Social Cognitive Theory

What is Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)? (3) 

• proposed by Albert Bandura

• suggests that people learn and develop through the continuous bidirectional interaction of internal factors (e.g. biology, thinking), external factors (e.g. environment), and behaviour, a process referred as reciprocal determinism

• argues that behaviour is learned through observational learning

What is observational learning?

• learning by watching others (models)

• first hand experience is not necessary 

What are models?

• the person who is being observed

• Direct models try to influence the learner

• (often) Indirect models are not trying to influence behaviour

What is modelling?

a process within observational learning where an individual imitates observed behaviour

What is reinforcement?

• the response to a behaviour that influences its likelihood of being repeated

• reinforcement can be positive (rewarding, encouraging) or negative (punishment, discouraging)

What is vicarious reinforcement?

the learning process where after seeing the type of reinforcement for a particular behaviour an individual makes a decision on whether to imitate the behaviour or not

What are the 4 process that influence modelling?

1. Attention: must pay attention/ care about the behaviour

2. Retention: must retain/ remember the behavior

3. Motivation: must be motivated to repeat the behaviour

4. Potential: must be physically and/ or mentally able to perform the behaviour (self-efficacy) 

What are 4 factors of a model that affect the potential for social learning?

model must:

• stand out

• behaviour is consistent and reinforced 

• liked and respected by the observer

• perceived to be similar by the observer (member of the in-group)

What is self-efficacy?

an individual’s belief in their ability to successfully accomplish a task (self-confidence) 

How does self-efficacy relate to Social cognitive theory?

• SCT argues learning is most likely to occur if the observer has high self-efficacy

• individuals with high self-efficacy are more likely to believe they can master challenging problems

Testable?

Empirical?

Applications?

Constructs?

Unbiased?

Predictive Power?