Social Basis of Thought and Action: Social Cognitive Theory (Volumes 1 and 2)

Author: (USA) Bandura
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-12-01
Features: The publication of this book holds significant historical importance and can be regarded as a milestone in the history of learning psychology. First, it marks the shift of the reference point in learning theory from a single aspect such as behavior, cognition, emotion, or environment to a comprehensive integration of these three. This changed the traditional learning theory's tendency to emphasize the individual over society, direct experience over indirect experience, and to stress unidirectional determinism while neglecting the interactive influence of internal and external factors. In the preface of the book, Bandura explicitly stated that his theory is "crowned with the term 'social,' referring to the many social roots of human thought and behavior; and crowned with the term 'cognitive,' recognizing the causal attributional influence of thought on human motivation, emotion, and behavior."
Second, the book altered the research direction of learning psychology after the 1980s. This is particularly evident in three aspects: First, Bandura's view of the interactive determination among individuals, behavior, and environment was widely accepted by learning theorists, and researchers increasingly emphasized the positive role of social interactions in learning. This directly led to the revolution of constructivist and situative learning theories in the 1990s. Second, Bandura's systematic elaboration of the behavioral self-regulation mechanism in the book was developed by his successors, such as Zimmerman and Schunk, into self-regulated learning theory. It was fully introduced into classroom learning and teaching practices, influencing the direction of educational and teaching reforms alongside the prevailing constructivist learning theory. Third, the self-efficacy theory deeply explored in the book was further developed by researchers into a learning motivation theory. Together with Weiner's attribution theory, Calford's self-worth theory, and goal-setting theories by Deci, Locke, and others, it has become a powerful tool for explaining students' learning motivation.
This book also holds significant practical relevance for contemporary psychological research. This is not only reflected in the enduring reference value of its theoretical perspectives but also in the methodology adopted by Bandura, which is worth learning from and referencing. Bandura pointed out that a comprehensive psychological theory must adopt a combination of micro-analysis and macro-analysis research methods. Micro-analysis is used to clarify the basic psychological mechanisms that influence individual functioning, while macro-analysis is used to reveal the mechanisms by which social contextual factors affect human development, adaptation, and transformation. A good psychological theory must possess broad explanatory and predictive power, applicable to multiple fields. To this end, he covered his research in numerous fields such as psychology, sociology, psychopathology, sports, business, international events, and more, citing over 3,000 references. Such research methods and academic attitudes are rare in psychological research and deserve reflection and reference for psychologists who are merely satisfied with fragile theoretical analysis or empirical research.