Albert Bandura

Psychologist Albert Bandura in 2005 by bandura@stanford.edu. Licensed under the Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons

Annotated Links

Biographical Sketch with pictures.

e-Textbook From the electronic textbook created for undergraduate and graduate courses in Personality Theories by George Boeree of Shippensburg University.

General Perceived Self-Efficacy in 14 Cultures A report by Ralf Schwarzer of the Freie Universität Berlin. Presents a good overview of self-efficacy theory and interesting results in graphic form.

Lecture Notes by Chris VerWys, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Power of Social Modeling: The Effects of Television Violence A summary by by Christine Van De Velde of a talk given by Albert Bandura at the Stanford University in the Bing Distinguished Lecture Series.

Physical Activity Reduces Disease-Related Fatigue And Depression By Increasing Self-Efficacy Researchers in the US studying people with chronic diseases found that physical activity may reduce depression and fatigue by increasing self-efficacy, or the belief that one can master physical goals and attain a sense of accomplishment from applying oneself according to this summary in Medical News Today, December 16, 2009.

Psychologists Discover A Gene’s Link to Optimism, Self-Esteem According to research by Shelley E. Taylor and colleagues, and summarized here, researchers have identified a gene linked to optimism, self-esteem, and mastery. From Science Daily, September 14, 2011.

The Theory Heard ‘Round the World by Deborah Smith, APA Monitor on Psychology, Volume 33, No. 9, p. 30 October 2002. According to the article: Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory is the foundation of television and radio shows that have changed the lives of millions.

You Just Have to Believe: Audacious Ambition Researchers Timothy Judge and John Kammeyer-Mueller have shown that people who believe they can accomplish the goals they set are more likely to accomplish them. This is because if you believe you can accomplish your goal, you are more likely to put in the energy and effort required to attain it. From the PsychCentral blog, December 2013.

Assignments, Exercises and Activities

Current Researchers and Research Team Pages

Electronic Texts

Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models A. Bandura, D. Ross, & S. A. Ross (1961). Transmission of Aggression Through Imitation of Aggressive Models. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 575-582.

Examples and Illustrations

Lecture Notes

Lecture Notes: Albert Bandura on Social Learning and Self-Efficacy from Victor Daniels at Sonoma State University.

Lecture Notes on B. F. Skinner and Radical Behaviorism by Michael T. Hynan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. See also Moderate and Cognitive Behaviorists including classical and instrumental conditioning, Albert Bandura, and Walter Mischel).

Slide Presentations

Tests, Measures, and Scales

Self-Efficacy Scale Perceived self-efficacy scale by Matthias Jerusalem and Ralf Schwarzer in 1981. According to the developers: The Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale is a 10-item psychometric scale that is designed to assess optimistic self-beliefs to cope with a variety of difficult demands in life. In contrast to other scales that were designed to assess optimism, this one explicitly refers to personal agency, i.e., the belief that one’s actions are responsible for successful outcomes. Available in 30 different languages including Arabic, Korean, Spanish, Japanese and others.

Multimedia Resources

The Bobo Doll Study Albert Bandura himself introduces the classic Bobo doll study in which chlidren in the experimental group who watched an adult interact in an aggressive manner with a blow-up clown played more aggressively with the doll than children in the control who did not see the adult model. Features actually footage from the classic study. (5 minutes, 3 seconds).

Clips for Class From the website: We launched an extensive search for videos on the internet that could be used both in class and by students at home. The videos range from news clips, to popular television shows, to student projects, and represent many psychological fields of study. This collection of creative videos for all areas of psychology includes these notable ones on personality: individualism vs. collectivism, psychosexual stages explained in the spirit of High School Musical, Self-Efficacy Theory (a la Masterpiece Theatre), a clip from the MTV show room raiders to illustrate the Five Factor model, and others.

Inside Social Modeling With Albert Bandura The Association for Psychological Science presented this special edition of ‘’Inside the Psychologist’s Studio’’ featuring an in-depth interview with Albert Bandura. Filmed August 26, 2013 at Stanford University, the video runs 46 minutes and 03 seconds.