Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionV. Learning Theories 16. Bandura: Social
Cognitive Theory© The McGraw−Hill^499
Companies, 2009collective efficacy. For example, a woman may have high personal efficacy that she
can pursue a healthy lifestyle, but she may have low collective efficacy that she can
reduce environmental pollution, hazardous working conditions, or the threat of in-
fectious disease.
Bandura (1998b) pointed out that different cultures have different levels of col-
lective efficacy and work more productively under different systems. For example, peo-
ple in the United States, an individualistic culture, feel greater self-efficacyand work
best under an individually oriented system, whereas people in China, a collectivist cul-
ture, feel greater collective efficacyand work best under a group-oriented system.
Bandura (1997, 1998b, 2001) lists several factors that can undermine collec-
tive efficacy. First, humans live in a transnational world; what happens in one part of
the globe can affect people in other countries, giving them a sense of helplessness.
Destruction of the Amazon rain forests, international trade policies, or depletion of
the ozone layers, for example, can affect the lives of people everywhere and under-
mine their confidence to shape a better world for themselves.
Second, recent technology that people neither understand nor believe that they
can control may lower their sense of collective efficacy. In past years, many mo-
torists, for example, had confidence in their ability to keep their car in running con-
dition. With the advent of computerized controls in modern automobiles, many mod-
erately skilled mechanics not only have lost personal efficacy for repairing their
vehicle but also have low collective efficacy for reversing the trend toward more and
more complicated automobiles.
A third condition undermining collective efficacy is the complex social ma-
chinery, with layers of bureaucracy that prevent social change. People who attempt
to change bureaucratic structures are often discouraged by failure or by the long
lapse of time between their actions and any noticeable change. Having become dis-
couraged, many people, “rather than developing the means for shaping their own fu-
ture,... grudgingly relinquish control to technical specialists and to public officials”
(Bandura, 1995, p. 37).
Fourth, the tremendous scope and magnitude of human problems can under-
mine collective efficacy. Wars, famine, overpopulation, crime, and natural disasters
are but a few of the global problems that can leave people with a sense of power-
lessness. Despite these huge transnational problems, Bandura believes that positive
changes are possible if people will persevere with their collective efforts and not be-
come discouraged.
Taking a worldwide view, Bandura (2000) concluded that “as globalization
reaches ever deeper into people’s lives, a resilient sense of shared efficacy becomes
critical to furthering their common interests” (p. 78).
Self-Regulation
When people have high levels of self-efficacy, are confident in their reliance on prox-
ies, and possess solid collective efficacy, they will have considerable capacity to
regulate their own behavior. Bandura (1994) believes that people use both reactive
and proactive strategies for self-regulation. That is, they reactivelyattempt to reduce
the discrepancies between their accomplishments and their goal; but after they
close those discrepancies, they proactivelyset newer and higher goals for themselves.
Chapter 16 Bandura: Social Cognitive Theory 493