What is the Social Cognitive Theory?

The social cognitive theory is a theory that was discovered by Ukrainian-Canadian psychologist and professor, Albert Bandura. The theory grew from the social learning theory. The social cognitive theory explains human thought and actions as a process of triadic reciprocal causation. In addition, the social cognitive theory stresses four distinctively human traits.

Psychologist Albert Bandura, who discovered the theory in the 1960s, while teaching at Stanford University, defined his theory, saying, “Social cognitive theory embraces an international form of causation in which environmental events, personal factors, and behavior all operate as interacting determinants of each other.”

The social cognitive theory explains human thought and actions as a process of triadic reciprocal causation, which means that thought and behavior are determined by three individual, but interweaving factors: (1) behavior, (2) personal characteristics (e.g. race, gender, age), and (3) environmental factors. In media studies, most of the emphasis is placed on the third factor, as the media falls into the category of environmental factors.

The social cognitive theory stemmed from the social learning theory, also called social cognitivism in communications and social sciences. It is a learning theory based on the ideas that people learn by watching what others do and that human thought processes are central to understanding personality.

This theory, discovered in 1941, was advanced by Albert Bandura, who in his most famous experiment, “The Bobo Doll” concluded that children imitate what they see, also known as observational learning. This theory is especially important in psychology and media studies, as children are susceptible to viewing violence not only in person, but also, and especially in the media, namely television.



“In order to succeed, people need a sense of self-efficacy, struggle together with resilience to meet the inevitable obstacles and inequities of life.” -Albert Bandura