Albert Bandura

Bio: Albert Bandura is an academic researcher from Stanford University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Social cognitive theory & Social cognition. The author has an hindex of 148, co-authored 255 publications receiving 276143 citations. Previous affiliations of Albert Bandura include American Psychological Association & Sapienza University of Rome.

The Structure of Children's Perceived Self-Efficacy: A Cross-National Study

Abstract: Summary: The present study investigated the replicability of the factor structure of the Children’s Perceived Self-Efficacy scales (CPSE; Bandura, 1990) in Italy, Hungary, and Poland. The findings of this cross-national study support the generalizability of the factor structure of children’s social and academic efficacy. Perceived efficacy to resist peer pressure to engage transgressive conduct had a somewhat different factor structure for Hungarian children. Gender and national differences in the pattern of efficacy beliefs underscore the value of treating perceived self-efficacy as a multifaceted attribute. There were no overall gender differences in perceived social efficacy, but girls in all three societies have a higher sense of efficacy for academic activities and to resist peer pressure for transgressive activities. Italian children judge themselves more academically efficacious than do Hungarian children and more socially efficacious than their counterparts in both of the other two countries. An analysis of the facets of academic efficacy revealed that Hungarian children have a high sense of efficacy to master academic subjects but a lower efficacy than their Italian and Polish counterparts to take charge of their own learning. Polish children surpassed their counterparts in academic self-regulatory efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy concerns people’s beliefs in their capabilities to produce given attainments. This construct was developed by Bandura (1977) within a social-cognitive theory of human functioning. According to this perspective, sense of personal efficacy is a key factor in the exercise of human agency within a causal structure involving triadic reciprocal causation between the person, the environment, and behavior (Bandura, 1986). People

Care Management for Low-Risk Patients with Heart Failure: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

Abstract: Background Nurse care management programs for patients with chronic illness have been shown to be safe and effective. Objective To determine whether a telephone-mediated nurse care management program for heart failure reduced the rate of rehospitalization for heart failure and for all causes over a 1-year period. Design Randomized, controlled trial of usual care with nurse management versus usual care alone in patients hospitalized for heart failure from May 1998 through October 2001. Setting 5 northern California hospitals in a large health maintenance organization. Patients Of 2786 patients screened, 462 met clinical criteria for heart failure and were randomly assigned (228 to intervention and 234 to usual care). Intervention Nurse care management provided structured telephone surveillance and treatment for heart failure and coordination of patients' care with primary care physicians. Measurements Time to first rehospitalization for heart failure or for any cause and time to a combined end point of first rehospitalization, emergency department visit, or death. Results At 1 year, half of the patients had been rehospitalized at least once and 11% had died. Only one third of rehospitalizations were for heart failure. The rate of first rehospitalization for heart failure was similar in both groups (proportional hazard, 0.85 [95% CI, 0.46 to 1.57]). The rate of all-cause rehospitalization was similar (proportional hazard, 0.98 [CI, 0.76 to 1.27]). Limitations The findings of this study, conducted in a single health care system, may not be generalizable to other health care systems. The overall effect of the intervention was minor. Conclusions Among patients with heart failure at low risk on the basis of sociodemographic and medical attributes, nurse care management did not statistically significantly reduce rehospitalizations for heart failure or for any cause. Such programs may be less effective for patients at low risk than those at high risk.

The Role of Moral Disengagement in the Execution Process

Abstract: The present study tested the proposition that disengagement of moral self-sanctions enables prison personnel to carry out the death penalty Three subgroups of personnel in penitentiaries located in three Southern states were assessed in terms of eight mechanisms of moral disengagement The personnel included the execution teams that carry out the executions; the support teams that provide solace and emotional support to the families of the victims and the condemned inmate; and prison guards who have no involvement in the execution process The executioners exhibited the highest level of moral, social, and economic justifications, disavowal of personal responsibility, and dehumanization The support teams that provide the more humane services disavowed moral disengagement, as did the noninvolved guards but to a lesser degree than the support teams

Observational learning as a function of symbolization and incentive set.

