THEORY OF PLANNED

BEHAVIOR, THE THEORY

OF REASONED ACTION,
THE SOCIAL COGNITIVE
LEARNING THEORY
 THE THEORY OF
REASONED ACTION
• Developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen in 1967,
• aims to explain the relationship between attitudes and
behaviors within human action.
• mainly used to predict how individuals will behave based on
their pre-existing attitudes and behavioral intentions.
• Originally developed in 1967 ; further developed during the 1970’s
• Fishbein ( U of I ) and Ajzen ( U Mass ) were both working on similar
concepts to explain human behavior , and eventually collaborated to
create and publish the model in 1980 .
Assumption Of the model
• Human behavior is under the voluntary control of the individual
• People think about the consequences and implications of their
actions behavior the decide whether or not to do something .
• Therefore , intention must be highly correlated with behavior

Whether or not a person intends to perform a health behavior B .

should correlate with whether or not they actually DO the behavior
Components of the Model

• Behavior is a function of 2 things

• Attitudes toward a specific action
* What will happen if I engage in this behavior?
* Is this outcome desirable or undesirable
• Subjective norms regarding that action
* Normative beliefs : others expectations
*Motivation to comply : do I want to do what they tell me ? How
much ? Why ?
Theory of planned
behavior .
THEORY OF PLANNED BEHAVIOR
• The theory was proposed by lcek ajzen.
• According to this theory, health behavior is the direct result of a
behavioral intention.
• Behavioral intentions are themselves made up of three components
1) Attitudes towards the specific action.
2) Subjective norms regarding the action.
3) Perceived behavioral control.
Attitude towards the behaviour
• A behavior is composed of both a positive or negative evaluation of a particular
behavior and beliefs about the outcome.
• For example; if i change my diet, i will lose weight, improve my health, and be
more attractive.
Subjective norm regarding the action
• This refers to what one believes are social opinion on one‟s behaviour, and what is
the extent of social rejection or social acceptance of his behaviour.
• For example; my family and friends think i should change my diet.
Perceived behavioral control
• Perceived behavioral control is the perception that one can perform the action
and these factors combine to produce a behavioral intention and behavior change.
• For example; i will be able to change my diet.
Example- theory of planned behavior for alcohol consumption

• An individual believed that reducing their alcohol intake would make

their life more productive and be beneficial to their health (attitude to
the behavior)
• Believed that the important people in their life wanted them to cut
down (subjective norm)
• In addition believed that they were capable of drinking less alcohol
due to their past behavior and evaluation of internal and external
control factors (high behavioral control)
• Then this would predict high intentions to reduce alcohol intake
(behavioral intentions).
Social Cognitive theory
Bobo doll experiment
• Adults were recorded being aggressive to bobo dolls
• Children were shown the video and then allow to play in a room full
of toys
• Children were aggressive to the bobo doll just as the adults were in
the video
• Through his research , Bandura observed that components of learning
occur though observation and modeling behaviors
• This concept led to the theoretical framework of the social cognitive
learning theory
Assumptions Of Social Cognitive Theory
• Learning occurs by observing others and modeling
• Behavior is goal directed- goals are set and behavior is directed to
accomplishing the goal ( motivation driven )
• Behavior is eventually self – regulated.
• Internal processes and cognition of observed behavior may or may
not lead to a learned behavior (learning performance distinction)
• Punishment and reinforcement have indirect effects on the learning
process
Reciprocal caution model
Environment

Learning

Behavior Person
Environmental factors
Social models Instruction Feedback

Behaviors
Goal progress Motivations Learning

Personal factors
( cognitive) Goals Sense of efficacy Attributions Process of self -
regulation
Types of learning
• Enactive Learning –
learning by doing and is reinforced by the consequences of actions /
outcomes
Vicarious Learning –
learning through observation not performance
The Learning Process Requires
• Attention
• Retention
• Reproduction
• Motivation
The Learning Process Requires
• Attention- Learning by being attentive . Anything that distracts the
attention will going to have a negative effect on learning . If the
situation is far likely to the interest , the more the learner dedicate his
full attention to learn .

• Retention- The ability to store information is also important part of

the learning process . This can be affected by a number of factors , but
he ability to pull up information later and act on its vital observation
• Reproduction - Once person pays attention and able to retain the
information , it is time to actually perform the behavior you
observed . Further practice of the learned behavior leads to
improvement and skill advancement .
• Motivation - In order to be successful , you have to be motivated to
learn being aware of it outcome . Reinforcement and punishment play
an important role in motivation .
Social Cognitive Theory : Modeling
• Models can be real people (teachers , coaches etc)
• Models can also come from media : books , TV , Magazines
( symbolic)
• Models can influence behavior : positively or negatively
Characteristics of Models
Models , both real and symbolic , have
• Have prestige and power
• Models are competent
• Perform tasks well that others would like to be able to do