Reciprocal determinism is a model developed by Albert Bandura that shows how individuals interact with their environment. It emphasizes that people are influenced by their beliefs, thoughts, and environment, and they also influence their environment through their behavior and attitudes. The model is represented by a triangle with behavior at the top and personal and environmental factors at the corners. The model shows that behavior, personal factors, and environmental factors all influence each other. The model suggests that change is possible through appropriate help, but a person will always be influenced by external factors as well.
Reciprocal determinism is a key term developed by Albert Bandura, best known for his psychological work in the area of social cognitive theory. The term refers to a model that Bandura postulates that demonstrates the individual’s interaction environment. It incorporates some ideas of behaviorism, but emphasizes the notion that the environment is not the only thing that influences behavior. Instead people are influenced by their own beliefs, thoughts, ideas and also by the environment, but in addition, they influence through their behavior and attitudes how the environment works; there is a back-and-forth communication between the inner self, the action, and the outer world.
Discussion of reciprocal determinism often uses a visual aid, the shape drawn as a triangle. At the top of the triangle is the word, behavior, and the two corners of the triangles are described as personal and environmental factors. The arrows go back and forth between each word, showing that none of these three things is influenced solely by another factor, and the influence goes both ways. This visual representation reiterates the basic notion that human beings are shaped by and shape their environment.
It can be difficult to understand reciprocal determinism without examples, and these are easy to find. A man might go into counseling because he can’t hold down a job, his finances are tight, and he feels like a failure. One of his claims might be that he hates work, but someone who takes mutual determinism into account might ask why.
If the man’s inability to hold down a job was due to bad work habits and his hatred of the job, it could very well have caused employers not to retain him as an employee. If his attitude at work was terrible, it is likely that no manager or boss made it any easier and the situation gradually worsened until the man was fired. Since external or external stimuli can influence behavior, each job could get worse and the man’s attitude would continue to be terrible, influencing managers to dislike him. Behavior, environment (such as socioeconomic status), and humans would suffer.
Fortunately, humans can study themselves and get help through things like career counseling or psychotherapy to determine how to change the way they think and feel about work. Since he can change personal factors, he can also change his environment. This is a thoughtful process and the back and forth continues, meaning that if the man ends up having a terrible manager at his next job, it could be easy to slip back into negative influence behavior.
In essence, then, reciprocal determinism posits that there is a real possibility for change that exists within the person, given appropriate help, but that a person will always be influenced by external factors as well. Behavior is a complex issue that requires multiple attack areas if it were to change. This is possible, however, with well-designed programs that take into account the importance of the person in changing environment and that are realistic about the person’s changing environment.
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