Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment
Kayla Hillmann
Liberty University
Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
Describe what triadic reciprocal causation is
In the beginning of chapter four our book gives us a model of a triangle. It is considered to be the Triadic
Reciprocal Causation. Bandura discussed human behavior by using the framework from the triadic
reciprocality.The triadic reciprocal causation studies the reciprocating interactions among behaviors. It
studies the environmental variables, as well as the personal factors like cognition. These interacting
determinants can be described using self efficacy, “beliefs concerning one’s capabilities to organize and
implement actions necessary to learn or perform behaviors at designated levels. (Schunk 2018) Self
efficacy would be considered a personal factor. Researchers have found that self efficacy influences
achievement behaviors like choosing of tasks and skill acquisition. That leads us into person to behavior.
Students actions will modify their self-efficacy. When students work on tasks, naturally they will pay
attention to their progress. They focus on their progress towards learning goals, for instance, completing
assignments given to them by their teachers. These accomplishments will show students that they can
perform well and enhance their self efficacy to continue learning. This is behavior to person. When we
look between self efficacy and environmental factors, students with learning disabilities have shown the
interactions. These students often have low self efficacy when it comes to performing well. People in their
social environment may react to students based on the attributes that are associated with them, rather
than the students who have actual capabilities. This is considered person to environment. Next is
environment to person. Teachers will often expect lower academic standards even in areas where they
may be doing well. When a student hears, “I know you can do this,” it makes the student more confident.
Now we look at, behavior to environment. Students behaviors and classroom environments will always
influence each other. When the teacher asks a student to look at a slide on the projector, and they do so
without questioning, or a “conscious deliberation.” (Schunk, 2018) It would be considered behavior to
environment. Often times if a student does not understand a certain learning point, the teacher will go
back over these specific points. This model does not say that the directions of influence are always the
same. At any time a factor can be pre dominate. When environmental influences are weak, often times
the personal factors will dominate. A person caught in a burning house is likely to evacuate quickly; this is
environmental dictating behavior. I wanted to share a current event, that goes along with the environment
dictating behavior. We all know how strong a mother's love for her child. This happened in Wyoming,
Illinois. A mother had to use her mind quite quickly as flames engulfed their home. She had just had a
baby. Her quick thinking led her to strap the baby into the carseat and drop her from a second story
window. She died shortly after from smoke inhalation. I feel as though this story shows how environment
can affect behavior. Look at the baby who was saved, the mother used her cognitive abilities and saved
her daughter's life.
Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
How is triadic reciprocal causation of social cognitive theory different than earlier
behavioral learning theories?
The triadic reciprocal causation of social cognitive theory has multiple different tiers to its theory. People
can further produce their environment and not just be a “product” of their environment. Where as some of
the theorists like Piaget, look at social cognitive theories with one tier, it can only be personal or
environment. People are simply a product of their environment.
Name and describe the 4 processes of observational learning.
The first step is to define observational learning. Bandura describes it as this, “it is through modeling that
occurs when observers display new patterns of behavior that, prior to exposure to the modeled behaviors,
have a zero probability of occurrence even when motivation is high.”(Bandura, 1969) Let us begin with
attention. Attention is, “necessary so that events are perceived meaningfully.”(Schunk, 2018) Attention
involves where many activities can be attended too. Teachers will often use bright colors and large
features in order to grab the attention of the students. I remember while doing an awareness for sex
trafficking, we were told to use things that with “grab the attention” of students. We were required to use
things we knew they were interested in. One of them happened to be music. So we would put skits to
different musical songs. Attention is influenced by the functional values of modeled activities. According to
Schunk, activities that require a greater amount of attention will usually lead to rewarding outcomes.
Learners who believe their teacher is competent, will more than likely pay closer attention to what they
are teaching. The second process is retention. Our book says, “it requires cognitively organizing,
rehearsing, coding, and transforming modeled information for storage in memory.”(Schunk, 2018) The
social cognitive theory says that a modeled display can be stored in image or verbal form. Sometimes it
can be stored as both. Rehearsal, which is the mental review of stored information, is what plays a key
role in retention. Bandura and Jefferey did a study in 1973. Some adults were given instructions for
coding and others were not. The individuals who coded and rehearsed showed that they had better
retention. The third process of observational learning is production. Schunk says this, “it involves
translating visual and symbolic conceptions of modeled events into overt behaviors.” (Schunk, 2018)
Within this learning process many actions are learned solely by observing them. Production comes from
observers showing learning. However, complex behaviors are not learned through simple observation. A
problem with producing modeled behaviors shows because learners may have a difficult time translating
coded information within their memory and pushing it into action. An example would be a child who knows
how to tie shoelaces, they may understand the process but have trouble putting it into actions. The last
observational learning process is motivation. Our book says this, “influences observational learning
because people are more likely to engage in preceding three processes for modeled actions they believe
are important.” (Schunk, 2018) People will often form expectations about the outcomes of actions based
on previous consequences they may have experienced or seen others experience. They will do things
based on what they believed will offer the most rewarding outcomes. They will also avoid anything that
may cause them negative outcomes. They will often avoid activities they may not like and disregard the
consequences it can have for them or others. Teachers will often motivate their students by making
learning interesting for them.
