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Principles of Behavior Modification
Dr Bandura presents basic psychological principles governing human thought and behavior within the conceptual framework of social learning. This theory emphasizes the prominent roles played by vicarious, symbolic, and self-regulatory processes in psychological functioning. Dr Bandura believes the reason for the sustained interest in this book is because it provided a unified conceptual framework within which to study diverse psychological phenomena and it specified procedures for effecting change. Behavior modification is the use of empirically demonstrated behavior change techniques to increase or decrease the frequency of behaviors, such as altering an individual's behaviors and reactions to stimuli through positive and negative reinforcement of adaptive behavior and/or the reduction of behavior through its extinction, punishment and/or satiation. Most behavior modification programs currently used are those based on Applied behavior analysis (ABA), formerly known as the experimental analysis of behavior which was pioneered by B. F. Skinner. Albert Bandura b.12/4/1925, in Mundare, Alberta, Canada is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. Over almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy and personality psychology, and was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory and the theory of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment.
- GenresPsychology
Paperback
First published July 1, 1969
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About the author
Albert Bandura
40 books183 followersAlbert Bandura OC is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. For almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to the field of education and to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy, and personality psychology, and was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory (renamed the social cognitive theory) and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment.
Social cognitive theory is how people learn through observing others. An example of social cognitive theory would be the students imitating the teacher. Self-efficacy is "the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations." To paraphrase, self-efficacy is believing in yourself to take action. The Bobo Doll Experiment was how Albert Bandura studied aggression and non-aggression in children.
A 2002 survey ranked Bandura as the fourth most-frequently cited psychologist of all time, behind B. F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget, and as the most cited living one. Bandura is widely described as the greatest living psychologist, and as one of the most influential psychologists of all time.
In 1974 Bandura was elected to be the Eighty-Second President of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was one of the youngest president-elects in the history of the APA at the age of 48. Bandura served as a member of the APA Board of Scientific Affairs from 1968 to 1970 and is well known as a member of the editorial board of nine psychology journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1963 to 1972. At the age of 82, Bandura was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for psychology.
Social cognitive theory is how people learn through observing others. An example of social cognitive theory would be the students imitating the teacher. Self-efficacy is "the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations." To paraphrase, self-efficacy is believing in yourself to take action. The Bobo Doll Experiment was how Albert Bandura studied aggression and non-aggression in children.
A 2002 survey ranked Bandura as the fourth most-frequently cited psychologist of all time, behind B. F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget, and as the most cited living one. Bandura is widely described as the greatest living psychologist, and as one of the most influential psychologists of all time.
In 1974 Bandura was elected to be the Eighty-Second President of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was one of the youngest president-elects in the history of the APA at the age of 48. Bandura served as a member of the APA Board of Scientific Affairs from 1968 to 1970 and is well known as a member of the editorial board of nine psychology journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1963 to 1972. At the age of 82, Bandura was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for psychology.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 10, 2025
This book should replace the DSM as the mental health bible for anyone who works in or cares about mental health. It forces us to ask: are we 'treating' individuals, or are we forcing them to conform to an unhealthy system?
The current system uses diagnosis as a tool for control.
Powerful groups use pathological labels to shame nonconformists and maintain injustice.
By labelling people who are discontent with a broken social system as mentally ill, their different voices lose credibility.
It’s a warning to anyone who dares to question the fairness of our norms.
In this way, diagnosis and therapy become gaslighting and mind control techniques, forcing oppressed groups to comply and stay in their place.
When we see increasing numbers of people diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or ADHD, we are encouraged to see them as the problem.
Instead of challenging capitalist exploitation, toxic workplace culture, and systemic oppression, it is easier to blame the victims for their own personality weakness or irrational thinking.
This shifts public attention away from demanding a fairer, more ethical society onto 'treating' individual illness.
What is our society modelling and reinforcing?
We live in a world where aggression is rewarded with power, where regulatory authorities turn a blind eye to corporate exploitation, and where public figures are celebrated for voicing hate and contempt.
This is not just a broken society; it is a daily experiment that is actively rewarding evil.
Some chapters are a sad record of our intolerance for differences.
We waste immense resources and effort treating behaviours that have little to no impact on an individual's or society's well-being, while ignoring the behaviours that are causing widespread suffering.
The chapter on "aversive counterconditioning sexual deviance" describes how homosexual people were subjected to inhuman 'treatments', receiving electric shocks while looking at pictures of males.
Why does society care so much about sexual orientation, which harms no one, instead of focusing on behaviours that do cause real harm?
What about business owners who underpay their employees and compromise workplace safety? Shouldn't those people be the ones receiving the electric shock to modify their unethical conduct?
Why spend money and time treating snake phobia if that person never encounters snakes?
It’s as if we are not allowed to have any fears and must all be superhuman.
A particularly frustrating point in the book states that 'lower class parents cannot themselves provide satisfactory models of class types habits of speech, customs and social skills required to win acceptance from upper middle class peers'.
The upper-middle class defines behavioural norms, and anyone who doesn't follow their rules is judged as deficient or ill.
It is pseudoscientific justification for bigotry.
For anyone tired of a mental health system that often blames the victim, this book is an essential and empowering bible.
The current system uses diagnosis as a tool for control.
Powerful groups use pathological labels to shame nonconformists and maintain injustice.
By labelling people who are discontent with a broken social system as mentally ill, their different voices lose credibility.
It’s a warning to anyone who dares to question the fairness of our norms.
In this way, diagnosis and therapy become gaslighting and mind control techniques, forcing oppressed groups to comply and stay in their place.
When we see increasing numbers of people diagnosed with depression, anxiety, or ADHD, we are encouraged to see them as the problem.
Instead of challenging capitalist exploitation, toxic workplace culture, and systemic oppression, it is easier to blame the victims for their own personality weakness or irrational thinking.
This shifts public attention away from demanding a fairer, more ethical society onto 'treating' individual illness.
What is our society modelling and reinforcing?
We live in a world where aggression is rewarded with power, where regulatory authorities turn a blind eye to corporate exploitation, and where public figures are celebrated for voicing hate and contempt.
This is not just a broken society; it is a daily experiment that is actively rewarding evil.
Some chapters are a sad record of our intolerance for differences.
We waste immense resources and effort treating behaviours that have little to no impact on an individual's or society's well-being, while ignoring the behaviours that are causing widespread suffering.
The chapter on "aversive counterconditioning sexual deviance" describes how homosexual people were subjected to inhuman 'treatments', receiving electric shocks while looking at pictures of males.
Why does society care so much about sexual orientation, which harms no one, instead of focusing on behaviours that do cause real harm?
What about business owners who underpay their employees and compromise workplace safety? Shouldn't those people be the ones receiving the electric shock to modify their unethical conduct?
Why spend money and time treating snake phobia if that person never encounters snakes?
It’s as if we are not allowed to have any fears and must all be superhuman.
A particularly frustrating point in the book states that 'lower class parents cannot themselves provide satisfactory models of class types habits of speech, customs and social skills required to win acceptance from upper middle class peers'.
The upper-middle class defines behavioural norms, and anyone who doesn't follow their rules is judged as deficient or ill.
It is pseudoscientific justification for bigotry.
For anyone tired of a mental health system that often blames the victim, this book is an essential and empowering bible.
September 12, 2018
A helpful book for my graduate class in Behavior Modification
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews