Social Cognitive Theory

SCT

1. Interactional, triadic, reciprocal model between environment, personal factors, and behavior

2. Social: Social origins of thought and action

3. Cognitive: Causal contributions of thought processes to human motivation, affect and action

   1. Thought process humans experience before performing an action

Underpinning of SCT

1. Symbolizing Capability

   1. Use of symbols in attributing meaning to experiences

   2. Art, tattoos, religious jewelry

2. Forethought Capability

   1. Most behavior is purposive and regulated by proper thought

3. Vicarious Capability

   1. Learning resulting from observing other people’s behaviors and the consequences for them

4. Self-Regulatory Capability

   1. Setting of internal standards of self-evaluative reactions for one’s behavior

5. Self-Reflective Capability

   1. Analysis of experiences and thinking about one’s thoughts

Constructs

1. Knowledge

   1. Learning of facts and gaining insights related to an action, idea, object, person, or situation

   2. E.g., Knowledge of health risks and benefits of different health practices is required for behavior change intervention

2. Situational Perception

   1. Perception of the environment

   2. E,g., Adolescents believe that most peers are sexually active; a teen pregnancy reduction program would aim at correcting this misperception.

3. Outcome Expectations

   1. Anticipations that a person has about outcomes

   2. E.g., if a group of children needs to be taught relaxation, the educator should focus on immediate benefits that are immediately applicable to children.

4. Outcome Expectancies

   1. Values that a person places on the outcomes

5. Environment

   1. External stimuli (physical and social) to which a person is exposed to

   2. E.g., creating facilities for physical activity in the community (physical environment) or eliciting and maintaining social support for practicing yoga (social environment).

6. Self-Efficacy

   1. Confidence in personal capability to perform a behavior; the single most powerful predictor

   2. Developing research skills among doctoral students

      1. Break down tasks into small tasks (mastery experiences)

      2. Present social role models (vicarious experiences)

      3. Strengthen belief that they have what they need to succeed (social persuasion)

      4. Reduce stress (positive physiological and emotional state)

   3. In overcoming impediments: Confidence that a person has in overcoming barriers while performing a given behavior

      1. Related to self-efficacy in terms of being situation specific, pertaining to the present, and being dependent on confidence level

      2. Impediment are often what cause people to relapse

7. Goal-Setting and Self-Control

   1. Explicit and specific goal for accomplishing a behavior

8. Emotional Coping

   1. Techniques employed by the person to control emotional and physiological states associated with the acquisition of a new behavior

   2. The construct is over-reified in association with self-efficacy

   3. To modify emotional coping, stress management techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation, yoga, autogenic training, and visual imagery may be used

Limitations

1. Theory is about learning and, therefore more applicable for children and behavior change

2. No guidance on stages of behavior change

3. Many constructs, and often it is not possible to use (operationalize) all these constructs.

4. Different practitioners use different sets of constructs in different combinations