Social cognitive theory

Draft

Definition

• According to Frank Pajares, << With the publication of Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, Bandura (1986) advanced a view of human functioning that accords a central role to cognitive, vicarious, self-regulatory, and self-reflective processes in human adaptation and change. People are viewed as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms shaped and shepherded by environmental forces or driven by concealed inner impulses. From this theoretical perspective, human functioning is viewed as the product of a dynamic interplay of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences. >>

According to Kelli McCormack Brown (1999): Social cognitive Theory has three tents: “Tenet 1: Response consequences (such as rewards or punishments) influence the likelihood that a person will perform a particular behavior again in a given situation. Note that this principle is also shared by classical behaviorists.

Tenet 2: Humans can learn by observing others, in addition to learning by participating in an act personally. Learning by observing others is called vicarious learning. The concept of vicarious learning is not one that would be subscribed to by classical behaviorists.

Tenet 3: Individuals are most likely to model behavior observed by others they identify with. Identification with others is a function of the degree to which a person is perceived to be similar to one's self, in addition to the degree of emotional attachment that is felt toward an individual.”

Links

• http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/bandura.html
• http://www.tcw.utwente.nl/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Health%20Communication/Social_cognitive_theory.doc/
• http://www.mhhe.com/socscience/comm/bandur-s.mhtml

References

Kelli McCormack Brown (1999), Social Cognitive Theory, University of South Florida Community and Family Health, on-line page HTML

Pajares (2002). Overview of social cognitive theory and of self-efficacy. Retreived 12:49, 18 May 2006 (MEST) from HTML