SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY

BY
JOHN BAFFOE
WILLIAM NTIAMOAH NTIM

(UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST)

OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION
 INTRODUCTION
 DEFINITION OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
 CONSTRUCTS OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
 THE BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT
 STRENGHTS OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
 LIMITATIONS OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
 CLASSROOM IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE
THEORY
 OUR OPINION
 INTRODUCTION
Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) started as the social learning theory (SLT) in the
1960s by Albert bandura. it developed into the SCT in 1986 and posits that learning
occurs in a social context with a dynamic and reciprocal interaction of the person,
environment, and behavior.
Personal factors: knowledge, expectations, attitudes etc.
Environmental factors: social norms, influence on others(ability to change own
environment) etc.
Behavioural factors: skills, practice, self-efficacy etc.
The unique feature of SCT is the emphasis on social influence and its
emphasis on external and internal social reinforcement.   SCT considers the
unique way in which individuals acquire and maintain behavior, while also
considering the social environment in which individuals perform the behavior
The goal of SCT is to explain how people regulate their behavior through
control and reinforcement to achieve goal-directed behavior that can be
maintained over time.
DEFINITION OF SOCIAL COGNITIVE
THEORY
 According to Bandura (1991), the social cognitive theory is based on the concept that
learning is affected by cognitive, behavioral, and environmental factors in contrast to
the traditional psychological theories that emphasized learning through direct
experience.
 Bandura (1986) posited that virtually all learning phenomena can occur by observing
other people’s behavior and consequence of it. Looking at what Bandura posited, two
forms of social cognitive theory of learning can be deduced. Namely; Enactive and
Vicarious learning.
 Enactive learning refers to learning which occurs by doing and experiencing the
consequences of your actions
 Vicarious Learning refers to learning which occurs as a result of observing other
person’s experience or consequences.
 Based on the above discussion SCT is a learning theory which has come
out on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do, and that
human thought processes are central to understanding personality
 CONSTRUCTS OF SOCIAL
COGNITIVE THEORY
The first five constructs were developed as part of the SLT; Bandura (1986)
added the construct of self-efficacy when the theory evolved into SCT.
Reciprocal Determinism - This is the central concept of SCT. This refers
to the dynamic and reciprocal interaction of person (individual with a set of
learned experiences), environment (external social context), and behavior
(responses to stimuli to achieve goals).

Behavioral Capability - This refers to a person's actual ability to perform a

behavior through essential knowledge and skills. In order to successfully
perform a behavior, a person must know what to do and how to do it. People
learn from the consequences of their behavior, which also affects the
environment in which they live.
 Behavioral Capability - This refers to a person's actual ability to perform a
behavior through essential knowledge and skills. In order to successfully perform a
behavior, a person must know what to do and how to do it. People learn from the
consequences of their behavior, which also affects the environment in which they
live.

 Observational Learning - This asserts that people can witness and observe a
behavior conducted by others, and then reproduce those actions. This is often
exhibited through "modeling" of behaviors.   If individuals see successful
demonstration of a behavior, they can also complete the behavior successfully.

 Reinforcements - This refers to the internal or external responses to a person's

behavior that affect the likelihood of continuing or discontinuing the behavior.
Reinforcements can be self-initiated or in the environment, and reinforcements can
be positive or negative. This is the construct of SCT that most closely ties to the
reciprocal relationship between behavior and environment.
 Expectations - This refers to the anticipated consequences of a person's
behavior. Outcome expectations can be health-related or not health-related.
People anticipate the consequences of their actions before engaging in the
behavior, and these anticipated consequences can influence successful
completion of the behavior. Expectations derive largely from previous
experience.   While expectancies also derive from previous experience,
expectancies focus on the value that is placed on the outcome and are
subjective to the individual.

 Self-efficacy - This refers to the level of a person's confidence in his or her

ability to successfully perform a behavior. According to Bandura (1986),
self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute
sources of action required to manage prospective situations. Self-efficacy is
unique to SCT although other theories have added this construct at later
dates, such as the Theory of Planned Behavior. Self-efficacy is influenced
by a person's specific capabilities and other individual factors, as well as by
environmental factors (barriers and facilitators).
THE BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT
 The Bobo Doll Experiment according to Bandura (1988) explains how
modelling teaches general rules and strategies for dealing with different
situations.

