Social Cognitive Theory
In conceptualizations presented in social cognitive theory (SCT), humans are not passive objects shaped and shepherded by contingent consequences of an environment. People are agentic; they proactively make their way through the intricacies and dualities of life. To attain desired outcomes, people make judgments about the interplay among environment, personal factors, and consequences of their behavior. SCT conceptualizes these cognitive appraisals in terms of triadic, reciprocal, and asymmetric influences among the environment, person, and behavior. The belief system formed by the model’s cognitive dynamics is shaped by one’s current working conception of the world. This belief system guides behavior adaptively toward desirable pursuits and away from undesirable consequences. As people set goals, devise accordant courses of action, and anticipate outcomes, they act on this thread of beliefs. People operate on the environment, they monitor and analyze their actions, reflect on the consequences, and react to course-correct. These behaviors rely on self-awareness, self-reflection, and adaptive self-regulation. To explain and predict the fluent vagaries of social life, nuanced conceptions of interactive factors are conferred by SCT in the triadic model. A transformative contributor to adaptive self-regulation in SCT is perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a malleable belief formed by personal appraisal of how well a person can execute courses of action required to deal successfully with a given prospect. Self-efficacy does not signify people believe they can walk on water; it simply implies they believe they can enact the potential they already have. Even when people have acquired the knowledge and ability to succeed, cherished outcomes are forsaken if they harbor doubt in their capacity to self-regulate.