SCT & Culture (Bandura, 2002)
Social cognitive theory adopts an agentic perspective to human development,
adaptation, and change. The theory distinguishes among three modes of
agency: personal agency exercised individually; proxy agency in which people
secure desired outcomes by influencing others to act on their behalf; and collective
agency in which people act in concert to shape their future.
SCT explains human development
Bandura (1986, p18) introduced SCT in terms of the nature of human nature and basic human capabilities
1. Symbolyzing Capability
2. Forethought Capability
3. Vicarious Capabilities
4. Self-Regulatory Capability
5. Self-reflective Capability
A Social Cognitive Theory
Fortuity may be increased through activity and involvement
Social ties lacking is dangerous (p 38)
Life paths are partly determined by culture (p 38)
Religious participation implies commitment and involvement.
When religion become culture then we get the positive effect of religious participation.
Observational learning requires ATTENTION & RETENTION (p 51):
In addition, repeated exposures (p 53) may be necessary to enact the learning. Repeated exposures proceed from frequent attendance.
Vygotsky
Mind in Society
what is Hopelessness ? (Gallo & Mattews, 2003)
Hopelessness describes negative cognition about the self and the
future, which is likely to accompany severe negative emotions
such as those associated with clinical depression.
Clark, 2004 Religiousness, spirituality & iq
Religious Participation-Greenfield (2007)
one concrete action that could be taken using the media to further the change you are considering. Be sure to consider any ethical implications related to that use.
“Guess who’s coming to dinner?” That was the title of a great movie in the 60′s that exposed the intergenerational stand against racism. The family life in the 21st century is suffering. The media can repeat family oriented messages and remind parents to eat meals with their children. Given that people can eat and converse at the same time, sharing a meal should provide an opportunity for a family to sit down, share a meal, and chat. Some churches do ads on TV and remind families to share time with their children. Some restaurants, food franchises, makers of frozen meals do show parents having an easier time getting a meal ready, with their product. However, there is no reminder that the family need to give each other some attention and converse in a friendly setting, more often. Poor socioeconomic families may be too busy working and never share quality time with their children. Well off families may be too involved in extra curricular activities that they may never get chances to share quality time with the whole family. Therefore, for the family to all share notes about their daily life, they need to make the time to share a meal while they turn off other distractions, like the cell phones or the TV.
Cultural jamming was explained as a form of rhetoric aimed to divert emotions away from may be an immoral social norm (Harold, 2004). A pie in the face of those who effect cuts in the school system, instead of reducing corruption and waste, may transmit the message that the directors and organisors need to rethink the system and focus more on the children and their families. Film critic Puttnam posited that movies play a big role in exposing our societies truths and myths (2006). Therefore, entertaining movie making may be a wide open field that can inspire the ideal family living. Spitulnik exposed the gap in mass media anthropology and ineffective superficial ethnography research (1993). Indeed, mass media is hidden treasure that need to be discovered and exploited. No wonder, there is calling for thinking outside the box. With the power in the media and mass communication, many places far away can be reached in seconds, today. Broadcasting on TV, movies, and the internet may be exploited to send the message and remind the families to give their children more attention than to selfish instant gratifications.
References
Harold, C. (2004). Pranking rhetoric: “Culture jamming” as media activism. Critical Studies in Media Communication. 21 (3). 189-211.
Puttnam, D. (2005). Life through the lens. New Statesman. December 19, 2005. 78.
Spitulnik, D. (1993). Anthropology and mass media. Annual Review of Anthropology. 22:293-315.
Legal and Political Processes as Tools of Social Change
Consider how the legal and political process might be effectively and creatively employed as tools of social change in the service of a topic or cause that is important to you.
Health Care reform is expected to ensure health insurance provision for those who lost the insurance through unemployment. However, it is not clear if every child in America is guaranteed the minimum health care for healthy development. My proposal is for grade schools to provide the preventive healthcare every child needs, as part of their program. If every child should not be left behind and receive basic education, then it seems that the yearly checkups including body, teeth, and needed vaccinations for every developing child should be part of public grade school provisions. One issue is the diversity in the United States where some parents may not agree with the quality of proactive healthcare, for religious or cultural reasons. If the parents feel they can do better for their children, they can ask for exemptions. In ensuring the preventive checkups for a child are done, then abnormal developments gets reported to their care givers promptly and may be treated before becoming serious.
An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, the popular adage posited. Christenson called for student-focused philosophy and family involvement in education (2003). Instead of both school and home asking the other party to listen, just do it and help each other with preventive policies. This proposal of making grade school provide the yearly preventive care for developing grade age children is a task that can ease the burden on the average parents. Sheridan and D’Amato called for posing the right questions first in order to improve school psychology (2003). Therefore, instead for school psychology to focus on negatives that require treatment, school psychology should instill preventive care for the school developing children. As for psychologist role, they need to advocate the laws that instill wellness in the society(Fox, 1993). Therefore, as a psychologist, I’d advocate to incorporate basic preventive health care into the grade school program.
