According to this theory, an individual’s behavior is uniquely
determined by each of these three factors. While the Social
Cognitive Theory upholds the behaviorist notion that response
consequences mediate behavior, it contends that behavior is
largely regulated antecedently through cognitive processes.
Therefore, response consequences of a behavior are used to
form expectations of behavioral outcomes. It is the ability to
form these expectations that give humans the capability to
predict the outcomes of their behavior before the behavior is
performed.
Bandura viewed people as self-organizing, proactive, selfreflecting
and self-regulating rather than as reactive
organisms shaped by environmental forces or driven by
concealed inner impulses. From this perspective, human
functioning is viewed as the product of a dynamic interplay of
personal, behavioral, and environmental influences. Hence,
this is the foundation of Bandura’s (1986) conception of
reciprocal determinism: the view that (a) personal factors in
the form of cognition, affect, and biological events, (b)
behavior, and (c) environmental influences create interactions
that result in a triadic reciprocity. He emphasized that
cognition plays a critical role in people’s capability to
construct reality, self-regulate, encode information, and
perform behaviors.