List and describe the components of Bandura's theory of self-regulation.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. Bandura believes that people use both reactive and proactive strategies for self-regulation. That is, they reactively attempt to reduce the discrepancies between their accomplishments and their goal; but after they close those discrepancies, they proactively set newer and higher goals for themselves.

B. Both external and internal factors play a role in self-regulation. External factors provide people with a standard for evaluating their own behavior as well as with the means for receiving reinforcement.

C. These external factors interact with internal, or personal, factors to produce self-regulation. Bandura identified three internal requirements for self-regulation: (1) self-observation, (2) judgmental processes, and (3) affective self-reaction.

D. The first step in self-regulation is for people to observe their behavior and its consequences.

E. Next, people must judge the worth of their actions. They do this by applying both personal standards and standards of reference. In addition, judgmental processes depend on the overall value people place on an activity and their ability to attribute success or failure to their own efforts.

F. Finally, people use affective self-reaction to regulate their behavior. The consequences of people's behavior are not determined solely by the environment, but by their positive or negative response to how their behavior measures up to their personal standards.

G. People also regulate their actions through moral standards of conduct. Bandura sees moral agency as having two aspects: (1) doing no harm to people and (2) proactively helping people.