Social Cognitive Theory in Health Promotion

Running head: social cognitive theory in health promotion 1
Social Cognitive Theory in Health Promotion
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Social cognitive theory in health promotion 2
There are several theories that have been advanced to support health promotion and
prevention of disease. The theories are helpful in leadership, formulation of policies and
legislation of health care since they help to explain, predict and interpret trends in the health
practice. These theories include; social cognitive theory, health belief theory, relapse prevention
among others. This paper focuses on social cognitive theory as a model of health promotion and
disease prevention.
Definition
The social cognitive theory is centered of the grounds that individual learn from
experiences, those of others and their continued interaction with their environment (Linke,
Robinson & Pekmezi, 2014). The social cognitive theory can be used to motivate, modify or
predict behavior. The main aspect of social cognitive theory however is that, behavior is largely
dependent on observation from social interactions. The theory bases its argument on how people
emulate certain models in a society. The theory suggests that people do not invent new behaviors
but inherit behavior of others depending on how well a behavior is motivated or reinforced.
Schwarzer, R. (Ed.). (2014) explains that the key components of the theory in institution
of individual behavioral modification include; behavioral capability. This aids a person to
recognize and being able to replicate a behavior. Expectations and expectances where the former
evaluates the end result of behavior change while the latter examines the value resulting from the
behavior change.
Self-control refers to the aspect where the individual has the capability of controlling and
regulating their own behavior. Observational learning which is based on an individual’s ability to
learn through observing the actions of others to achieve the required behavior modification. Self-

Social cognitive theory in health promotion 3
efficacy is another aspect that an individual has control of their behaviors and they can execute
or modify behavior at will. Finally, social cognitive theory has the aspect of reinforcement.
Reinforcement is a recognized aspect of many behavioral theories and is based on the fact that a
behavior can be learned or unlearned through repeated or unrepeated performance.
Reinforcement aspect of social cognitive theories also borrow heavily from the idea that
behavior can be changed and reinforced through rewards, motivation and incentives.
History and origin
Glanz, (2015) explains that the earliest contribution to the social cognitive theory can be
credited to Edwin Holt and Harold Chapman who proposed that all human and animal behaviors
arise from the psychological basis of desire and emotional feelings. John Dollard and Neal Miller
advanced the perspectives of Holt and Harold by suggesting that social motivation, rewarding
certain actions and various responses could change and modify behavior as well. The two also
proposed that rewarding a behavior made the behavior to be reinforced and therefore refereed to
rewarding behavior as positive reinforcement.
Zhang, et al (2016) holds that the most significant contributions into social cognitive
theory however borrows heavily from the work of a Canadian psychologist, Albert Bandura.
Bandura advanced the idea that social cognitive theory can be used in learning through several
studies and experiments. One the most famous experiments include the famous Bobo doll
experiment. The experiment involved little children who were presented with a movie of a model
who was presented to be quite aggressive to a bobo doll. The experiment was able to shape the
children’s behavior depending on whether the model was either punished or rewarded from the
aggressive behavior.