Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) is an interpersonal level theory developed by Albert Bandura that
emphasizes the dynamic interaction between people (personal factors), their behavior, and their environments
. This interaction is demonstrated by the construct called Reciprocal Determinism.
What is the main concept of cognitive theory?
Cognitive theory is an
approach to psychology that attempts to explain human behavior by understanding your thought processes
. 1 For example, a therapist is using principles of cognitive theory when they teach you how to identify maladaptive thought patterns and transform them into constructive ones.
The key concepts of SCT can be grouped into five major categories: (1)
psychological determinants of behavior (outcome expectations, self-efficacy, and collective efficacy)
, (2) observational learning, (3) environmental determinants of behavior (incentive motivation, facilitation), (4) self-regulation, and (5) moral …
Self-efficacy
, or a person's confidence in his or her ability to take action and to persist in that action despite obstacles or challenges, seems to be especially important for influencing health behavior and dietary change efforts [25].
Albert Bandura
His theory defines human behavior as a three-way, dynamic, and reciprocal interaction of
personal factors, behavior, and the environment
. According to this theory, the behavior of an individual is determined by three factors with more emphasis on the cognitive processes that mediate learning.
What are the 3 key concepts of Albert Bandura?
Bandura asserts that most human behavior is learned through
observation, imitation, and modeling
.
Social-Cognitive Learning Theory Activities
Think of a time that you have learned a skill or behavior from observing another person. For example, you may have
learned altruistic behavior from seeing your parents bring food to a homeless person
, or you may have learned how to train a dog from watching The Dog Whisperer.
What are the basic concepts of cognitive perspective?
Traditionally, cognitive psychology includes
human perception, attention, learning, memory, concept formation, reasoning, judgment and decision-making, problem solving, and language processing
.
Who are the main cognitive theorists?
The cognitive theory has an interesting and unique history.
Plato and Descartes
are two of the first philosophers to dive deeply into the theory of cognitive behavior and knowledge. Their ideas about knowledge and behavior spurred further thoughts on cognition.
What is the importance of cognitive theory?
This theory helps
us understand how people are influenced and their influence on the environment
. One of the major components of social cognitive theory is observational learning. It is the process of learning others' desirable and undesirable behaviors through observation.
Bandura's social learning theory stresses the importance of observational learning, imitation and modeling. His theory integrates a
continuous interaction between behaviors, personal factors
– including cognition – and the environment referred to as reciprocal causation model.
Some criticisms of social learning theory arise from their commitment to the environment as the chief influence on behavior. It is limiting to describe
behavior solely in terms of either nature or nurture
and attempts to do this underestimate the complexity of human behavior.
What are the 2 types of self efficacy?
They include
self-satisfying and self-dissatisfying reactions to one's performance
, perceived self-efficacy for goal attainment, and readjustment of personal goals based on one's progress.
The goal of SCT is
to explain how people regulate their behavior through control and reinforcement to achieve goal-directed behavior that can be maintained over time
. The first five constructs were developed as part of the SLT; the construct of self-efficacy was added when the theory evolved into SCT.
Social learning theory examples in everyday life are common, with one of the most evident being
the behaviors of children
, as they imitate family members, friends, famous figures and even television characters. If a child perceives there is a meaningful reward for such behavior, they will perform it at some point.
One limitation of the social learning theory is that
it's criticised for being reductionist
, as it only accounts for environmental factors that are involved in learning behaviour, and neglects other factors that could be involved for example, biological factors, therefore the social learning theory may not be provide a …
