By: Lisa Thomas and Jenny Johnson
Biographical Information
• Born in 1925 in Alberta, Canada
• Grew up in a small town
• Attended the U. of British Colombia
• Enrolled in an Gen. Psych. Course by
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•
•
•
•
chance
Majored in Psychology and graduated
in 1949
Went to graduate school at U. of Iowa
and graduated in 1952
In 1953 he taught at Stanford and
wrote his first book Adolescent
Aggression with Richard Walters
In 1974 he was elected President of the
American Psychological Association
Retired from teaching March 15th
2010.
• Social Cognitive Theory provides a large body of verified
knowledge about the determinants and psychological
mechanisms governing observational learning of behavioral and
social competencies, cognitive skills, and emotional
propensities. (Bandura, Self-Efficacy)
•“Observational Learning”
• Bandura believes that we learn a great deal through imitation by
observing models and mentally coding what we see.
Bandura vs. Skinner
Bandura
 Bandura argues that in social
situations we often learn
much more rapidly simply
through observing behavior
of others—more immediate
Skinner
 In Skinner’s theory, learning
appears to be a gradual
process in which organisms
must act to learn—behavior
shaped overtime by
consequences
“Learning would be exceedingly
laborious, not to mention hazardous,
if people had to rely solely on the
effects of their own action to inform
them what to do.”—Bandura, 1977
Behaviors
Environment
Cognitions
Attentional Processes: what is selectively observed in the profusion of modeling
influences and what information is extracted from ongoing modeled events
Retention Processes: an active process of transforming and restructuring
information about events for memory representation in the form of rules and
conceptions
Production Processes: conceptions are translated to appropriate courses of
action—when deficits exist, the sub-skills required for complex performances
must 1st be developed by modeling and guided enactment
Motivation Processes: social cognitive theory distinguishes between acquisition
and performance because people do not perform everything they learn—people
are more likely to exhibit modeled behavior if it results in valued outcomes than
if it has unrewarding or punishing effects (Bandura, Self-Efficacy)
Bobo Doll Experiment
Bandura wanted to prove
that behavior such as
aggression is learned
through observing and
imitating others
People who view
aggression in society
(consciously or
unconsciously) think
that the behavior is
acceptable for them to
imitate
Observation
 Group A: Watched an adult
hitting doll with a mallet
 Group B: Watched an adult
play nicely with the doll
Results
 Group A: In playroom,
children battered the doll
with mallet
 Group B: In playroom,
children played nicely with
doll
“Beliefs in one’s capabilities to organize and
execute the courses of action required to
produce given attainments”
—Bandura , Self-Efficacy
•Plays
a major role in how one approaches goals, tasks, and
challenges
•Center of Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory
The Difference Between
Self-Efficacy & Self-Esteem
__________________________________________________
Often used interchangeably as though they
represent the same phenomenon, when in fact
they refer to entirely different things.
 Self-Efficacy: concerned with judgments of personal
capabilities

Example: “I’m going to make this free-throw shot.”
 Self-Esteem: concerned with judgment of self-worth
 Example: “I’m a terrible person.”
“There is no fixed relationship between beliefs about
one’s capabilities and whether one likes or dislikes
oneself.” (Bandura, Self-Efficacy)
Sources of Self-Efficacy Appraisals
Actual Performance: efficacy perceived through
performance experiences. Success builds a strong belief in
one’s personal efficacy, and failure undermines it.

Bandura believes this to be the most influential source of
knowledge
2. Vicarious Experiences: appraising one’s capabilities in
relation to the attainment of others
3. Verbal Persuasion: easier to sustain a sense of efficacy,
especially when struggling with difficulties, if significant
others express faith in one’s capabilities than if they convey
doubts
4. Psychological Cues: In judging their capabilities, people
rely partly on somatic information conveyed by
physiological and emotional states.
(Bandura, Self-Efficacy)
1.
Is verbal persuasion or a child’s actual performance the most
influential source of a child’s self-efficacy appraisal? If verbal
persuasion is most effective, does it matter whether it is positive
or negative in regard to the effect it has on the child’s recorded
running time? To what degree do vicarious experiences affect
the child’s self-efficacy appraisal.
