Social cognitive theory
The foundations of social cognitive theory come from Edwin B. Holt and Harold Chapman Brown's 1931 work Animal Drive and the Learning Process, an essay toward radical empiricism.
These studies helped Bandura publish his seminal article and book in 1977 that expanded on the idea on how behavior is acquired, and thus further explored Miller and Dollard's research.
[8] In Bandura's 1977 article, he claimed that Social Learning Theory shows a direct correlation between a person's perceived self-efficacy and behavioral change.
[18] The majority of current research in Health Psychology focuses on testing SCT in behavioral change campaigns as opposed to expanding on the theory.
[20] He proposes that these problems could be solved through television serial dramas that show models similar to viewers performing the desired behavior.
Bandura argues that SCT should be used to increase birth control use, reduce gender inequality through education, and to model environmental conservation to improve the state of the planet.
People learn by observing others, with the environment, behavior, and cognition acting as primary factors that influence development in a reciprocal triadic relationship.
Social cognitive theory is proposed in an agentic perspective, which suggests that, instead of being just shaped by environments or inner forces, individuals are self-developing, self-regulating, self-reflecting and proactive.
[30] There are several ways to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy, including mastering challenges, social modeling, improving physical and emotional stated, and verbal persuasion.
Self-efficacy beliefs can impact cognitive, motivational, emotional, and decision-making processes, and they play a significant role in individual and collective success.
[11][10] Self-efficacy can be developed or increased by: For example, students become more effortful, active, pay attention, highly motivated and better learners when they perceive that they have mastered a particular task.
Self-efficacy has also been used to predict behavior in various health related situations such as weight loss, quitting smoking, and recovery from heart attack.
[9] Social cognitive theory is often applied as a theoretical framework of studies pertained to media representation regarding race, gender, age and beyond.
[34][35][36] Social cognitive theory suggested heavily repeated images presented in mass media can be potentially processed and encoded by the viewers (Bandura, 2011).
[35] Social cognitive theory is pervasively employed in studies examining attitude or behavior changes triggered by the mass media.
[38] In health communication, social cognitive theory has been applied in research related to smoking cessation, HIV prevention, safe sex behaviors, and so on.
[42] In 1997 Harrison and Cantor utilized SCT in order to look at how images of thinness and ideal body shapes effected women in the Fiji Islands.
Historically, Fiji women admired being large but in 1995 television shows like Beverly Hills, 90210, and Melrose Place were introduced to the island.
In terms of media effects, Bandura found that television violence is often portrayed in a glamorous way, making it more likely to be imitated.
[9][45] Longitudinal studies such as the one conducted by Roswell Huesmann utilized SCT in order to look at repeated exposure of media violence over a long period of time.
This study concluded that repeated early exposure to television violence may suggest higher levels of aggression and antisocial behavior later in life.
[46] Albert Bandura defines perceived self-efficacy as "people's beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives.
[48] A lack of physical activity has been shown to contribute to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and cancer even in individuals without any other risk factors.
[49] Social cognitive theory can be helpful in identifying motivating factors that lead to increased physical activity across age and gender.
A study by Yael Netz and Shulamith Raviv in 2004 found positive correlations between high levels of self-efficacy when compared to physical activity.
[51] The goal of this study was to identify if SCT could be used to “…improve physical activity (PA) interventions by identifying which variables to target to maximize intervention impact.” By following 204 overweight men over the course of a three-month weight loss program, researchers applied a longitudinal, latent variable structural equation model to test SCT-related constructs including self-efficacy, outcome expectations, intention and social support as they apply toward self-reported changes in physical activity level.
[52] SCT can be used to explain the most prevalent contributing factors to this marked decrease in physical activity among adolescents and then develop appropriate intervention methods to best change this phenomenon.
[54] Miller's 2005 study found that choosing the proper gender, age, and ethnicity for models ensured the success of an AIDS campaign to inner city teenagers.
The main reason that social cognitive theory applies to all nations is because it does not say what is moral and immoral; it simply states that we can acknowledge these two concepts.
[37] Nabi and Clark found that individuals who had not previously experienced one night stand sex showed increased expectation of doing so after exposure to media portrayals of this behavior.
