Social Cognitive Theory is a social psychological theory that aims to reveal how individuals’ internal knowledge structure and belief system explain and give meaning to social objects and their interrelationships. According to Gestalt psychology, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Therefore, an understanding of the whole requires a top-down analysis from the overall structure to the characteristics of every part. In the 1930s and 1940s, Kurt Lewin broke new ground in the study of Gestalt psychology by founding topological psychology that focuses on the study of will and need. He proposed an equation for behavior, B = f(P, E), emphasizing that behavior (B) is a function of two factors: the person (P) and their environment (E). That is to say, behavior changes with the change of person and social environment. Lewin’s contemporaries, such as Fritz Heider, Muzafer Sherif, Solomon Asch, and Theodore Newcomb, also made great progress in studying cognitive balance, formation of social norms, and impression formation. Against such a background, social cognition gradually became a theoretical orientation. Since the late 1950s, Social Cognitive Theory was further developed by Leon Festinger, Harold Kelley, and other scholars, who founded Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Social Comparison Theory, Attribution Theory, and so on.
The basic idea of Social Cognitive Theory is that individuals do not passively respond to the environment but can organize their perceptions, thoughts, and beliefs into simple yet meaningful forms. No matter how random and chaotic the situation, individuals will apply a certain concept and give a certain meaning to it. Such organization, perception, and interpretation of the world have impacts on the behavior of individuals in all situations, especially in social situations. Specifically, Social Cognitive Theory includes, among others, Field Theory, Life Space Theory, Image Impression Theory, Social Norms Theory, Social Comparison Theory, Attribution Theory, Social Equity Theory, Cognitive Dissonance Theory, Cognitive Balance Theory, Reference Group Theory, Spontaneous Perception Theory, Perceptual Set Theory, Social Expectation Theory, and Cognitive Consistency Theory.
Rich in content, Social Cognitive Theory is widely applied and can be used to think about and explain problems in many fields of social psychology.
Further Reading
Aronson E, Wilson TD, Akert RM (2014) Social psychology, 8th edn. Pearson India Education Services Pvt. Ltd, Chennai
Yue G-A (2013) Social psychology, 2nd edn. China Renmin University Press, Beijing
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Decan, S., Kan, Z. (2024). Social Cognitive Theory. In: The ECPH Encyclopedia of Psychology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6000-2_826-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-6000-2_826-1
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