1. LearnIg TheorIes bandura: Socıal CognItıve Theory
Assist. Prof. Merve Topcu
PSY335
Department of Psychology, Çankaya University
, Fall

2. socıal cognıtıve theory
Takes chance encounters and fortuitous events seriously
How we react to an expected meeting or event is usually more powerful than the event itself
Plasticity, humans have the flexibility to learn a variety of behaviors in diverse situations
Vicarious learning, learning by observing others
Reinforcement can be vicarious
triadic reciprocal causation model
behavioral, environment, and personal factors, people have the capacity to regulate their lives
Two important environmental forces in the triadic model are chance encounters and fortuitous events.

3. socıal cognıtıve theory
Agentic perspective, meaning that humans have the capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of their lives
Proxy agency, people are able to rely on others for goods and services
Collective efficacy, people's shared beliefs that they can bring about change
External factors, people's physical and social environments
Internal factors, self-observation, judgmental and self-reaction
In morally ambiguous situations, moral agency, redefining the behavior, disregarding or distorting the consequences of their behavior, dehumanizing or blaming the victims of their behavior, and displacing or diffusing responsibility for their actions.

4. Learnıng
Humans are quite flexible and capable of learning a multitude of attitudes, skills, and behaviors
Learnings are a result of vicarious experiences
Observational Learning
learn without performing any behavior
learn through observing the behavior of other people
reinforcement is not essential to learning, but facilitates behavior
Modeling
Learning through modeling involves adding and subtracting from the observed behavior and generalizing from one observation to another
symbolically representing information
storing it for use at a future time

5. Processes GovernIng ObservatIonal LearnIng
Four processes that govern observational learning
Attention
Before we can model another person, we must attend to that person.
individuals with whom we frequently associate
attractive models
the nature of the behavior being modeled
Representation
In order for observation to lead to new response patterns, those patterns must be symbolically represented in memory
observations are retained in imagery and can be summoned in the absence of the physical model
Verbal coding greatly speeds the process of observational learning
Verbal coding helps to rehearse the behavior symbolically

6. Processes GovernIng ObservatIonal LearnIng
Four processes that govern observational learning (cont’d)
Behavioral Production
After attending to a model and retaining what we have observed, we then produce the behavior.
Monitor behavior
Performance evaluation
Motivation
Observational learning is most effective when learners are motivated to perform the modeled behavior
Others may teach us how to do something, we may have no desire to perform the necessary action

7. Enactıve Learnıng
Complex human behavior can be learned when people think about and evaluate the consequences of their behaviors
Response consequences inform us of the effects of our actions.
guide for future actions
The consequences of our responses motivate our anticipatory behavior
capable of symbolically representing future outcomes and acting accordingly
The consequences of responses serve to reinforce behavior
But, learning occurs much more efficiently when the learner is cognitively involved in the learning situation
Bandura believes that new behaviors are acquired through two major kinds of learning: observational learning and enactive learning.
The learning process allows people to have some degree of control over the events that shape the course of their lives.
Control via a three-way reciprocal interaction of person variables, behavior, and environment.

8. Trıadıc Recıprocal Causatıon
Psychological functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal causation.
Human action is a result of an interaction among three variables- environment, behavior, and person
People possess and use these cognitive capacities, they have some capacity to select or to restructure their environment
Criticized those theorists who attribute the cause of human behavior to internal forces such as instincts, drives, needs, or intentions.
The three reciprocal factors do not need to be of equal strength or to make equal contributions

9. Trıadıc Recıprocal Causatıon

10. Chance Encounters and Fortuitous Events
Cannot predict or anticipate all possible environmental changes
A chance encounter as ‘an unintended meeting of persons unfamiliar to each other’
A fortuitous event is an environmental experience that is unexpected and unintended.
Accurate predictions practically impossible
Chance encounters influence people only by entering the triadic reciprocal causation paradigm at point E (environment) and adding to the mutual interaction of person, behavior, and environment.

11. Human Agency
Agentic view of personality, meaning that humans have the capacity to exercise control over their own lives
Human agency is the essence of humanness.
People are self-regulating, proactive, self-reflective, and self- organizing
An active process of exploring, manipulating, and influencing the environment in order to attain desired outcomes.

