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Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2001. 52:1–26 c 2001 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved Copyright
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY: An Agentic Perspective
Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2001.52:1-26. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org by Ball State University on 01/05/09. For personal use only.
Albert Bandura Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-2131; e-mail:
[email protected]
Key Words biosocial coevolution, collective efficacy, emergent properties, human agency, self-efficacy ■ Abstract The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one’s life is the essence of humanness. Human agency is characterized by a number of core features that operate through phenomenal and functional consciousness. These include the temporal extension of agency through intentionality and forethought, selfregulation by self-reactive influence, and self-reflectiveness about one’s capabilities, quality of functioning, and the meaning and purpose of one’s life pursuits. Personal agency operates within a broad network of sociostructural influences. In these agentic transactions, people are producers as well as products of social systems. Social cognitive theory distinguishes among three modes of agency: direct personal agency, proxy agency that relies on others to act on one’s behest to secure desired outcomes, and collective agency exercised through socially coordinative and interdependent effort. Growing transnational embeddedness and interdependence are placing a premium on collective efficacy to exercise control over personal destinies and national life.
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PARADIGM SHIFTS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORIZING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PHYSICALISTIC THEORY OF HUMAN AGENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CORE FEATURES OF HUMAN AGENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intentionality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forethought . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-Reactiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Self-Reflectiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . AGENTIC MANAGEMENT OF FORTUITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MODES OF HUMAN AGENCY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . UNDERMINERS OF COLLECTIVE EFFICACY IN CHANGING SOCIETIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . EMERGING PRIMACY OF HUMAN AGENCY IN BIOSOCIAL COEVOLUTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0066-4308/01/0201-0001$14.00
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BANDURA
Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2001.52:1-26. Downloaded from arjournals.annualreviews.org by Ball State University on 01/05/09. For personal use only.
INTRODUCTION To be an agent is to intentionally make things happen by one’s actions. Agency embodies the endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory capabilities and distributed structures and functions through which personal influence exercised, rather than residing as a discrete entity in a particular place. The core features of agency enable people to play a part in their self-development, adaptation, and self-rene