Social Cognitive views have been influenced by the humanist idea of uniqueness of human beings, that human beings are decision makers, planners and evaluators of behavior.
Key Concepts:
Social cognitive learning theorists emphasize the importance of both the influences of other people’s behavior and of a person’s own expectancies on learning, and also that observational learning, modeling can lead to the formation of patterns of personality. Thought and behavior are closely interlined with the situation the person is in
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory:
Introduction:
Albert Bandura a modern theorist helped reshape the theoretical landscape of behaviorism. Bandura believes that three factors influence one another in determint of behavior: the environment, the behavior itself and personal or cognitive factors that the person brings into situation from earlier experience.
Key Terms:
1. Cognitive Processes and Reciprocal Determinism
2. Observational Learning
3. Self Regulation
4. Self Efficacy
Cognitive Processes and Reciprocal Determinism:
Bandura and like-minded theorists call their modified brand of behaviorism social learning theory or social cognitive theory.
Bandura (1982-1986) agrees with the fundamental thrust of behaviorism in that he believes that personality is largely shaped through learning. However, he contends that conditioning is not a mechanical process in which people are passive participants. Instead, he maintains that “people are self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating, not just reactive organisms shaped and shepherded by external events”.
Bandura advocates a position called reciprocal determinism. According to this notion, the environment does determine behavior (as skinner would argue). However, behavior also determines the environment (in other words, people can act to alter their environment). Moreover, personal factors (cognitive