Explain The Five Key Constructs Of Social Cognitive Theory

The Social Cognitive Theory identifies the influences of peers, family members, personal characteristics and societal norms and culture as the main determinants of a person’s opinion (Hastings, 2007, Bandura, 1986). It identifies the reciprocal relationship between personal and environmental factors as an important factor that affect a person’s beliefs, opinions and behaviours toward a certain social issue. The concept of Social Cognitive Theory points out that, to change the perceptions and behaviour of the target

Health belief model was one of the first and most widely recognized theories of health behavior. (Butts & Rich, 2011). This theory was formulated in an attempt to predict health behaviors by focusing on the attitude and beliefs of individuals. It is aimed to determine the likelihood of an individual to participate in health-promotion and disease prevention programs. (Kozier & Erb, 2011). This theory postulated that if a patient is well- motivated, there is a possibility that he will participate in these activities. Motivation can be derived by the individual's perceptions towards his condition. According to Becker (1974), individual perceptions include patient's perceived susceptibility, perceived seriousness of the disease and perceived threat.

These are social cognition and the stage models; auxiliary subdivided into five sets. The sections are; protection motivational theory, health belief theory, and self-efficacy theory, planned behavior theory and reasoned action theory. Social cognition models are based on information obtained from smaller cognitive and affective factors brought about by beliefs and attitudes (King, R., Lloyd, C., & Meehan, T. 2007). Stage models involve organizing the elements that prompt acquired information basing on a certain sequence of qualitatively distinguished and discrete levels. In this study I was able to utilize protection motivation theory, self-efficacy theory and planned behavior theory. Protection motivation theory helps to explain the way in which people counter fear-arousing threat in health communication. It describes the motivation that assists in protecting a person against health related threats. It enables one to adopt the recommended action through a developed belief that it is possible for a person to perform the actions successfully. This explains the concept that an individual develops strong willingness for self-protection if one beliefs that the consequences will be serious when the threat continues. The assumption that supplements this is that taking the recommended action is an effective way of

SCT describes individuals’ behaviour according to a three way model which is dynamic and has mutual relationship among the three factors: personal factors; behaviour and environmental influences (Glanz and Bishop, 2010). Generally, SCT uses for counselling interventions which aims disease prevention since it consists of the concepts of “cognitive”, “behavioristic” and “emotional models” (Glanz and Bishop, 2010). Key construct of SCT is individuals no only learn from their own experiences but also by observing other peoples’ actions and results of those actions (Glanz and Bishop, 2010). In addition, self-control and self-efficacy is also identified as key ideas in SCT (Glanz and Bishop, 2010).

The theory I would suggest to improve the effectiveness of this study is the Health Belief Model (HBM). Health belief model provides messages to individuals that help them achieve a behavior change when including barriers, benefits, self-efficacy, and threat (Jones et al., 2015). The HBM was developed in the 1950s and it was developed to identify the reluctance of people to access disease prevention services (Snelling & Stevenson, 2003). The intervention described in the study was the SPIRIT 2013

The study discusses the social cognitive theory and relates to it by sending monthly information to the churches that highlights a health behavior change strategy consistent with this theory (Kyryliuk, Baruth, & Wilcox, 2015). The social cognitive theory is defined as “a three-way, dynamic, reciprocal model in which personal factors, environmental influences, and behavior continually interact” (Glanz, Burke, & Rimer, 2015, p. 244). Another way the study incorporates this theory is by evaluating the participants personal factors, such as self-efficacy, environmental factors, such as perceived stress, and behavior, including nutrition and physical activity. It discusses a person’s confidence in their ability to make changes despite encountering obstacles or challenges, which is a variable that is assessed and examined throughout the study (Glanz, Burke, & Rimer, 2015).

The Health Belief Model is commonly used for health promotion and health education. Its’ underlying concept is that health behavior is explained by perception of the disease and the strategies available to lower its occurrence. There are four perceptions of the HBM, which are perceived seriousness, perceived benefit, perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers. In addition to that, more constructs are added to health belief model that includes motivating factor, cues to action and self-efficacy. Each of these constructs in combination or individually, could be used to determine health behavior. The HBM also provides guidelines for the program development allowing planners to address reasons for non-compliance with recommended health action. The health belief model is a process used to promote healthy behavior among individuals who may be at risk of developing adverse health outcomes. A person must gauge their perceptions of severity and susceptibility of developing a disease. Then it is essential to feel vulnerable by these perceptions. Environmental factors can play a role as well as cues to action such as media, and close friends. In order to determine that taking action will be meaningful, the benefits to change must be weighed, against the barriers to change behavior (Green & Murphy, 2014).

The Health Belief Model is another health behavior theory. It states that health behavior is determined by the individual’s beliefs and perceptions about a disease and the strategies that decrease its occurrence (Hayden, 2014). Some of the factors that contribute to the individual’s perception are knowledge, attitude, belief,

The second part of the social cognitive theory is socioenvironmental factors. Socioenvironmental factors include observational learning, normative beliefs, social support, and barriers and opportunities.

Personality is defined as an individual’s unique and relatively consistent patterns of thinking1. In psychology, personality is utilized to sum up all the ways of an individual’s thinking, feeling and acting that based on the environment and experience. Various personality theories exist and are categorized into four major perspectives—Psychoanalytic, Humanistic, Social Cognitive and trait perspective. These four major perspectives on personality help to describe the numerous patterns in each individual’s personality.

Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory explains psychological functioning in terms of triadic reciprocal causation. Triadic reciprocal causation is a system assuming human action as a result of an interaction with the environment, behavior, and a person. Bandura explains "person" as being a cognitive factor such as memory, anticipation, and planning. It is because of these cognitive capacities that some people can select or restructure their environment.

The Health Belief Model (HBM) is one of the first theories of health behavior. It was developed in the 1950s by social psychologists in the U.S. Public Health Services to better understand the widespread failure of tuberculosis screening programs. Today it continues to be one of the most widely used theories. Research studies use it to explain and predict health behaviors seen in individuals. There is a broad range of health behaviors and subject populations that it is applied in. The concepts in the model involve perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. Focusing on the attitudes and beliefs of individuals being studied create an understanding of their

Both Trait theory and Social Cognitive Theories are currently and have been very influential in describing personalities in people over the years. They have both similar and opposite qualities as well and seem to work off of each other at times in my opinion. Although many theories are still helpful in some ways, I feel like these two are more beneficial due to them bringing a more positive approach to describing personalities and giving the person more control over their own behavioral change rather than giving them an excuse as to why they can’t change their behaviors.

This research is reinforced by Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, 1977; as cited in Redmond, 2010) which states that self-efficacy or a person’s belief in one’s ability to succeed in a particular situation plays an essential role in how goals, tasks, and challenges are approached. It continues to evolve as people acquire new skills, experiences, and understanding. It can have an impact on everything from psychological states to behavior to motivation. Bandura believed that the key to successful therapy is self-efficacy. Bandura's theory proposed that learning can also occur by simply observing the actions of others (Ross, 2007). It was stated that people can learn new information and behaviors by watching other people which is known as observational learning. Underneath the social cognitive theory is the social learning theory. There are three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. In this study, the researchers will only use the two concepts which

Health related research was stimulated by the social learning theory. Research showed that persons perceived level and strength of self-efficacy was closely related to their choices in health behaviors. (Maibach & Murphy, 1995). The desire to maintain new behaviors is usually related to the experience of success through self-efficacy and the mastery of new behaviors (O’Leary, 1985).