We learn by observing someone else’s behavior and its consequences, which Bandura called observational learning. Observational Learningīandura’s key contribution to learning theory was the idea that much learning is vicarious. According to reciprocal determinism, all of these factors are in play. Finally, context refers to the reward structure for the behavior. Cognitive factors that might influence this behavior include your beliefs and values, and your past experiences with similar behaviors. Do you do it? In this example, the behavior is bungee jumping.
Finally, the context in which the behavior occurs refers to the environment or situation, which includes rewarding/punishing stimuli.įigure 11.10 Bandura proposed the idea of reciprocal determinism: Our behavior, cognitive processes, and situational context all influence each other.Ĭonsider, for example, that you’re at a festival and one of the attractions is bungee jumping from a bridge. Behavior refers to anything that we do that may be rewarded or punished. Cognitive processes refer to all characteristics previously learned, including beliefs, expectations, and personality characteristics. In contrast to Skinner’s idea that the environment alone determines behavior, Bandura (1990) proposed the concept of reciprocal determinism, in which cognitive processes, behavior, and context all interact, each factor influencing and being influenced by the others simultaneously ( Figure 11.10). In social-cognitive theory, the concepts of reciprocal determinism, observational learning, and self-efficacy all play a part in personality development. He presented a social-cognitive theory of personality that emphasizes both learning and cognition as sources of individual differences in personality. He disagreed, however, with Skinner’s strict behaviorist approach to personality development, because he felt that thinking and reasoning are important components of learning. The Social-Cognitive PerspectiveĪlbert Bandura agreed with Skinner that personality develops through learning. In fact, Greta now describes herself as a cautious person. Speeding and extreme sports are no longer reinforced, so she no longer engages in those behaviors. But after she gets married and has children, the system of reinforcements and punishments in her environment changes. She drives fast and participates in dangerous sports such as hang gliding and kiteboarding. For example, consider a young woman, Greta, a risk taker. Our responses can change as we come across new situations therefore, we can expect more variability over time in personality than Freud would anticipate. He argued that personality develops over our entire life, not only in the first few years. Skinner disagreed with Freud’s idea that personality is fixed in childhood. We increase the behaviors that lead to positive consequences, and we decrease the behaviors that lead to negative consequences.
In other words, we learn to behave in particular ways. Skinner, a strict behaviorist, believed that environment was solely responsible for all behavior, including the enduring, consistent behavior patterns studied by personality theorists.Īs you may recall from your study on the psychology of learning, Skinner proposed that we demonstrate consistent behavior patterns because we have developed certain response tendencies (Skinner, 1953). In other words, people behave in a consistent manner based on prior learning. Instead, they view personality as significantly shaped by the reinforcements and consequences outside of the organism.
The Behavioral Perspectiveīehaviorists do not believe in biological determinism: They do not see personality traits as inborn. This illustrates one significant advantage of the learning approaches over psychodynamics: Because learning approaches involve observable, measurable phenomena, they can be scientifically tested. In contrast to the psychodynamic approaches of Freud and the neo-Freudians, which relate personality to inner (and hidden) processes, the learning approaches focus only on observable behavior.
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