Showing papers by "Albert Bandura published in 1979"
01 Jan 1979
151 citations
77 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors restate the view I presented in the article under discussion on the interrelationship of research and practice, and argue that significant progress in the understanding and development of effective psychological procedures requires a threefold program of research, at the most basic level, investigations are needed into the mechanisms of change.
Abstract: Woolfolk and Lazarus (1979) express concern that my comments on the recycling of the disease ideology may widen the chasm between laboratory research and clinical practice. Since this concern reflects a misreading of my position, let me restate the view I presented in the article under discussion on the interrelationship of research and practice. Significant progress in the understanding and development of effective psychological procedures requires a threefold program of research (Bandura, 1978). At the most basic level, investigations are needed into the mechanisms of change. The research paradigms selected for this purpose must minimize confounding of the processes and effects of treatment conditions by uncontrolled sources of influence. Treatments that operate via nonenactive modes (e.g., modeling, symbolic desensitization, cognitive restructuring, verbal persuasion) can be investigated most informatively only with dysfunctions ensuring low likelihood that participants will be creating performance-based experiences on their own through repeated encounters with the threats between sessions. The processes through which enactive modes operate can be similarly confounded by changes resulting from vicarious and instructional influences arising in extratherapeutic encounters with the threats. To use an analogy, one cannot determine accurately the effects of salt intake on level of blood pressure if, at the time of the experiment, subjects are making frequent side trips on their own to McDonald's. At the second level of research, prototypic procedures must be devised and component analyses conducted to determine whether the constituent factors are necessary, facilitative, irrelevant, or serve as impediments to the achieved outcomes. The third level of research requires applications of multiform procedures designed to maximize human benefits. Here, the aim is to identify the optimal combination of proven methods to achieve
6 citations