 To illustrate that people, learn from watching others, Bandura, Ross and
Ross (1961) constructed a series of experiments using a Bodo doll
(inflated toy). They used 72 students from Stanford University Nursery
School varying in age 3 to 6 years and divided them into two groups
namely; experimental group and the control group. The experimental
group was made up of 48 students in which 24 students were exposed to
an aggressive model and 24 students exposed to a non-aggressive model.
The control group was also made up of 24 students.
CONT’D OF THE EXPERIMENT

MODELING:
Stage 1. 24 students (12 boys and 12 girls) watched a male or female model
behaving aggressively towards a Bobo doll for 10 minutes. The adults attacked
the Bobo doll in a distinctive manner-they used hammer in some cases, and in
others threw the Bobo doll in the air

Stage 2. Another 24 students (12 boys and 12 girls) were exposed to a non-
aggressive model that played with the doll in a quiet and subdued manner for
10 minutes.

Stage 3. The final 24 students (12 boys and 12 girls) were used as a control
group and not exposed to any model at all.
 STOP AND THINK
Does the violence that children observe on television, movies
and videos games lead them to behave aggressively?
 CONT’D OF THE EXPERIMENT.
RESULTS:
Bandura, Ross and Ross (1961) found out that, at the absence of the models:
 Children who were exposed to the aggressive model performed aggressive
behaviours towards the Bobo doll while those in the non-aggressive model
played with the doll.
The girls in the aggressive model showed more physical aggressive
responses if the model was a male but more verbal aggressive response if the
model was female.
Boys imitated more physical aggressive acts than girls
STRENGTHS OF SOCIAL
COGNITIVE THEORY
According to Hurst (2014), the following are the strengths of the social
cognitive theory:

A great deal of learning occurs from watching.

People have considerable control over beaviour of learning.
 LIMITATIONS OF SOCIAL
COGNITIVE THEORY
According to Flamand (2014), the following are the limitations of the social
cognitive theory:
The theory is loosely organized, based solely on the dynamic interplay
between person, behavior, and environment. It is unclear the extent to which
each of these factors into actual behavior and if one is more influential than
another.
The theory heavily focuses on processes of learning and in doing so disregards
biological and hormonal predispositions that may influence behaviors,
regardless of past experience and expectations.
 The theory does not focus on emotion or motivation, other than through
reference to past experience. There is minimal attention on these factors.
 The theory assumes that changes in the environment will automatically
lead to changes in the person, when this may not always be true.

 Assumes that all behaviour is as a results of modeling not genetic, illness

or other influences.
CLASSROOM IMPLICATION OF
SOCIAL COGNITVE THEORY
 Teachers must set goals for students to accomplish and help them
to take records of these accomplishments. Once a while, take the
record and celebrate their hard work. For example: Pictures made
by students can be pasted in the classroom so that once a while
teacher refer to them when teaching.

 As teachers we must be cautious of how we react to situations in

the classroom since students learn from what they see and imitate
accordingly.
 There can be many forms of non-verbal communication in the classroom
 Students can learn from the teachers and peers that certain symbols
mean certain things. For example: thumbs up means “good job” and
holding two figures in the air may be the teacher’s symbol for “quiet”.
 Students learn that stress, intonation, body movement, personal space
issues and eye contact are all part of non-verbal communication.

 Teacher can apply this theory using technology by having students watch
a step by step how to video. For example: they can observe how to create
a paper flower and then after watching the video create one themselves
using the information that was provided for them on the video.
 Teaching and learning should be more of practical for students to view and
appreciate various concepts taught.
 OUR OPINION
We agree with Bandura, that social cognitive theory is a way in which
children learn how to behave thus: By observing what elders do or peers we
tend to imitate them. For this reason, when children are young we try not to
expose them to people who may say or do inappropriate things around them
because they may pick up on them and repeat them.
THANK YOU!
 REFERENCES
Bandura, A., Ross, D., & Ross, S. (1961). Transmission of aggression through
imitation of aggressive models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology,
63(12), 575–582.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Upper Saddle River,
NJ: Prentice Hall
Bandura, A. (1988). Organizational application of social cognitive theory.
Australian Journal of Management, 13 (2): 275–302
Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of self-regulation. Organizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50(2), 248-287
Flamand, L. (2014). Limitations of social cognitive theory. Retrieved from http://
www.ehow.com/about_5421206_limitations-social-cognitive- theory.html
Hurst, M. (2014). Social-cognitive learning theory: Definition and examples.
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