SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
AN OVERVIEW OF THE SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
The Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) was developed by , a Canadian psychologist, in the mid-1980s (2004). (1998) argued that the SCT defines human behavior as a triadic, dynamic, and reciprocal interaction of personal factors, behavior, and the environment. According to this theory, an individual’s behavior is uniquely determined by each of these three factors. While the SCT upholds the behaviorist notion that response consequences mediate behavior, it contends that behavior is largely regulated antecedently through cognitive processes. Bandura viewed people as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting and self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms shaped and acted upon by environmental forces or driven by concealed inner impulses (2002).
The Social Cognitive Theory’s strong emphasis on one’s cognitions suggests that the mind is an active force that constructs one’s reality, selectively encodes information, performs behavior on the basis of values and expectations, and imposes structure on its own actions. Through feedback and reciprocity, a person’s own reality is formed by the interaction of the environment and one’s cognitions. In addition, cognitions change over time as a function of maturation and experience (i.e. attention span, memory, ability to form symbols, reasoning skills). It is through an understanding of the processes involved in one’s construction of reality that enables human behavior to be understood, predicted, and changed (1998).
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY OF MORAL THOUGHT AND ACTION
One particularly fruitful area of investigation to which the Social Cognitive Theory has been employed is the study of moral and value internalization among children. In fact, it has been argued that the greatest contribution of the SCT is its aid in understanding how children are socialized to accept the standards and values of their society (1998). (1991) reported that Social Cognitive Theory contends that personal factors, in the form of moral thought and affective self-reactions, moral conduct, and environmental factors all operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally. Moral thinking is a process in which multidimensional rules or standards are used to judge conduct. Situations with moral implications contain many decisional ingredients that may be given lesser or greater weight depending upon the standards by which they are cognitively processed and the particular constellations of events in given moral predicaments ().
(1997) stated that when children are young there are physical boundaries to control their actions. As they mature, social relations are designed to elicit culturally-acceptable behavior. Bandura’s theory suggests that cognitive guides are formed in social relationships which regulate conduct under changing circumstances. Internalization of standards of moral conduct requires modeling from various sources. Children observe parents, siblings, peers and other adults to help them determine what behavior is appropriate for what situation. (1991) added that parents cannot always be present to guide their children’s behavior. Successful socialization requires gradual substitution of symbolic and internal controls for external sanctions and demands. As moral standards are gradually internalized, they begin to serve as guides and deterrents to conduct by the self-approving and self-reprimanding consequences children produce for themselves. Not only do the sanctions change from a social to a personal locus, but with advancing age the range of moral considerations expands. As the nature and seriousness of possible transgressions change with age, parents and other significant adults in the child’s life add new aspects to the moral persuasion. For example, they do not appeal to legal arguments when handling preschoolers’ misconduct, but they do explain legal codes and penalties to preadolescents to influence future behavior that can have serious legal consequences. It is hardly surprising that adolescents are more likely than young children to consider legalities in their reasoning about transgressive acts ().
(1997) further demonstrated that several unfortunate circumstances exist that emphasize the need for intentional modeling from those who have direct contact with children. First, families that are estranged from the mainstream do not heed to institutional values causing confusing inconsistencies in the moral development of the children involved. Second, social change often arises from a breakdown of transmission between generations, leaving younger generations to find moral models among their contemporaries, which may not be appropriate. The last unfortunate reality is that television provides extensive opportunity for modeling aggressive and inappropriately sexualized behavior. Without adequate discussion of adult material that is readily available to them, children are likely to develop misconceptions about important issues.
Social Cognitive Theory identifies three sources of influence; behavior, cognition, and environment. Behavior usually produces self-evaluative reactions and social effects which may be complementary or opposing. To enhance the compatibility between personal and social influences people generally select associates with similar standards of conduct (although interacting with people of differing standards does not necessarily create personal conflict). In some cases, people who are not much committed to personal standards adopt a pragmatic orientation, tailoring their behavior to whatever the situation calls for. Selective association and the pragmatic orientation of moral behavior require certain abilities. The ability to selectively activate or disengage moral control requires that an individual must be capable of self-regulating behavior which could be considered purposeful access to the autonomous self (1997). Self-reactive influences do not operate unless they are activated, and there are many psychosocial processes by which self-sanctions can be selectively activated and disengaged from transgressive conduct. Mechanisms of moral disengagement also play a central role in the social cognitive theory of morality (1991). Moral disengagement allows for different types of behavior under the same moral standards. This behavior is not culturally-acceptable and is, in some cases, reprehensible (1997).
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