Hypothesis
 Since society today focuses primarily on
encouraging students through verbal
persuasion, this study will attempt to
disprove Bandura’s conclusion about actual
performance as the most effective source by
proving verbal persuasion, negative or
positive, to be the most influential source.
•17 kids (9 boys and 8 girls)
•Age range: 6-17 years old
We divided the kids into 4 groups: actual performance,
vicarious experience, negative verbal persuasion, and
positive verbal persuasion—leaving out psychological cues.
2. Each child observed the measured distance of about 100
feet and predicted how long it would take he or she to run it.
3. After implementing the different sources of self-efficacy
appraisal in each group and we then asked for a second
prediction from the child.
4. Then depending on the group, after the child ran, he or she
gave a third prediction
1.
Actual Performance Group
Name
Age
1st
Prediction
1st Run
2nd
Prediction
2nd Run
Joseph
11 years
15 seconds
9 seconds
9 seconds
9 seconds
Grace
9 years
45 seconds
14 seconds
20 seconds
15 seconds
Ryan
9 years
10 seconds
10 seconds
10 seconds
10 seconds
James
16 years
13 seconds
9 seconds
7 seconds
8 seconds
Actual Performance
Vicarious Experience Group
Name
A
g
e
1st Prediction Revised
1st Run
prediction
3rd
Prediction
2nd Run
Mariella
6
20 sec.
12 sec.
11 sec.
12 sec.
12 sec.
Will
6
15 sec.
10 sec.
12 sec.
12 sec.
11 sec.
Michaela 7
20 sec.
12 sec.
12 sec.
12 sec.
12 sec.
Kieran
9
20 sec.
12 sec.
11 sec.
11 sec.
11 sec.
Beth
8
10 sec.
10 sec.
13 sec.
12 sec.
12 sec.
Vicarious Experience
Verbal Persuasion (Positive) Group
Name
A 1st Prediction
g
e
Revised
Prediction
1st Run
3rd Prediction
2nd Run
Lochlan
7
60 sec.
40 sec.
11 sec.
10 sec.
12 sec.
Martin
6
13 sec.
10 sec.
13 sec.
1o sec.
13 sec.
Erin
12 11 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
Claire
17 12 sec.
10 sec.
8 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
Verbal Persuasion-Positive
Verbal Persuasion (Negative) Group
Name
A
g
e
1st Prediction Revised
Prediction
1st Run
3rd
Prediction
2nd Run
Rose
Mary
7
10 sec.
13 sec.
10 sec.
10 sec.
11 sec.
Rachel
10 10 sec.
10 sec.
10 sec.
10 sec.
11 sec.
Brandon
11
10 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
Jeff
12 8 sec.
8 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
9 sec.
10 sec.
Verbal Persuasion-Negative
Which has the most Influence?
1st
Prediction
2nd
Prediction
Difference
Actual
Performance
21 seconds
12 seconds
9 seconds
Vicarious
Experience
17 seconds
11 seconds
6 seconds
Verbal
PersuasionPositive
24 seconds
17 seconds
7 seconds
Verbal
PersuasionNegative
10 seconds
10 seconds
0 seconds
Comparing
st
1
Runs
Influences of
Self- Efficacy
1st Runs
Actual Performance
11 seconds
Vicarious Experience
12 seconds
Verbal Persuasion- Positive
10 seconds
Verbal Persuasion- Negative
10 seconds
Told ya so!
Our Conclusion:
Bandura
was Right!
Our Conclusion
 Through our testing we found our hypothesis to be
INCORRECT:
 Like Bandura, our test results proved actual
performance to be the most influential source of selfefficacy appraisal
 Negative and positive verbal persuasion had the same
effect on the child’s running time
 Vicarious experience was the 3rd most influential source
of self-efficacy appraisal.
•Not have parents present
•Do it in a even more controlled
setting
•Focus more on gender and age
•Make sure that the kids are not
sharing scores between groups
•Include “Physiological Cues”
Does gender
matter when using
different sources
of self-efficacy
appraisal?
How does age affect
the child’s selfefficacy appraisals?
Further Questions
Bandura
Nature
Nurture
Locke
Piaget
Rousseau
It’s appealing to imagine children making their own discoveries and
creating their own ideas. In reality, however, children’s minds are
structured by the environment, by the models and the social training
practices the environment provides (Bandura, 1977)
Thank
you for
your
time!
Hope you
have a
Happy
Easter!