Social cognitive theory is a way of thinking about how people learn and make choices based on their own beliefs, feelings, and experiences. It says that people are active in their own development and can intentionally influence their own behavior and circumstances (Bandura, 1986).
There are four main parts to this idea of being active (Bandura, 2001):
• Intentionality means you plan to do something and figure out how to do it.
• Forethought means you think ahead and plan for what you might need to do.
• Self-reactiveness means you monitor your own behavior and make changes if needed.
• Self-reflectiveness means you think about how you’re doing and what you could do better.
The theory also says that different things can influence a person’s behavior, like their thoughts and feelings, what they’re doing, and what’s happening around them (Bandura, 1986). For example, a coach can have a big influence on a team’s choices, but sometimes a person’s own thoughts and feelings are more important.
This theory is useful for understanding how people make choices in sports, including the decision to use banned substances (Ring & Kavussanu, 2017). In this study, people who believed they could resist temptation and make good choices were less likely to use performance enhancing drugs, while people who could justify their behavior were more likely to use them.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic per- spective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 126.
Ring, C., & Kavussanu, M. (2017). The role of self-regulatory efficacy, moral disengagement and guilt on doping likeli- hood: A social cognitive theory perspective. Journal of Sports Sciences. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/ 02640414.2017.1324206.