12. Human Agency Four core features of human agency Intentionality
Forethought
Self-reactiveness
Self-reflectiveness

13. Human Agency Intentionality Forethought
Includes planning & action itself
continually change their plans as they become aware of the consequences of their actions
Forethought
set goals, anticipate likely outcomes of their actions, and select behaviors that will produce desired outcomes and avoid undesirable ones

14. Human Agency Self-reactiveness Self-reflectiveness
monitor their progress toward fulfilling those choices
Goals must be specific, be within a person's ability to achieve, and reflect potential accomplishments that are not too far in the future
Self-reflectiveness
Examining, thinking, evaluating the functioning
most crucial self-reflective mechanism is self-efficacy
beliefs that they are capable of performing actions that will produce a desired effect

15. Self-EffIcacy
People's beliefs in their personal efficacy influence what courses of action they choose to pursue, how much effort they will invest in activities, how long they will persevere in the face of obstacles and failure experiences, and their resiliency following setbacks
People's beliefs in their capability to exercise some measure of control over their own functioning and over environmental events
Self-efficacy combines with environment, prior behavior, and other personal variables, especially outcome expectations, to produce behavior.
Self-efficacy refers to the P (person) factor
the foundation of human agency

16. Self-EffIcacy
Distinguished between efficacy expectations and outcome expectations
Efficacy refers to people's confidence that they have the ability to perform certain behaviors
An outcome expectancy refers to one's prediction of the likely consequences of that behavior
Efficacy does not refer to the ability to execute basic motor skills such as walking, reaching, or grasping.
Efficacy does not imply that we can perform designated behaviors without anxiety, stress, or fear; it is merely our judgment, accurate or faulty, about whether or not we can execute the required actions.
Judgements of efficacy are not the same as levels of aspiration

17. Self-EffIcacy
Self-efficacy is not a global or generalized concept, such as self-esteem or self-confidence
High and low efficacy combine with responsive and unresponsive environments to produce four possible predictive variables
When efficacy is high and the environment is responsive, outcomes are most likely to be successful.
When low efficacy is combined with a responsive environment, people may become depressed
When they observe that others are successful at tasks that seem too difficult for them.
When people with high efficacy encounter unresponsive environmental situations, they usually intensify their efforts to change the environment

18. Self-EffIcacy What Contributes to Self-Eficacy?
Personal efficacy is acquired, enhanced, or decreased through any one or combination of four sources
Information about oneself and the environment is cognitively processed and together with recollections of previous experiences, alters perceived self-efficacy.
Mastery experiences
Social modeling
Social persuasion
Physical and emotional states

19. Self-EffIcacy What Contributes to Self-Eficacy? (cont’d)
Mastery experiences
The most influential sources of self-efficacy
Successful performance raises efficacy expectancies; failure tends to lower them.
Successful performance raises self-efficacy in proportion to the difficulty of the task.
Highly skilled tennis players gain little self-efficacy by defeating clearly inferior opponents, but they gain much by performing well against superior opponents.
Tasks successfully accomplished by oneself are more efficacious than those completed with the help of others.
In sports, team accomplishments do not increase personal efficacy as much as do individual achievements.

20. Self-EffIcacy What Contributes to Self-Eficacy? (cont’d)
Mastery experiences (cont’d)
Failure is most likely to decrease efficacy when we know that we put forth our best effort.
Failure under conditions of high emotional arousal or distress re not as self-debilitating as failure under maximal conditions.
Failure prior to establishing a sense of mastery is more detrimental to feelings of personal efficacy than later failure.
Occasional failure has little effect on efficacy, especially for people with a generally high expectancy of success.

21. Self-EffIcacy What Contributes to Self-Eficacy? (cont’d)
Social modeling
Vicarious experiences provided by other people
Our self-efficacy is raised when we observe the accomplishments of another person of equal competence
Powerful effects where inefficacy is concerned.
Social persuasion
a person must believe the persuader
Credibility of the source
perceived status and authority of the persuader
the activity must be within one's repertoire of behavior
social persuasion is most effective when combined with successful performance

22. Self-EffIcacy What Contributes to Self-Eficacy? (cont’d)
Physical & emotional states
Strong emotion ordinarily lowers performance
E.g., intense fear
Moderate arousal may raise efficacy expectancies
Emotional arousal may facilitate the successful completion of simple tasks, but it is likely to interfere with performance of complex activities.

23. Proxy Agency
Proxy involves indirect control over those social conditions that affect everyday living
Relying on other people
By relying too much on the competence and power of others, people may weaken their sense of personal and collective efficacy
Become dependent on the other

24. Collectıve Effıcacy
People's shared beliefs in their collective power to produce desired results
Two techniques for measuring collective efficacy.
combine the individual member's evaluation of their personal capabilities to enact behaviors that benefit the group.
For example, actors in a play would have high collective efficacy if all had confidence in their personal ability to adequately perform their roles.
measure the confidence each person has in the group's ability to bring about a desired outcome.
For example, baseball players may have little confidence in each of their teammates but possess high confidence that their team will perform quite well.

