status) behavior.
2. Characteristics of the
observer affect the likelihood 2. Enactive Learning
of modeling (e.g. children - Bandura believes that complex
model more than older people human behavior can be learned
and novices are more likely when people think about and
than experts to model) evaluate the consequences of
3. Consequences of the behavior their behaviors.
being modeled may have an - Consequences of a response
effect on the observer (e.g. the
serve at least 3 functions
greater the value an observer
1. Response Consequences
places on a behavior, the more
likely the observer will acquire inform us of the effects of
that behavior) our actions
2. Motivate our anticipatory
 Processes Governing behavior; we are capable of
Observational Learning symbolically representing
future outcomes and acting
Four Processes: accordingly
1. Attention: First, because we have 3. Serve to reinforce behavior.
more opportunities to observe Bandura contends that
individuals with whom we although reinforcement may
frequently associate, we are most at times be unconscious and
likely to attend to these people. automatic, complex
Second, attractive models are more behavioral patterns are
likely to be observed than greatly facilitated by
unattractive ones. The nature of the cognitive intervention
behavior being modeled affects our
attention—we observe behavior Summary: The core element of
that we think is important or observational learning is modeling, which
valuable to us. is facilitated by observing appropriate
2. Representation: In order for activities, properly coding these events for
observation to lead to new response representation in memory, actually
patterns, those patterns must be performing the behavior, and being
symbolically represented in sufficiently motivated. Enactive learning
memory. Verbal coding, however, allows people to acquire new patterns of
greatly speeds the process of complex behavior through direct
observational learning. With experience by thinking about and
language we can verbally evaluate evaluating the consequences of their
our behaviors and decide which behaviors.
ones we wish to discard and which
ones we desire to try.
Triadic Reciprocal Causation
3. Behavioral Production: After
attending to a model and retaining
This system assumes that human action is a
what we have observed, we then
result of an interaction among three
produce the behavior. In converting
variables—environment, behavior, and
cognitive representations into
person.
appropriate actions, we must ask
ourselves several questions about
By people, Bandura means cognitive factors
as memory, anticipation, planning and
judging. Because people possess these
cognitive capacities, they have some
capacity to restructure their environment:
that cognition determines which
environment environmental events people
attend to, what value they place on the
events, etc.
Chance Encounters and Fortuitous Events
Bandura (1998a) defined a chance
encounter as “an unintended meeting of
persons unfamiliar to each other” (p. 95). A
fortuitous event is an environmental
experience that is unexpected and
unintended. Chance encounters and
fortuitous events are not uncontrollable.
Indeed, people can make chance happen.
Human Agency
Human Agency is the essence of
humanness. Bandura (2001) believes that
people are self-regulating, proactive, self-
reflective, and self-organizing and that they
have the power to influence their own
actions to produce desired consequences.
Core Features of Human Agency
1. Intentionality: acts a person
performs intentionally. An intention
includes planning, but it also
involves actions.
2. Forethought: to set goals, to
anticipate likely outcomes of their
actions and to select behaviors that
will produce desired outcomes and
avoid undesirable ones.
Forethoughts enables people to
break free from the constraints of
their environment.
3. Self-reactiveness: in the process of
motivating and regulating their own
actions. People not only make
choices but they monitor
4. Self-reflectiveness: they are
examiners of their own functioning;
they can think about and evaluate
their motivations, values and the
meanings of their life goals, and they
can think about the adequacy of
their own thinking.
People’s most crucial self-reflective
mechanism is self-efficacy: that is, their
beliefs that they are capable of performing
actions that will produce a desired effect.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is “people’s beliefs in their
capability to exercise some measure of
control over their own functioning and
over environmental events.”
Bandura distinguished bet. efficacy
expectations and outcome expectations.
Efficacy refers to people’s confidence that
they have the ability to perform certain
behaviors, whereas an outcome expectancy
refers to one’s prediction of the likely
consequences of the behavior.
What contributes to Self-Efficacy?
Personal efficacy is acquired, enhanced or
decreased through any one or combination
of four sources:
1. Mastery Experiences: most
influential sources of self-efficacy
are mastery experiences, that is,
past performances. Successful
performance raises efficacy
expectancies; failure tends to lower
them.
Six Corollaries
a. Successful performance
raises self-efficacy in
proportion to the difficulty of
the task
b. Tasks successfully
accomplished by oneself are
more efficacious than those
completed with the help of
others
c. Failure is most likely to
decrease efficacy when we
know that we put forth our
best effort
d. Failure under conditions of
high emotional arousal or
distress are not as self-
debilitating as failure under
maximal conditions
e. Failure prior to establishing a
sense of mastery is more
detrimental to feelings of
personal efficacy than later
failure.
f. Occasional failure has little
effect on efficacy, especially
for people with a generally
high expectancy of success.
 2. Social Modeling: vicarious
experiences provided by other
people. Our self-efficacy is raised
when we observe the
accomplishments of another person
of equal competence, but is lowered
when we see a peer fail.
3. Social Persuasion: Self-efficacy can
also be acquired or weakened
through social persuasion. The
effects of this source are limited, but
under proper conditions, persuasion
from others can raise or lower self-
efficacy. The first condition is that a
person must believe the persuader.
