Mylene Joyce G.
Navarro Integrated Course on Personality (6456)
BS-PSYCH 4 T/Th 3:00-4:30PM
Biography of Albert Bandura
Albert Bandura (born December 4, 1925, Mundare, Alberta, Canada—died July 26, 2021,
Stanford, California, U.S.)
Canadian-born American psychologist and founder of social cognitive theory best known
for his modeling study on aggression, dubbed the "Bobo doll" experiment, which
demonstrated that children can learn behaviors by observing adults.
Bandura was the youngest of six children born to East European parents.
His father was born in Krakó w, Poland, and his mother was born in Ukraine; both
immigrated to Canada as teenagers.
They married and moved to Mundare, Alberta, where Bandura's father worked as a
tracklayer for the trans-Canada railroad.
Bandura attended the University of British Columbia for a bachelor's degree after finishing
high school in 1946.
In 1949, he received the psychology Bolocan Award, which is given each year to the finest
student in the field.
Later, he pursued graduate studies at the University of Iowa, where he earned a clinical
psychology doctorate and a master's in psychology in 1951. (1952).
Bandura agreed to a one-year instructorship at Stanford University in 1953, and he soon
attained a professorship there.
He was appointed the David Starr Jordan Professor of Social Science in Psychology in 1974,
and two years later he was made the department's chairman.
He persisted at Stanford, where in 2010 he was appointed professor emeritus.
Key terms
Observational learning allows people to learn without performing a behavior.
Observational learning requires (1) attention to a model, (2) organization and retention
of observations, (3) behavioral production, and (4) motivation to perform the
modeled behavior.
Enactive learning takes place when our responses produce consequences.
Human functioning is a product of the mutual interaction of environmental events,
behavior, and personal factors, a model called triadic reciprocal causation.
Chance encounters and fortuitous events are two important environmental factors that
influence people’s lives in unplanned and unexpected ways.
Human agency means that people can and do exercise a measure of control over their lives.
Self-efficacy refers to people’s belief that they are capable of performing those behaviors
that can produce desired outcomes in a particular situation.
Proxy agency occurs when people have the capacity to rely on others for goods and
services.
Collective efficacy refers to the confidence that groups of people have that their combined
efforts will produce social change.
People have some capacity for self-regulation, and they use both external and internal
factors to self-regulate.
External factors provide us with standards for evaluating our behavior as well as external
reinforcement in the form of rewards received from others.
Internal factors in self-regulation include (1) self-observation, (2) judgmental processes,
and (3) self-reaction.
Through selective activation and disengagement of internal control, people can
separate themselves from the injurious consequences of their actions.
Four principal techniques of selective activation and disengagement of internal control are
(1) redefining behavior, (2) displacing or diffusing responsibility, (3) disregarding or
distorting the consequences of behavior, and (4) dehumanizing or blaming the victims for
their injuries.
Dysfunctional behaviors, such as depression, phobias, and aggression, are acquired
through the reciprocal interaction of environment, personal factors, and behavior.
Social cognitive therapy emphasizes cognitive mediation, especially perceived self-
efficacy.
References:
Nolen, J. L. (2023, February 11). Albert Bandura. Encyclopedia Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Bandura
Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2008). Theories of Personality (7th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
