Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory

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Jacky Chen Psychology 1 Instructor: Professor Amanda Reflective Journal 1 9/26/2010 Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory Bandura’s social cognitive theory is a learning theory based on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality. While social cognitists agree that there is a fair amount of influence on development generated by learned behavior displayed in the environment in which one grows up, they believe that the individual person (and therefore cognition) is just as important in determining moral development .People learn by observing others, with the environment, behavior, and cognition all as the chief factors in influencing development. These three factors are not static or independent; rather, they are all reciprocal. According to social learning theory, modeling influences learning primarily through its informative functions. Observers retain a symbolic representation of the modeled behavior, which then serves as a blueprint for the behavior. Observational learning incorporates four components: attention, retention, motor, and motivational processes that help to understand why individuals imitate socially desirable behavior. When I relate this theory to myself, I realized that so many behaviors which are bothering me now are most affected by my father. He was a really root people when I was little child. He always abused my mother, even me and my brother, when he was not happy for something. In my memories, he didn’t teach me anything, include knowledge, skills, and even games, except his yelling, vituperation and violence. All of these made me very quiet, very sensitive, and more self-center. I felt unsafe and be ready to protect myself all the time. When I grew up till I was eighteen, I left home right away. When I was breathing the air that is full of freedom, I

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