Albert Bandura the founder of reciprocal determinism

Albert Bandura the founder of reciprocal determinism Albert Bandura, the founder of reciprocal determinism was born in Canada in 1925. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, where he developed the social learning theory. Bandura had certain strong beliefs on how psychological research should be done. He believed research should be conducted in laboratories where psychologists could control factors that determined behavior. Bandura has conducted many famous clinical studies which are the basis of the several books he has written. Bandura was also the creator of the reciprocal determinism theory which showed he believed that a person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment. Personal factors are those that are based on a person’s morals, ethics ideas, and personality. The social environment consists of everything external to the self, which are other people, their beliefs, ideas and external items. Two brief examples of reciprocal determinism would be a person who is afraid of flying on airplanes will act nervous, scared, and out of the ordinary which would be the personal factor. This will cause the other people on the plane to become agitated and worried, making the nervous flier even more afraid. This shows how personal determinants, environmental determinants and behavioral determinants interact and influence each other. Another example would be of a man who cannot hold a job and therefore feels like a failure. His inability to hold a job is due to poor work habits and therefore influences employers to treat him bad until his behavior becomes terrible and is ultimately fired. Reciprocal determinism is affected by self-efficiency, which is a person’s belief about their ability to achieve a goal or an outcome. There are several ways to influence self-efficiency; performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal. Performance accomplishments are based on a person’s own experiences wh ich are past successes and failures. Vicarious experiences are based on the observations of others and their performance in executing a task. Verbal persuasion uses suggestions or self-instruction as a motivator. Lastly, emotional arousal is used by diminishing emotional arousals that are associated with decreased performance. http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/assets/images/learningsolutions/061410/061410_f1.png A helpful way to think of reciprocal determinism is in the form of a triangle. At the top would be behavioral  determinants  and the two corners would be personal determinants and environmental determinants. Arrows go back and forth between each word showing that they are influenced by each other. The basic idea is that personal factors (cognitive and affective events), the environment and behavior all influence each other. This triangle aids to understand that humans are shaped by their environment and also shape the environment.    Self- Efficacy A person’s belief about their ability to organize and carry out courses of action needed to accomplish a goal is known as self- efficacy. Those persons, who are confident in their capability to execute a behavior, have very strong efficacy beliefs. These beliefs are influencing our personal emotional reactions and choices, motivation, and patters, therefore they are considered to have a very significant impact on our goals and accomplishments in life. (Bandura. A. Psychological Review. 1977).