Understanding cognition, choice, and behavior
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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Operant Protocols for Assessing the Cost-benefit Analysis During Reinforced Decision Making by Rodents
Published on: September 10, 2018
1Department of Psychology, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 62901, USA.
Abstract:
Bandura (1995) suggests that a "crusade against the causal efficacy of human thought" exists. The present paper disputes that claim, suggesting that the quest which does exist involves an understanding of self-efficacy. Examined are Bandura's shifting definitions of self-efficacy, his misunderstandings of others' work, and implications of some of his attempts to defend the construct. In the remainder of the paper Rotter's Social Learning Theory is discussed as a model of human choice behavior which recognizes the contributions of both cognitive and behavioral traditions within psychology, and has proven to be of great heuristic value.
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