Showing papers by "Albert Bandura published in 1977"

Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.

Abstract: The present article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from four principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. The more dependable the experiential sources, the greater are the changes in perceived selfefficacy. A number of factors are identified as influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arising from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. Possible directions for further research are discussed.

Social learning theory

Abstract: Una exploracion de los avances contemporaneos en la teoria del aprendizaje social, con especial enfasis en los importantes roles que cumplen los procesos cognitivos, indirectos, y autoregulatorios.

Self-efficacy : Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change

Abstract: The present article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from four principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. The more dependable the experiential sources, the greater are the changes in perceived selfefficacy. A number of factors are identified as influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arising from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. Possible directions for further research are discussed.

Analysis of self-efficacy theory of behavioral change

Abstract: This article reports the findings of two experimental tests of self-efficacy theory of behavioral change. The first study investigated the hypothesis that systematic desensitization effects changes in avoidance behavior by creating and strengthening expectations of personal efficacy. Thorough extinction of anxiety arousal to visualized threats by desensitization treatment produced differential increases in self-efficacy. In accord with prediction, microanalysis of congruence between self-efficacy and performance showed self-efficacy to be a highly accurate predictor of degree of behavioral change following complete desensitization. The findings also lend support to the view that perceived self-efficacy mediates anxiety arousal. The second experiment investigated the process of efficacy and behavioral change during the course of treatment by participant modeling. Self-efficacy proved to be a superior predictor of amount of behavioral improvement phobics gained from partial mastery of threats at different phases of treatment.

Cognitive processes mediating behavioral change.

Abstract: The present experiment was designed to test the theory that psychological procedures achieve changes in behavior by altering the level and strength of self-efficacy. In this formulation, perceived self-efficacy. In this formulation, perceived self-efficacy influences level of performance by enhancing intensity and persistence of effort. Adult phobics were administered treatments based upon either performance mastery experiences, vicarious experiences., or they received no treatment. Their efficacy expectations and approach behavior toward threats differing on a similarity dimension were measured before and after treatment. In accord with our prediction, the mastery-based treatment produced higher, stronger, and more generalized expectations of personal efficacy than did the treatment relying solely upon vicarious experiences. Results of a microanalysis further confirm the hypothesized relationship between self-efficacy and behavioral change. Self-efficacy was a uniformly accurate predictor of performance on tasks of varying difficulty with different threats regardless of whether the changes in self-efficacy were produced through enactive mastery or by vicarious experience alone.

The role of proximal intentions in self-regulation of refractory behavior

Abstract: The present experiment tested the hypothesis that self-regulation of refractory behavior varies as a function of goal proximity. Obese subjects were assigned to conditions in which they either monitored their eating behavior, monitored their eating behavior and set subgoals for reducing the amount of food consumed, or received no treatment. Within the goal-setting conditions, subjects adopted either distal goals defined in terms of weekly goal limits or proximal goals specifying the goal limits for each of four time periods during each day. Goal setting enhanced self-directed change as measured by reductions in both eating behavior and weight. The higher the goal attainments, the greater were the losses in weight. Proximal and distal goal setting yielded comparable overall results because the majority of subjects assigned remote goals altered this condition by adopting proximal goals to augment control over their own behavior. Within the distal goal-setting condition, the adherents to distal goals achieved relatively small changes, whereas those who improvised proximal subgoals for themselves attained substantial reductions on the multifaceted measures of self-directed change. The combined evidence lends support to the motivational and regulative functions of proximal intentions and highlights the reciprocal influence processes that operate in self-directed change.