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Journal ArticleDOI

Pornography and Sexual Aggression.

01 Jul 1986-Contemporary Sociology (Academic Press)-Vol. 15, Iss: 4, pp 572
About: This article is published in Contemporary Sociology.The article was published on 1986-07-01. It has received 262 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Pornography.
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01 Jan 2002
TL;DR: Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported.
Abstract: Social cognitive theory provides an agentic conceptual framework within which to analyze the determinants and psychosocial mechanisms through which symbolic communication influences human thought, affect and action. Communications systems operate through two pathways. In the direct pathway, they promote changes by informing, enabling, motivating, and guiding participants. In the socially mediated pathway, media influences link participants to social networks and community settings that provide natural incentives and continued personalized guidance, for desired change. Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported. Structural interconnectedness provides potential diffusion paths; sociocognitive factors largely determine what diffuses through those paths.

2,904 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Social cognitive theory provides an agentic conceptual framework within which to analyze the determinants and psychosocial mechanisms through which symbolic communication influences human thought, affect and action. Communications systems operate through two pathways. In the direct pathway, they promote changes by informing, enabling, motivating, and guiding participants. In the socially mediated pathway, media influences link participants to social networks and community settings that provide natural incentives and continued personalized guidance, for desired change. Social cognitive theory analyzes social diffusion of new styles of behavior in terms of the psychosocial factors governing their acquisition and adoption and the social networks through which they spread and are supported. Structural interconnectedness provides potential diffusion paths; sociocognitive factors largely determine what diffuses through those paths.

2,560 citations

DOI
02 Jan 2014
TL;DR: A comprehensive theory of morality must explain how moral reasoning, in conjunction with other psychosocial factors, governs moral conduct as mentioned in this paper, which is a process in which multidimensional rules or standards are used to judge moral conduct.
Abstract: A comprehensive theory of morality must explain how moral reasoning, in conjunction with other psychosocial factors, governs moral conduct. Social cog­ nitive theory adopts a cognitive interactionist perspective to moral phenomena. Within this conceptual framework, personal factors in the form of moral thought and affective self-reactions, moral conduct, and environmental factors all operate as interacting determinants that influence each other bidirectionally. Moral think­ ing is a process in which multidimensional rules or standards are used to judge conduct. Situations with moral implications contain many decisional ingredients that may be given lesser or greater weight depending upon the standards by which they are cognitively processed and the particular constellations of events in given moral predicaments. There are some culturally universal features to the developmental changes of standards of conduct and the locus of moral agency. These commonalities arise from basic uniformities in the types of biopsycho­ social changes that occur with increasing age in all cultures. A theory of morality requires a broader conception than is provided by rationalistic approaches cast in terms of skill in abstract reasoning. Moral conduct is motivated and regulated mainly by the ongoing exercise of self-reactive influence. Self-regulatory mecha­ nisms, therefore, form an integral part in the conception of moral agency in social cognitive theory. Development of self-regulatory capabilities does not create an invariant control mechanism within a person. Self-reactive influences do not operate unless they are activated, and there are many psychosocial pro­ cesses by which self-sanctions can be selectively activated and disengaged from transgressive conduct. Mechanisms of moral disengagement also play a central role in the social cognitive theory of morality.

1,252 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There are different psychological mechanisms by which moral control can be selectively activated or disengaged from inhumane conduct as discussed by the authors, such as reconstruing detrimental conduct through moral justification, euphemistic labeling, and advantageous contrast with other inhumanities, obscuring personal agency in detrimental activities through diffusion and displacement of responsibility, disregarding or misrepresenting the harmful consequences of inhumane behaviour, and blaming and dehumanizing the victims.
Abstract: Moral conduct is motivated and regulated mainly by the ongoing exercise of self-reactive influence. But self-regulatory mechanisms do not operate unless they are activated, and there are different psychological mechanisms by which moral control can be selectively activated or disengaged from inhumane conduct. Self-sanctions can be disengaged by reconstruing detrimental conduct through moral justification, euphemistic labeling, and advantageous contrast with other inhumanities; by obscuring personal agency in detrimental activities through diffusion and displacement of responsibility; by disregarding or misrepresenting the harmful consequences of inhumane conduct; and by blaming and dehumanizing the victims. These mechanisms of moral disengagement operate not only in the perpetration of inhumanities under extraordinary circumstances, but in everyday situations where people routinely perform activities that bring personal benefits at injurious costs to others. Given the many psychological devices for disengagement of moral control, societies cannot rely solely on individuals, however honorable their standards, to provide safeguards against inhumanities. To function humanely, societies must establish effective social safeguards against moral disengagement practices that foster exploitive and destructive conduct.

509 citations