Describe 4 effects of viewing televised aggression according to Bandura.
Albert Bandura decided to do an experiment on aggressive behavior. At the time of his research, people
believed that if someone saw aggression being vented out, that it would end up draining their own
personal aggression. He produced a study on preschool children to prove his theory on aggression. It was
the BoBo doll experiment. A group of preschoolers were left to watch an adult model act aggressively
towards an inflatable Bobo doll. The woman used a mallet, hit, kicked, and threw the doll. The extra task
was added of saying hostile remarks towards the doll as well. After this model was finished, the children
were left alone with the Bobo doll. Many of those children came up with new attacks towards the doll and
Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
even showed interest in guns, even though guns were not used in the model. Children who did not
witness this aggression shown no aggression towards the doll at all. I totally agree with the four effects of
viewing televised aggression. Bandura says, “televised violence has four major effects that teaches
aggressive styles and behavior, weakens restrains over aggression, desensitizes and habituates viewers
to human cruelty and shapes viewers images of reality.” (Bandura, 2003) I’d like to share a story that will
back this up. My husband has a nephew Teddy, who is seven years old. He was not controlled on what
he saw or what video games were played. There is a game called Grand Theft Auto. Essentially, you can
drive around and hit people or shoot them. The cops will chase you and you have to outrun them. Great
lesson for people, especially kids!! Well, one day he was sleeping in another room and there was a TV
and xbox. My husband, not thinking anything of it, let him play GTA. When I woke up, I walked to the door
and heard him saying, “I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna shoot you in the head.” All the while maniacally
laughing. I walked in and said, “Have you lost your mind? Turn it off. NOW.” Later that day, while he was
playing with our roommates son, I noticed he wanted to play games that involve shooting each other in
the head with their fake guns. I almost died. This is not a joke, this is real! The world, society, music, and
television are telling children it is okay to be violent. It is getting terrible out there and we need to protect
our children!
Define self-efficacy.
According to our book, self-efficacy, “refers to personal beliefs about one's capabilities to learn or perform
actions at designated levels. (Schunk, 2018) Essentially it is a belief about what one is capable of doing. It
is not considered the same thing as understanding and knowing what to do in situations. When looking at
self-efficacy people will look at their skills and what they are capable of, and then they put those skills into
action. Self-efficacy is considered to be the foundation of motivation and accomplishments. An example
would be, a student who does not answer a teacher's questions because he has doubts about his ability
to answer it correctly. This would be low self-efficacy. But a student who has enough faith in their answers
and answers questions all the time would have high self-efficacy. It is believed that self-efficacy can
transfer into new situations when a learner believes that the same skills will bring them success in other
areas. Self-efficacy refers to perceptions of specific capabilities. However, it does depend on a students
abilities and skills. It can also influence a student's choice of activities. Students with low self-efficacy may
avoid trying new or certain tasks. It can affect their effort, persistence, and learning. Students who have a
higher self-efficacy will participate a little more eagerly, give a greater effort, and persist longer than those
who often doubt themselves. People often acquire self-efficacy through ideas on how their models around
them perform. Similarity to others is important when gauging one's self-efficacy. Seeing someone else
succeed will raise a person's self-efficacy. It will motivate them to try the task. They see it as if others
succeed, then they will too. Increase in self-efficacy can be thwarted by their own personal failures. Often,
if they see their peers fail, they may feel as though they do not have enough competence to succeed
themselves. If teachers persuade children to do something well, it may increase their self efficacy, but it
won’t last long if they are continuing to perform poorly.
Name and describe the 4 major ways that one can develop a strong sense of self-efficacy
as presented in the video by Bandura.
Bandura explained the four ways of developing self-efficacy and named them as this; mastery, social
modeling, social persuasion, and physical and emotional states. Bandura believed that the best way to
build a strong efficacy is through mastery experiences. If people find success easily, they will lose efficacy
and become discouraged by failures. It is built by figuring out how to handle failures. So that it
encourages one and not breaks one down. Therefore, learning from mistakes. The second way is
strengthening ones efficacy through social modeling. WHen people see that others succeed from effort,
they believe they have what it takes to succeed as well. Competent models are helpful because they can
build efficacy by sharing whatever knowledge and skills they have. The third way is through social
Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
persuasion. When people are encouraged and told they have what it takes to succeed, they will put forth
more effort and avoid focusing on their doubts. Social persuaders will do more than just persuade, they
do things that will bring the other success. They will avoid giving them situations where they will fail. The
last way is achieving efficacy by figuring out their own physical and emotional states. It helps them judge
their own capabilities. Learning how to negate these stressors will only strengthen efficacy.
How does self-efficacy differ from self-esteem?
