SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY AND TRIADIC RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM

SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY AND TRIADIC RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM

In the 1960s, Albert Bandura started the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) as the Social Learning Theory (SLT). In 1986, the theory developed into the SCT. It theorized that learning is being carried out in a social context with a reciprocal and dynamic interaction of the environment, the person, and the behavior. The fact that it emphasizes on social influence and the internal and external reinforcement is one thing that made SCT unique. It uses the Unique way in which people achieve and maintain a specific behavior, while at the same time considering the social environment where such behavior is carried out by the individual. The theory also takes note of individuals' past experiences, which is also a contributing factor to if a behavioral action will happen.

These past experiences influence expectations, reinforcements, and also the expectancies, all of which determine if an individual will engage in a particular behavior and the reasons why the person will engage in such behavior.

A lot of theories of behavior that have been used in health promotion fail to consider the maintenance of behavior, instead, they focus on initiating the behavior. This is as bad as maintain the behavior and not just initiating them, which is the main aim of public health. The purpose and goal of SCT are to explain as to how people's behaviors are regulated through the control and reinforcement to achieve a goal-directed behavior that can be kept or maintained over time. In the development of SLT, the following constructs were put into place as part of SLT: the construct of self-efficacy was added when the theory evolved into SCT. 1.

Reciprocal Determinism - When it comes to the concept of SCT, this is central. It refers to the reciprocal and dynamic interaction of an environment, a person the behavior.

2.

Behavioral Capability - Behavioral capability refers to a person's ability to perform a behavior using the required skills and knowledge. To perform a behavior successfully, the individual must know what to do and as well know how to do it. Most times, people learn from the consequences of their behaviors, which also has its effect on the environment they live in.

3.

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 a successful demonstration of behavior, they can also complete the behavior successfully.

4.

Reinforcements - Reinforcement is the external or the internal response to the behavior of a person that has the chance of affecting the likelihood

of wither continuing or otherwise the behavior. The reinforcement can be selfinitiated or in the environment; the reinforcement can either be positive or negative. This is the construct of SCT that, in most cases, ties to the reciprocal relationship between behavior and environment.

5.

Expectations – expectations refer to the expected consequences of the behavior of an individual. Outcome expectations can be health-related or otherwise. Most people anticipated the consequences of their actions before they take part in the behavior, and these expected consequences can have its influence on the completion of a behavior. Expectations can more from their past experiences. While on the other hand, the expectant gain from the previous experience, the expectancies, then focuses on the value that has been directed on the value that is placed on the outcome and is dependent on the individual.

6.

Self-efficacy – Self-efficacy is a person's level of confidence in their ability to perform a behavior successfully. To SCT, self-efficacy is unique even though other theories have added these constructs to future dates; for Example, the Theory of Planned Behavior. An individual's specific capabilities influence selfefficacy as well as other individual factors and environmental factors.

What Is Reciprocal Determinism?

As indicated by psychologist Albert Bandura, reciprocal determinism is a model made out of three factors that impact behavior: the environment, the individual, and the behavior itself. As per this theory, a person's behavior impacts and is affected by both the social world and individual qualities.

This model recommends that these three components interact with one another constantly. Similarly, as the environment applies an influence on a person's behavior, an individual's actions likewise have an impact on affecting the environment.

Earlier thought often portrayed children as simply passive recipients of environmental influences, which suggested that they could be shaped and molded in whatever way that parents, educators, and other caregivers chose.

Reciprocal determinism instead recommended that children play a significantly more dynamic and intuitive role. They don't just respond because of learned associations or reinforcements - their very own attributes, thoughts, sentiments, and behaviors influence how they associate with the world.

Behavior Component Reciprocal determinism is the idea that behavior is controlled or dictated by the person, through cognitive procedures, and by the environment, through outside social stimulus events. So on account of some troubled students, his aversion of school is being reinforced (and maybe amplified) by the activities of his teachers and classmates, which he's perpetuating by continuing to act out.

For Instance: A child who dislikes going to school may decide to act out in class, which in turn results in negative attention from teachers and classmates. The teachers are then pushed to alter the environment of the school from this particular child, and in most cases, others like him.

Environmental Component The environmental segment is comprised of the physical environmental factors around the person that contain conceivably reinforcing stimulus, including individuals who are present or absent). The environment impacts the intensity and recurrence of the behavior, similarly as the behavior itself can affect the environment.

For Instance: if a student who talks in the class gets yelled out by a teacher, it affects such students in the classroom environment and other students as well as the teacher.

So if our student gets yelled at by a teacher for talking in class, it not only has an effect on him but the classroom environment for the rest of the students, not to mention the teacher.

Individual Component The individual components incorporate all the attributes that have been stated previously. Character and cognitive variables have a significant influence on how an individual behaves, including the entirety of the person's desires, convictions, and unique personal attributes. If the student figures out that a teacher will provide him with what he needs if he decided to stay till the end of school without acting out, that can tailor his behaviors.

For Example: all the factors visible in a troubled student affects each other.

The child dislikes the school; he decides to act out; his classmates and teachers react to such behaviors, which reinforces his hatred of school and creating a kind

of hostile environment. The behavior itself is something that may or may not be reinforced at any given time or situation.

Another Example Mind you; it doesn't always have to be a negative situation. If a student is shy and loves keeping to herself, then enters a classroom for the first time only to find out that all the students are presents she might try to quietly slip to the back of the class to avoid eyes and not to be a center of attraction.

If eventually, another student sitting at the front roll of the classroom invites her to sit at the adjacent seat, the environment introduces a different kind of friendly stimulus that leads to a change in the normal routine of the shy girl and then changes her behavior likewise.

Limitation of Social Cognitive Theory The SCT has a lot of constraints that ought to be placed into consideration when making use of this theory in public health. Some of the limitations include: • The theory is loosely organized, in light of the dynamic interaction between individual, behavior, and environment. It is unclear the degree to which every one of these components into genuine behavior and if one is more compelling than another.

• The theory intensely centers around procedures of learning and, in doing so, dismisses organic and hormonal inclinations that may impact behaviors, paying little mind to past experiences and desires.

• The theory expects that adjustments in the environment will naturally prompt changes in the individual, when this may not generally be true.

• The theory can be vast, so it can be hard to operationalize in total.

• The theory doesn't concentrate on feeling or inspiration, other than through reference to experience. There is negligible consideration on these components.

Social Cognitive Theory considers numerous degrees of the social-ecological model in addressing the behavioral change of people. SCT has been broadly utilized in health promotion, given the emphasis placed on the person and the environment, the latter of which has become a significant point of focus in recent years for health promotion activities. Likewise, with different theories, the

applicability of the considerable number of constructs of SCT to one public health issue might be difficult, particularly in creating centered public health programs.

CONCLUSION Bandura's theory spoke to a significant shift from the behavioral viewpoint to an increasingly social-cognitive way to deal with understanding behavior. While the behaviorists recommended that it was the environment that, for the most part, shaped individual behavior, Bandura recognized the significance of the bidirectional connection between people, their behaviors, and the environment.

This suggests while individuals are unquestionably influenced by the things they face with their environment, they additionally can apply a change to their circumstances and conditions through their own decisions and behaviors.