4. Physical and Emotional States:
Strong emotion ordinarily lowers
performance; when people
experience intense fear, acute
anxiety, or high levels of stress, they
are likely to have lower efficacy
expectancies.
Proxy Agency
Proxy involves indirect control over those
social conditions that affect everyday living.
Proxy, however, has a downside. By relying
too much on the competence and power of
others, people may weaken their sense of
personal and collective efficacy.
Collective Efficacy
Collective Efficacy as “people’s shared
beliefs in their collective power to produce
desired results.” In other words, collective
efficacy is the confidence people have that
their combined efforts will bring about
group accomplishments.
Self-Regulation
Bandura (1994) believes that people use
both reactive and proactive strategies for
self-regulation. That is, they reactively
attempt to reduce the discrepancies
between their accomplishments and their
goal; but after they close those
discrepancies, they proactively set newer
and higher goals for themselves.
External Factors in Self-Regulation
First, they provide us with a standard for
evaluating our own behavior. Standards do
not stem solely from internal forces.
Environmental factors, interacting with
personal influences, shape individual
standards for evaluation.
Second, external factors influence self-
regulation by providing the means for
reinforcement. Intrinsic rewards are not
always sufficient; we also need incentives
that emanate from external factors.
Internal Factors in Self-Regulation
Three Internal Requirements:
1. Self-Observation: We must be able
to monitor our own performance,
even though the attention we give
to it need not be complete or even
accurate.
2. Judgmental Processes: This second
process, judgmental process, helps
us regulate our behavior through
the process of cognitive mediation.
We are capable not only of reflective
self-awareness but also of judging
the worth of our actions on the basis
of goals we have set for ourselves.
The judgmental process depends on
personal standards, referential
performances, valuation of activity,
and performance attribution.
3. Self-Reaction: People respond
positively or negatively to their
behaviors depending on how these
behaviors measure up to their
personal standards.
Self-regulation through Moral Agency
People also regulate their actions through
moral standards of conduct. Bandura
(1999a) sees moral agency as having two
aspects: (1) doing no harm to people and
(2) proactively helping people.
We have no automatic internal controlling
agent such as a conscience or superego that
invariably directs our behavior toward
morally consistent values. In other words,
self-regulatory influences are not automatic
but operate only if they are activated, a
concept Bandura calls selective activation.
By justifying the morality of their actions,
they can separate or disengage themselves
from the consequences of their behavior, a
concept Bandura calls disengagement of
internal control.
Mechanisms through which self-control is
disengaged or activated:
1. Redefine the behavior: people
justify otherwise reprehensible
actions by a cognitive restructuring
that allows them to minimize or
escape responsibility.
Three Techniques:
a. Moral Justification: culpable
behavior is made to seem
defensible or even noble.
b. Make Palliative
Comparisons: redefining
wrongful behavior is to make
advantageous or palliative
comparisons between that
behavior and the even
greater atrocities committed
by others.
c. Use of Euphemistic Labels:
e.g. Nazi leaders called the
murder of millions of Jews
the “purification of Europe”
or “the final solution.”
2. Disregard or Distort the
Consequences of Behavior:
distorting or obscuring the
relationship between the behavior
and its detrimental consequences
Three Techniques:
a. Minimize the consequences
of their behavior
b. Disregard or ignore the
consequences of their
actions
c. Distort or misconstrue the
consequences of their
actions
3. Dehumanize or Blame the Victims:
When victims are not dehumanized,
they are sometimes blamed for the
perpetrator’s culpable conduct
4. Displace or Diffuse Responsibility:
With displacement, people minimize
the consequences of their actions by
placing responsibility on an outside
source. To diffuse responsibility—to
spread it so thin that no one person
is responsible.
Dysfunctional Behavior
1. Depression: High personal standards
and goals can lead to achievement
and self-satisfaction. However, when
people set their goals too high, they
are likely to fail. Failure frequently
leads to depression, and depressed
people often undervalue their own
accomplishments.
Three Self-Regulatory Subfunctions:
1. Self-Observation: Depressed
people tend to exaggerate their
past mistakes and minimize their
prior accomplishments, a
tendency that perpetuates their
depression.
2. Judgmental Processes: They set
their standards unrealistically
high so that any personal
accomplishment will be judged
as a failure.
3. Self-reactions: Depressed people
not only judge themselves
harshly, but they are also
inclined to treat themselves
badly for their shortcomings.
2. Phobias: Phobias are fears that are
strong enough and pervasive
enough to have severe debilitating
effects on one’s daily life.
3. Aggression: Aggressive behaviors,
when carried to extremes, can also
be dysfunctional. Bandura (1986)
contended that aggressive behavior
is acquired through observation of
others, direct experiences with
positive and negative
reinforcements, training, or
instruction, and bizarre beliefs.
Five Reasons:
1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative Reinforcement
3. Punishment
4. Self-Reinforcement
5. Rewards and Punishment
Therapy
Steps:
1. Instigate some change in behavior
2. Generalize specific changes
Several basic treatment approaches:
1. Overt or vicarious modeling: People
who observe live or filmed models
performing threatening activities
often feel less fear and anxiety and
are then able to perform those same
activities.
2. Covert or Cognitive Modeling: the
therapist trains patients to visualize
models performing fearsome
behaviors
3. Enactive Mastery: requires patients
to perform those behaviors that
previously produced incapacitating
fears