Albert Bandura

Psychology cannot tell people how they ought to live their lives. It can however, provide them with the means for effecting personal and social change.

In the past, modeling influences were largely confined to the styles of behavior and social practices in one's immediate community. The advent of television vastly expanded the range of models to which members of society are exposed day in and day out.

I have often been struck by the fact that most parents who are experiencing positive and rewarding relationships with their pre-adolescent children are, nevertheless, waiting apprehensively and bracing themselves for the stormy adolescent period.

Most of the images of reality on which we base our actions are really based on vicarious experience.

People who believe they have the power to exercise some measure of control over their lives are healthier, more effective and more successful than those who lack faith in their ability to effect changes in their lives.

Learning would be exceedingly laborious, not to mention hazardous, if people had to rely solely on the effects of their own actions to inform them what to do.

People who have a sense of self-efficacy bounce back from failure they approach things in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying about what can go wrong.