Abstract: This study investigated the effects of symbolization on delayed reproduction of modeling stimuli in a test of the contiguity-mediational theory of observational learning. During exposure to the behavior of a film-mediated model, 1 group of children engaged in concurrent verbalization, a second group observed passively, while a third group engaged in competing symbolization. Half of the children in each of the treatment conditions observed the model's behavior under a positive incentive set; the remaining Ss were provided no incentive to learn the model's responses. Ss who generated verbal equivalents of the modeling stimuli during exposure subsequently reproduced more matching responses than the passive viewers, who, in turn, showed a higher level of acquisition than children in the competing symbolization treatment. Observational learning, however, was not influenced by incentive set.

Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology

Abstract: Valid measurement scales for predicting user acceptance of computers are in short supply. Most subjective measures used in practice are unvalidated, and their relationship to system usage is unknown. The present research develops and validates new scales for two specific variables, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which are hypothesized to be fundamental determinants of user acceptance. Definitions of these two variables were used to develop scale items that were pretested for content validity and then tested for reliability and construct validity in two studies involving a total of 152 users and four application programs. The measures were refined and streamlined, resulting in two six-item scales with reliabilities of .98 for usefulness and .94 for ease of use. The scales exhibited hgih convergent, discriminant, and factorial validity. Perceived usefulness was significnatly correlated with both self-reported current usage r = .63, Study 1) and self-predicted future usage r = .85, Study 2). Perceived ease of use was also significantly correlated with current usage r = .45, Study 1) and future usage r = .59, Study 2). In both studies, usefulness had a signficnatly greater correaltion with usage behavior than did ease of use. Regression analyses suggest that perceived ease of use may actually be a causal antecdent to perceived usefulness, as opposed to a parallel, direct determinant of system usage. Implications are drawn for future research on user acceptance.

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.

Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.

Abstract: Human beings can be proactive and engaged or, alternatively, passive and alienated, largely as a function of the social conditions in which they develop and function. Accordingly, research guided by self-determination theo~ has focused on the social-contextual conditions that facilitate versus forestall the natural processes of self-motivation and healthy psychological development. Specifically, factors have been examined that enhance versus undermine intrinsic motivation, self-regulation, and well-being. The findings have led to the postulate of three innate psychological needs--competence, autonomy, and relatednesswhich when satisfied yield enhanced self-motivation and mental health and when thwarted lead to diminished motivation and well-being. Also considered is the significance of these psychological needs and processes within domains such as health care, education, work, sport, religion, and psychotherapy. T he fullest representations of humanity show people to be curious, vital, and self-motivated. At their best, they are agentic and inspired, striving to learn; extend themselves; master new skills; and apply their talents responsibly. That most people show considerable effort, agency, and commitment in their lives appears, in fact, to be more normative than exceptional, suggesting some very positive and persistent features of human nature. Yet, it is also clear that the human spirit can be diminished or crushed and that individuals sometimes reject growth and responsibility. Regardless of social strata or cultural origin, examples of both children and adults who are apathetic, alienated, and irresponsible are abundant. Such non-optimal human functioning can be observed not only in our psychological clinics but also among the millions who, for hours a day, sit passively before their televisions, stare blankly from the back of their classrooms, or wait listlessly for the weekend as they go about their jobs. The persistent, proactive, and positive tendencies of human nature are clearly not invariantly apparent. The fact that human nature, phenotypically expressed, can be either active or passive, constructive or indolent, suggests more than mere dispositional differences and is a function of more than just biological endowments. It also bespeaks a wide range of reactions to social environments that is worthy of our most intense scientific investigation. Specifically, social contexts catalyze both within- and between-person differences in motivation and personal growth, resulting in people being more self-motivated, energized, and integrated in some situations, domains, and cultures than in others. Research on the conditions that foster versus undermine positive human potentials has both theoretical import and practical significance because it can contribute not only to formal knowledge of the causes of human behavior but also to the design of social environments that optimize people's development, performance, and well-being. Research guided by self-determination theory (SDT) has had an ongoing concern with precisely these