Reciprocal Determinism
Definition
Reciprocal determinism, is the concept proposed by Bandura (1978) that describes the
interaction and mutual influence between individual factors, such as cognition and behavior, and
social factors, such as environmental influences.
Introduction
Reciprocal determinism is a central concept in Albert Bandura’s social learning
theory (1977) and refers to the continuous interplay between personal factors,
such as how an individual thinks, feels, and behaves, and environmental factors.
Specifically, Bandura outlined the give-and-take nature between an individual’s
thoughts, (cognition) acts, (behavior), and the environment. Previous theories
of learning focused on uni- or bidirectional interplay between the individual and
environment, such that the environment impacted the individual or that
individuals perform a behavior independent of the environment.