25. Collectıve Effıcacy
Collective efficacy does not spring from a collective "mind but rather from the personal efficacy of many individuals working together.
Depends on
the knowledge and skills of its individual members
their beliefs that they can work together in a coordinated and interactive fashion
Factors that can undermine collective efficacy
humans live in a transnational world; what happens in one part of the globe can affect people in other countries
recent technology that people neither understand nor believe that they can control may lower their sense of collective efficacy
the complex social machinery, with layers of bureaucracy that prevent social change
the tremendous scope and magnitude of human problems can undermine collective efficacy

26. Self-RegulatIon When people have high levels of self-efficacy,
are confident in their reliance on proxies
possess solid collective efficacy
have considerable capacity to regulate their own behavior
People use both reactive and proactive strategies for self-regulation
Reactive strategies to reduce the discrepancies between their accomplishments and their goal
Proactive strategies to set newer and higher goals
What processes contribute to this self-regulation?
the external factors
The internal factors

27. External Factors In Self-RegulatIon
provide us with a standard for evaluating of own behavior
E.g., we learn from parents and teachers the value of honest and friendly behavior
influence self-regulation by providing the means for reinforcement
E.g., a monetary retainer, a praise, encouragement from others
When performance does not meet self-standards, we tend to withhold rewards from ourselves.

28. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
3 internal requirements in the ongoing exercise of self-influence:
Self-observation
Judgmental processes
Self-reaction

29. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Self-observation
self-observation of performance
monitor our own performance
What we observe depends on interests and other preexisting self- conceptions
In achievement situations, pay attention to the quality, quantity, speed, or originality of ow work.
In interpersonal situations, such as meeting new acquaintances or reporting on events, monitor the sociability or morality of our conduct

30. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Judgemental processes
self-observation alone does not provide a sufficient basis for regulating behavior
we must also evaluate our performance
depends on personal standards, referential performances, valuation of activity, and performance attribution
personal standards allow us to evaluate ow performances without comparing them to the conduct of others
evaluate our performances by comparing them to a standard of reference
overall value we place on an activity
how we judge the causes of our behavior

31. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Self-reaction
Respond positively or negatively to their behaviors depending on how these behaviors measure up to their personal standards
Self-reinforcement or self-punishment
Use cognitive ability to mediate the consequences of behavior
Self-dissatisfaction or self-criticism

32. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Moral Agency
Doing no harm to people
Proactively helping people
Selective activation
Moral precepts predict moral behavior only when those precepts are converted to action.
Self-regulatory influences are not automatic but operate only if they are activated
Disengagement of internal control
By justifying the morality of their actions, they can separate or disengage themselves from the consequences of their behavior
allow people, individually or working in concert with others, to engage in inhumane behaviors while retaining their moral standards

33. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
minimize, ignore, or distort the detrimental consequences of their behavior
Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Selective activation and disengagement of internal control allow people with the same moral standards to behave quite differently
redefine or reconstruct the nature of the behavior itself
blame or dehumanize the victim.

34. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Redefine the Behavior
Cognitive restructuring that allows them to minimize or escape responsibility
Moral justification
otherwise culpable behavior is made to seem defensible or even noble
Palliative comparisons
reducing responsibility through redefining wrongful behavior is to make advantageous
Euphemistic labels

35. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Disregard or Distort the Consequences of Behavior
minimize the consequences of their behavior
disregard or ignore the consequences of their actions
distort or misconstrue the consequences of their actions
Dehumanize or Blame the Victims

36. Internal Factors In Self-RegulatIon
Displace or Diffuse Responsibility
displacement, people minimize the consequences of their actions by placing responsibility on an outside source.
diffuse responsibility, spread it so thin that no one person is responsible
"That's the way things are done around here«

37. DysfunctIonal Behavıor
Triadic reciprocal causation model accounts for dysfunctional behavior
Depression
High personal standards and goals
Undervalue own accomplishments
dysfunctional depression can occur in any of the three self-regulatory subfunctions:
Self-observation
Exaggerate the past mistakes
Minimize their prior accomplishments
Judgmental processes
Likely to make faulty judgments
Unrealistically high standarts
Self-reactions
judge themselves harshly
treat themselves badly for their shortcomings

38. DysfunctIonal Behavıor
Phobias
Learning principles for development & maintainance of basic phobias
television and other news media for generating many of fears
terrorize a community, causing people to live more confined lives behind locked doors

39. DysfunctIonal Behavıor
Aggression
aggressive behavior is acquired through observation of others, direct experiences with positive and negative reinforcements, training, or instruction, and bizarre beliefs.
Bobodoll experiment
Children see, children do

40. Therapy
Deviant behaviors are initiated & maintained on the basis of social cognitive learning principles
Therapeutic change is difficult because it involves eliminating behaviors that are satisfying to the person
The ultimate goal of social cognitive therapy is self-regulation
instigate some change in behavior
generalize specific changes
maintenance of newly acquired functional behaviors w/out relapse
overt or vicarious modeling
covert or cognitive modeling
enactive mastery
cognitive mediation