Albert Bandura the founder of reciprocal determinism

Albert Bandura the founder of reciprocal determinism Albert Bandura, the founder of reciprocal determinism was born in Canada in 1925. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, where he developed the social learning theory. Bandura had certain strong beliefs on how psychological research should be done. He believed research should be conducted in laboratories where psychologists could control factors that determined behavior. Bandura has conducted many famous clinical studies which are the basis of the several books he has written. Bandura was also the creator of the reciprocal determinism theory which showed he believed that a person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment. Personal factors are those that are based on a person’s morals, ethics ideas, and personality. The social environment consists of everything external to the self, which are other people, their beliefs, ideas and external items. Two brief examples of reciprocal determinism would be a person who is afraid of flying on airplanes will act nervous, scared, and out of the ordinary which would be the personal factor. This will cause the other people on the plane to become agitated and worried, making the nervous flier even more afraid. This shows how personal determinants, environmental determinants and behavioral determinants interact and influence each other. Another example would be of a man who cannot hold a job and therefore feels like a failure. His inability to hold a job is due to poor work habits and therefore influences employers to treat him bad until his behavior becomes terrible and is ultimately fired. Reciprocal determinism is affected by self-efficiency, which is a person’s belief about their ability to achieve a goal or an outcome. There are several ways to influence self-efficiency; performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal. Performance accomplishments are based on a person’s own experiences wh ich are past successes and failures. Vicarious experiences are based on the observations of others and their performance in executing a task. Verbal persuasion uses suggestions or self-instruction as a motivator. Lastly, emotional arousal is used by diminishing emotional arousals that are associated with decreased performance. http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/assets/images/learningsolutions/061410/061410_f1.png A helpful way to think of reciprocal determinism is in the form of a triangle. At the top would be behavioral  determinants  and the two corners would be personal determinants and environmental determinants. Arrows go back and forth between each word showing that they are influenced by each other. The basic idea is that personal factors (cognitive and affective events), the environment and behavior all influence each other. This triangle aids to understand that humans are shaped by their environment and also shape the environment.    Self- Efficacy A person’s belief about their ability to organize and carry out courses of action needed to accomplish a goal is known as self- efficacy. Those persons, who are confident in their capability to execute a behavior, have very strong efficacy beliefs. These beliefs are influencing our personal emotional reactions and choices, motivation, and patters, therefore they are considered to have a very significant impact on our goals and accomplishments in life. (Bandura. A. Psychological Review. 1977).

Material Selection & Design Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Material Selection & Design - Essay Example ors that may be mentioned, such as optical transparency, ability to retain optical characteristics, ability to be labeled easily and cheaply, aesthetics, and ease of cooling of the container (Callister, 2007, p. 10), but these properties are not the main focus of this report. The main purpose of this report is to provide a comparison of the cost and environmental impact analysis of three beverage container materials in the light of the factors mentioned. Through studies compiled by the Intel Corporation (Intel Corporation, n.d.) under their Design and Discovery program, shows the following statistics with regards to cost associated with these containers in terms of material and manufacturing: This world is our home, and only we can make it better or worse. As a materials engineer, it is not our duty to just focus on the material properties aspect of any choice of materials we make, but also consider the environmental impact of the decisions we make. It is observed that even though awareness campaigns focus on the utility of recycling and promoting that trend, a lot of the beverage containers make their way to landfills. Startlingly, more than twice the recycled amount is thrown away into the landfills (Container Recycling Institute, 2003-2010). This results in generation of toxic waste, greenhouse gases, waste water, and land destruction and occupation. Still, the recycled amount is large enough to suggest its benefits. Aluminum recycling can decrease 4.5lbs of carbon dioxide emission for every recycled pound due to the large carbon emissions during refining of aluminum from ores (Intel Corporation, n.d.). Plastics and glasses do not have that much of an impact on the carbon dioxide emission. Aluminum and plastics have their advantages over glass containers, thus making our discussion boil down to these two only. Beverage containers made out of plastics are cheaper than aluminum. But their recyclability is poor, both economically as well as scientifically.

(Environment and Health) A Report on a topical issue pertaining to the Essay

(Environment and Health) A Report on a topical issue pertaining to the encironment that identifies the public health significance of the issue and the extent - Essay Example Ground Level Ozone that has a chemical structure known as O3, is a pollutant formed with particular compounds in the presence of sunlight. The general formula for this reaction is as follows: VOCs + NOx + Sunlight = Ozone. VOC stands for volatile organic compounds. These are ingredients that are commonly used in homes, in the form of fuels, cleaning, disinfecting, paints, varnishes, wax, cosmetic, degreasing, etc. Some of these are relatively safe, while some are quite toxic. Though there are many manmade sources of VOCs, there are many natural sources too, such as trees (CAQF Fact Sheet two, 2007). The next constituent in the equation is NOx, which stands for nitrogen oxide gases. This is a general term that is used to refer to a group of highly reactive gases. All these gases contain nitrogen and oxygen in differing quantities. Main sources of NOx include automobiles, electric utilities, as well as commercial, industrial and residential sources that use fuels (Cornwall County Council, 2007). With these two ingredients reacting in the presence of sunlight and hot weather conditions, ground level ozone forms. When this forms, cloud cover and wind direction are affected. Also low wind speeds result1. Lung damage experie Ground Level Ozone Impact on Public Health: Ground Level Ozone is known to: aggravate asthma irritate your respiratory system reduce lung function inflame and damage cells that line your lungs aggravate chronic lung diseases cause permanent lung damage (Jonson et al, 2000, 14562-14573) Lung damage experienced through Ground Level Ozone may occur without any detectable signs. Individuals living in regions that frequently have high levels of ozone tend to experience diminishing symptoms. However, while the symptoms may diminish, the damaging effects continue. Efforts to combat this have included awareness of Ground Level Ozone peak hours. People are advised to simply stay indoors at these hours, regardless of you not feeling any symptoms (Jonson et al, 2000, 14562-14573). Past Measures to Reduce the Impact of Ground Level Ozone: Efforts have been made to determine what levels of Ground Level Ozone are harmful for people in general. There are standards established that are generally accepted. However, they are not specific. One main reason why this is so is due to the fact that different people are known to react differently to Ground Level Ozone. It is said that a lot of this behavior is influenced by age and genetics2. Another effort to help people keep themselves safe during Ground Level Ozone peaks includes the development of an AQI [Air Quality Index]. This index is scales the levels, and indicates the levels through color codes. This makes it easy for the common man to understand when Ground Ozone Level is reaching damaging levels (Jonson et al, 2001, 526-536). With stations for real-time measuring Ground Level Ozone in different areas, it can be asserted that the data collected is quite accurate. This information is collected and compiled to produce animations and maps that allow the common man to understand the exact status of the Ground Level Ozone. However, it can be argued that with this data, it is difficult to determine areas that do not have a Ground Level Ozon