Bandura says this, “Self-efficacy should not be confused with self esteem. Efficacy is a judgement of
capability. Self esteem is a value of self worth.” (Bandura 2003) I wanted to go back to a story I shared
about Cameron, with Asperger's Syndrome. He was extremely intelligent. He could out answer any of us
within classes. He had all A’s and when you really spent time having a conversation with him you would
see just how intelligent he was. He was a student with high self-efficacy. He was confident enough to
answer questions that the teacher asked, to share his projects, and even to help other students who may
not understand what is going on. However, he had an extremely low self-esteem. When asked he often
talked about how he hated himself because no one would pay attention to him. I may have shared the
story before, but his mother had came to our school to share a little bit about their journey with Asperger's
Syndrome. He would come home so excited when someone would just simply say hi to him in the
hallway. But on the days when people ignored him or laughed at him, he would go home and tell his
mother he wanted to die and kill himself. As soon as I learned and figured out what was truly going on, I
began to sit with him everyday at lunch. People would say stupid things like its social suicide. But before I
knew it, everyone else was beginning to sit with him. We helped his self-esteem in many ways we didn’t
understand as kids. Looking back now, I am so happy with that decision. Cameron is now a doctor.
Name and describe 4 effects of efficacy beliefs.
Bandura said that there are four effects of efficacy beliefs. They are cognitive, motivational, emotional,
and decisional. In regards to motivational, efficacy influences whether people think optimistic or
pessimistic. Efficacy beliefs affect people's motivations, the challenges they set for themselves, and their
commitments to them. (Bandura, 2003) The next one is emotional. One of the largest challenges in life is
to overcome emotional stress and depressions. In order to manage it, one must gain the ability to manage
everyday stressors. Decisional is where efficacy can affect many of the choices a person makes and will
affect the course their life is going to take.
Share at least 2 verses/passages regarding being a good example and/or role model to
others.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory
to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 NIV) When I was a kid, there was a boy in a class below
me that had Aspergers. Back then, it was not well known. Kids often times bullied him and while I may not
have participated, I did not say anything. I remember speaking to my mother about this and she shared
this verse with me. She said if I wanted to see change in how this boy was being treated, I needed to start
it. I remember feeling so small and young and thinking, what could I do to change this? But this verse is a
perfect example! It is important to let everyone see your light so that they see who you are, and what your
good deeds are. If they see these good acts, not only will they see Jesus in the center of it, but they will
catch on as well.
“Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity and
dignity.” (Titus 2:7 NIV) I found this verse and feel like it is so fitting! As we are journeying into our
teaching careers and will be responsible for quite a few little ones hearts and minds, it is important that we
lead and teach with dignity and integrity. It is important we instill good values and morals in the children
we are responsible for everyday.
Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
Share an example from Scripture of one who either exhibited a strong sense of
self-efficacy or one who did not exhibit a strong sense of self-efficacy. Support your
answer.
One of the best examples of self-efficacy in the bible would be the story of Moses. He had low
self-efficacy. He did not believe in his abilities to speak to everyone God had wanted him to speak too. He
spent quite a while trying to avoid what God wanted him to do. Like the definition of self-efficacy, Moses
did not have a good perception of his abilities in order to put them into action. He had low self-efficacy.
“And Moses said, “No Lord do not send me, for I have never been a good speaker, and I have not
become one since you last spoke to me. I am a poor speaker.” (Exodus 4:10 NIV) God already knew,
however, that Moses would succeed in the task provided to him. God already had a plan for his
self-efficacy and how to raise it!
Write 1 solid paragraph of at least 400 words defining self-efficacy, describe the basic
principles of social cognitive theory, and articulate how you can help to develop a
stronger sense of self-efficacy in your students. You must include the importance of your
role as an effective role model.
Self-efficacy is not to be confused with self-esteem. Self-efficacy focuses on the perceptions we have that
allow us to put them into action. Students either have low or high self-efficacy. Those with higher
self-efficacy often participate much more and have faith in their endeavors and learning abilities. Those
with lower self-efficacy often times will not participate as much as others. The social cognitive theory
allows for us to understand human behavior a little bit better. The theory was created by Bandura who
used different studies and the triadic model. It allows us to see things like how behavior changes with the
environment, how environment affects behavior, how personal situations affect behavior and so on. It is
also called the Triadic Reciprocity model. Setting up my students for success and not putting them in
situations that will lower their sense of self-efficacy is important. The first step in that is getting to know
each and every student. It is important to understand them, in order to set them up for success. In today’s
world it is extremely important to be a good role model. We have so many influences in society; people
like Ariana Grande who dress and dance seductively, as well as sing about how she can get anything she
wants. We have singers like Miley Cyrus, who are encouraging young girls that having sex is fine, its a
natural part of life and to get over this “No sex before marriage.” We also have influences like violent
video games which teach our children it's okay to run around and shoot people in the head! WE are the
ones raising this next generation, and we are required to be the change we want to see.
Running head: Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Assignment 1
References
Davidson, F. (Producer). (2003). Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Davidson Films. Retrieved
from
http://search.alexanderstreet.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/view/work/1780107
Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: Freeman.
Davidson, F. (Producer). (2003). Bandura’s social cognitive theory. Davidson Films. Retrieved
from http://search.alexanderstreet.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/view/work/1780107
Ellis, R. (2017, February 4). Mom dies after dropping baby in car seat from burning house.
Retrieved 2019, from
https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/04/us/car-seat-fatal-fire-mother-trnd/index.html.
