Albert Bandura’s research while affiliated with Stanford University and other places

Considers that in studying self-reinforcement 2 types of research methodologies should be considered: how performance standards of self-reward are acquired and whether or not self-administered consequences affect behavior. Considerations in interpreting studies of self-reinforcement are examined in terms of recent studies of modeling influences on children's standards of performance for self-reward. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

In order to examine conditions maintaining self-reinforcement functions, pigeons were trained to reward their own performances and then tested for adherence to work requirements under decreasing likelihood of punishment for undeserved self-reward. Contingent self-reinforcement was stably maintained given moderate to high probability that unmerited self-reward would incur punishing consequences. In successive reversals of treatment and test conditions, the amount of behavior performed for each self-reward covaried with self-reinforcement rate. A further experiment demonstrated that self-reinforcing practices, involving both performance and consummatory contingencies, transfer to new activities for which the animal had never been trained to reward himself contingently. Adherence to performance requirements was more stringent, however, than to limitations on amount of rcinforcers consumed from freely available provisions.

The present study examined the influence of memory codes varying in meaningfulness and retrievability and cumulative rehearsal on retention of observationally learned responses over increasing temporal intervals. Symbolic codes combining meaningfulness with retrievability produced superior memory performances, but responses were poorly retained in symbolic representations containing only one of these properties. Individual response analysis further confirmed that the more meaningful the codes incorporating retrieval guides the better are modeled responses learned and retained. Cumulative rehearsal had differential effects on memory performances depending upon the serial input position of the responses and the form into which the modeled behavior was encoded. Code rehearsals facilitated retention of early and intermediate responses which were repeated more than later ones, but this was true mainly for codes vulnerable to loss. The overall findings provide further corroborative evidence that memory performances are governed more by information coding than by associative strengthening processes.

Tested the efficacy of participant modeling as a function of the amount of response induction aids employed. 36 adult snake phobics (4 males, 32 females) received participant modeling with either a low, a moderate, or a high number of aids. Marked changes in behavior and attitudes were rapidly induced when a wide array of performance aids was available, whereas progress was retarded and attainments were substantially lower given limited auxiliary options. Therapeutic efficacy, however, was not monotonically related to number of performance facilitators. Modeling with moderate induction aids generally yielded comparable results to the more highly aided treatment and, on some measures, produced greater generalization effects. Supplementary findings indicated that generalized changes are best achieved by using aided participant modeling to restore inhibited behavior, followed by self-directed practice to extinguish residual fears and to reinforce personal mastery.

Examined alternative processes governing disinhibitory effects in a comparative evaluation of different forms of symbolic modeling. 11 male and 55 female snake-phobic adults (mean age = 28 yrs) observed approach responses toward snakes modeled either by adults or by young children, or they watched modeling that was irrelevant to their source of threat. The modeling treatments were equated for their informational value, but differed in motivational inducements and model similarity. Ss’ autonomic responses were continuously recorded during repeated exposure to the modeled performances as an index of vicarious fear arousal and extinction. Results do not support the hypothesis that disinhibitory effects are mediated by generalization of model similarity. Although adult and child modeling produced comparable reductions in phobic behavior and fear arousal, correlational findings indicate that the similar behavioral outcomes produced by variant forms of modeling were mediated by different mechanisms. Changes accompanying adult modeling are interpretable in terms of a vicarious extinction process, whereas those resulting from child modeling are more attributable to motivational inducements. (25 ref.)

Investigated the effects of symbolic coding and different types of rehearsal on retention by 44 male and 44 female undergraduates of observationally learned responses over varying temporal intervals. Ss who coded the model's actions verbally or numerically at input and immediately rehearsed the memory codes from which the behavior could be reconstructed attained the highest level of response retention. Physical practice, on the other hand, did not independently aid retention of modeled responses. Both coding and symbolic rehearsal emerged as critical determinants of delayed imitative performance. Neither rehearsal without coding nor coding without rehearsal of the codes in immediate memory improved retention of modeled behavior. In further tests conducted a week later, symbolic coding remained as a significant determinant of matching performance, with the facilitative effects being largely attributable to codes that previously existed in permanent memory. Results support a social learning view of observational learning that emphasizes central processing of response information in the acquisition phase and motor reproduction and incentive processes in the overt enactment of what has been learned. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Pigeons were trained to reward their own performances by eating from a freely available food source only after pecking a disc. The self-reinforcement pattern was established by fading in the work requirement and punishing noncontingent self-feeding by food withdrawal. The animals maintained faultless self-reinforcement for hundreds of trials after the punishment contingency was removed so that the birds could safely feed themselves without performing any pecking responses. In successive induction and extinction of the phenomenon, the number of responses per self-reward was observed to covary with self-reinforcement rate. By progressively raising the work requirements an animal was trained to adopt increasingly higher performance standards of self-reward. After maintaining a high response output for each self-reward the animal promptly discarded all self-imposed work contingencies and quickly resumed them again, though less durably, following additional training.

Tested the conditioned reinforcement and the discrimination hypotheses interpretations of imitative responding which is not explicitly reinforced. Measures were obtained of the rate with which 4 severely retarded and 12 normal kindergarten children imitated exemplified activities as a function of whether or not models reinforced imitative responding, and whether the nonreinforceable responses differed topographically from rewarded demonstrations or were highly similar. In accord with the discrimination hypothesis, ss continued to perform nonrewarded matching responses that were difficult to discriminate from rewarded imitations, but discontinued imitating those that were easily distinguishable. Evidence was obtained that nonreinforced imitations may be maintained in some instances by erroneous anticipated consequences. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

forms of cognitive motivators attribution theory / expectancy-value theory goal theory / self-reactive influences as mediators of goal motivation / self-regulation and the negative feedback model / impact of goal discrepancy on perceived self-efficacy / goal properties and self-motivation / hierarchical structure of goal systems / generic goal orientations / self-regulatory dynamics in organizational accomplishments / aspirational standards, achievement motives, and external incentives / affective consequences of goal discrepancies self-regulation through moral standards / selective activation and disengagement of internal standards / moral justification / euphemistic labeling / advantageous comparison / displacement of responsibility / diffusion of responsibility / disregard or distortion of consequences / dehumanization / attribution of blame / disengagement of self-sanctions and self-deception (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)