2.00 CE Credits Available
Albert Bandura: From Laboratory to World Stage
by Albert Bandura
As a pioneering researcher, clinician and social change agent, Albert Bandura’s contributions to the field of psychology far transcend his early laboratory experiments on modeling. Through evocative conversation and video demonstrations, this giant of psychology will enhance your clinical outcomes by addressing the role of guided mastery, behavioral regulation, self-efficacy and moral agency in the treatment of a wide range of individual and societal concerns.
Clinicians would largely agree that behavioral and cognitive-behavioral interventions have proven over the years to be effective modalities of treatment for a wide range of symptomatology. However, enduring change and generalization beyond the therapy room can be limited if we do not also enhance a client’s sense of efficacy--the belief in their own causative power. Bandura’s powerful insights and richly-detailed clinical examples will help you to move beyond a narrow focus on behavior and causality, so that your case conceptualizations and treatment plans can incorporate and address all aspects of your client’s experience.

According to Bandura, the road to success is littered with failure, and high self-esteem without realistic tools for accomplishing goals can lead to symptom exacerbation and treatment failure. Effective and long-lasting treatment outcome is about building a roadmap, one success at a time. In this video you will learn exactly how to do this with your clients by using positive modeling and guided mastery, and by capitalizing on fortuity--those seemingly random events that are actually windows of opportunity for meaningful change.

We learn by watching! That is Bandura’s legacy. But effective modeling, he reminds us, requires attention, memory, and translating symbol (media messages for positive and negative behavior) into action and motivation. You will learn how to help your clients build on these necessary skills while identifying and overcoming the ways that they undermine their own self-efficacy by putting things off (temporizing), distracting themselves (detouring) and making excuses. You will become your client’s guide, helping them to move to higher levels of personal efficacy and well-being.  
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Albert Bandura cautions that without optimism and moral engagement, individuals and societies become immobilized. He has worked tirelessly with media experts to bring about social change, from the individual to the societal level, by applying his theories of modeling, efficacy and moral agency. By watching this fascinating interview and the serial television dramas he helped to develop, you will learn how to apply his work on family planning, violence reduction, gender subjugation, illiteracy and HIV/AIDS prevention for your client’s and society’s betterment.

By watching this interview, you will:

Explain the origin of Albert Bandura’s theory of social modeling and efficacy

Describe the therapeutic applications and benefits of Bandura’s work

Utilize the elements of self-efficacy theory to improve client and societal functioning

Length of video: 2:18:34

English subtitles available

Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-558-0

Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-558-8

Albert Bandura is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University and the author of ten books, including Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control and Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. For nearly six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy, personality psychology, self-efficacy, and was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology.

It was during his studies on adolescent aggression that Bandura became interested in vicarious learning, modeling and imitation. Out of this work came Social Learning Theory, which Bandura is best known for. The theory stresses the importance of observational learning, imitation and modeling. He famously made the case for social learning in the 1961 Bobo doll study. In the experiment, Bandura made a film in which a woman was shown beating up a Bobo doll and shouting aggressive words. The film was then shown to a group of children. Afterwards, the children were allowed to play in a room that held a Bobo doll. The children immediately began to beat the doll, imitating the actions and words of the woman in the film. Social Learning Theory, unlike traditional Behaviorism, posits a continuous interaction between behaviors and the environment, mediated by cognition.

In recent years, Bandura has been involved with the development and dispersion of serial dramas in developing nations, using the tenets of Social Learning Theory to influence social change in reproductive health and women’s rights. The dramas are much more effective to influence social norms than documentaries because the powerful emotional ties formed with audiences increase the likelihood that the audience will model the behavior in the dramas.

Perhaps equally important to Social Learning Theory is Bandura’s work on self-efficacy. While investigating the processes by which modeling alleviates phobic disorders in snake-phobics, he found that self-efficacy beliefs (belief in one’s own capabilities to alleviate one’s phobia) mediated changes in behavior and in fear-arousal. He launched a major program of research examining the influential role of self-referent thought in psychological functioning, which has had a considerable impact on the field of psychotherapy.

CE credits: 2

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss the origin of Albert Bandura's theory of social modeling and efficacy
  • Describe the therapeutic applications and benefits of Bandura's work
  • Utilize the elements of self-efficacy theory to improve client and societal functioning

Bibliography available upon request

This course is offered for ASWB ACE credit for social workers. See complete list of CE approvals here

© 2019

Course Reviewed January 2024

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