Psychology: Theories of Personality
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory places a high value on chance encounters and
fortuitous events, while acknowledging that these encounters and events do not always alter
one's life path. Our reactions to these encounters are often more potent than the encounters
themselves.
Bandura’s theory rely on the following assumptions:
1. Plasticity
Bandura believed that humans are adaptable and capable of learning through direct
experience, but that people learn more through vicarious experiences - learning by
observing others.
2. Triadic Reciprocal Causation Model
People have the capacity to regulate their lives through behavioral, personal and
environmental factors.
3. Agentic Perspective
Humans are both producers and products of social systems for they have control over
the nature and quality of their lives.
4. People control their behavior by using both external and internal factors.
5. Moral Agency
When individuals are confronted with morally ambiguous situations, they regulate their
behavior by redefining it, disregarding or misinterpreting the consequences of their
behavior, blaming the victims of their behavior, and displacing or diffusing
responsibility for their actions.
Observational Learning
While people can learn from direct experiences, Bandura believed that they can also
learn without performing any behavior.
Modeling – the core of observational learning
It involves cognitive processes: adding and subtracting from the observed behaviour and
generalizing from one observation to another.
Symbolically representing information and storing it for future purposes
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
, Psychology: Theories of Personality
Factors to know if you will learn from a model:
1. Characteristics of Model
People are more likely to model high-status people than low-status people, competent
people over unskilled or incompetent ones, and powerful people over impotent ones.
2. Characteristics of Observer
Those who model are most likely to be people who lack status, skill, or power.
Younger people are more likely to model than older people.
Experts are less likely to model than novices.
3. Consequences of Behavior Being Modelled
If the observer places greater importance on behavior, the observer is more likely to
acquire that behavior.
If an observer witnesses a model receiving severe punishment, the observer may learn
a behavior as a result of that observation.
Processes Governing Observational Learning
According to Bandura, four processes govern observational learning:
1. Attention
People are more likely to observe those they frequently associate with, who they find
attractive, and whose behaviors they believe are valuable to them.
2. Representation
When we learn something, we symbolically represent them in our memory
Verbal coding accelerates the process of observational learning and allows us to
symbolically rehearse the behavior (ex. telling ourselves over and over again how we
are going to perform the behavior)
3. Behavioral Production
We produce a behavior after learning it. We ask ourselves, "How do I do it?" when
converting cognitive representations into actions.
Once the behavior has been produced, we assess it by asking ourselves, "Am I doing it
correctly?"
4. Motivation
Desire to perform an action promotes more observational learning.
Enactive Learning
When people consider and evaluate the consequences of their actions, they can learn
complex human behavior.
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory places a high value on chance encounters and
fortuitous events, while acknowledging that these encounters and events do not always alter
one's life path. Our reactions to these encounters are often more potent than the encounters
themselves.
Bandura’s theory rely on the following assumptions:
1. Plasticity
Bandura believed that humans are adaptable and capable of learning through direct
experience, but that people learn more through vicarious experiences - learning by
observing others.
2. Triadic Reciprocal Causation Model
People have the capacity to regulate their lives through behavioral, personal and
environmental factors.
3. Agentic Perspective
Humans are both producers and products of social systems for they have control over
the nature and quality of their lives.
4. People control their behavior by using both external and internal factors.
5. Moral Agency
When individuals are confronted with morally ambiguous situations, they regulate their
behavior by redefining it, disregarding or misinterpreting the consequences of their
behavior, blaming the victims of their behavior, and displacing or diffusing
responsibility for their actions.
Observational Learning
While people can learn from direct experiences, Bandura believed that they can also
learn without performing any behavior.
Modeling – the core of observational learning
It involves cognitive processes: adding and subtracting from the observed behaviour and
generalizing from one observation to another.
Symbolically representing information and storing it for future purposes
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
, Psychology: Theories of Personality
Factors to know if you will learn from a model:
1. Characteristics of Model
People are more likely to model high-status people than low-status people, competent
people over unskilled or incompetent ones, and powerful people over impotent ones.
2. Characteristics of Observer
Those who model are most likely to be people who lack status, skill, or power.
Younger people are more likely to model than older people.
Experts are less likely to model than novices.
3. Consequences of Behavior Being Modelled
If the observer places greater importance on behavior, the observer is more likely to
acquire that behavior.
If an observer witnesses a model receiving severe punishment, the observer may learn
a behavior as a result of that observation.
Processes Governing Observational Learning
According to Bandura, four processes govern observational learning:
1. Attention
People are more likely to observe those they frequently associate with, who they find
attractive, and whose behaviors they believe are valuable to them.
2. Representation
When we learn something, we symbolically represent them in our memory
Verbal coding accelerates the process of observational learning and allows us to
symbolically rehearse the behavior (ex. telling ourselves over and over again how we
are going to perform the behavior)
3. Behavioral Production
We produce a behavior after learning it. We ask ourselves, "How do I do it?" when
converting cognitive representations into actions.
Once the behavior has been produced, we assess it by asking ourselves, "Am I doing it
correctly?"
4. Motivation
Desire to perform an action promotes more observational learning.
Enactive Learning
When people consider and evaluate the consequences of their actions, they can learn
complex human behavior.
Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
