504 Part VI Learning-Cognitive Theories
on people’s behavior, “others have more lasting effects, and still others thrust
people into new life trajectories” (Bandura, 2001, p. 12).
Chance encounters and fortuitous events are not uncontrollable. Indeed, peo-
ple can make chance happen. A divorced man looking for an opportunity to remarry
will increase his chance of meeting a potential wife by pursuing a proactive course
of action, for example, by joining a singles club, going to places where he is likely
to find single women, or asking a friend to introduce him to an eligible potential
mate. If he meets an eligible and desirable woman, he increases his chances for a
lasting relationship if he has prepared himself to be attractive or interesting to
women. Bandura (2001) quotes Louis Pasteur: “Chance favors only the prepared
mind” (p. 12). Conversely, the prepared person is able to escape unpleasant chance
encounters and chance misfortunes by anticipating their possibility and taking steps
to minimize any negative impact they may have on future development.Human Agency
Social cognitive theory takes an agentic view of personality, meaning that humans
have the capacity to exercise control over their own lives (2002b). Indeed, human
agency is the essence of humanness. Bandura (2001) believes that people are self-
regulating, proactive, self-reflective, and self-organizing and that they have the
power to influence their own actions to produce desired consequences. Human
agency does not mean that people possess a homunculus—that is, an autonomous
agent—making decisions that are consistent with their view of self. Neither does
it mean that people react automatically to external and internal events. Human
agency is not a thing but an active process of exploring, manipulating, and influ-
encing the environment in order to attain desired outcomes.Core Features of Human Agency
Bandura (2001, 2004) discusses four core features of human agency: intentionality,
forethought, self-reactiveness, and self-reflectiveness.
Intentionality refers to acts a person performs intentionally. An intention
includes planning, but it also involves actions. “It is not simply an expectation or
prediction of future actions but a proactive commitment to bringing them about”
(2001, p. 6). Intentionality does not mean that all of a person’s plans will be brought
to fruition. People continually change their plans as they become aware of the
consequences of their actions.
People also possess forethought to set goals, to anticipate likely outcomes of
their actions, and to select behaviors that will produce desired outcomes and avoid
undesirable ones. Forethought enables people to break free from the constraints of
their environment. If behavior were completely a function of the environment, then
behavior would be more variable and less consistent because we would constantly
be reacting to the great diversity of environmental stimuli. “If actions were deter-
mined solely by external rewards and punishments, people would behave like
weathervanes” (Bandura, 1986, p. 335). But people do not behave like weather-
vanes, “constantly shifting direction to conform to whatever influence happened to
impinge upon them at the moment” (Bandura, 2001, p. 7).