Top 25 quotes by Albert Bandura

Valuable reflections on learning, self-efficacy and other interesting concepts.

Canadian psychologist Albert Bandura (born in 1925 and died in 2021) is one of the most influential researchers of modern psychology.

He developed different theories that he included in his extensive theory of social learning. Among his major contributions, he emphasized the influence of the learner on the surrounding human environment. His theory was opposed to the behaviorist postulates of authors such as B.F. Skinner or John B. Watson.

Albert Bandura's quotes, famous quotations and reflections

So, in today's article we have proposed to pay tribute to this researcher who had such an influence on the theories of human learning.

Throughout these famous quotes, Albert Bandura explains the cognitive keys to understanding the way in which the learning processes and its final result: knowledge.

1. People who believe they have the power to exercise some degree of control over their lives are healthier, more effective and more successful than those who have no faith in their ability to effect change in their lives.

A phrase in which Albert Bandura talks about the internal locus of control and its benefits.

2. There are countless studies on the negative spread of work pressures on family life, but few on how job satisfaction improves the quality of family life.

In this case, Albert Bandura emphasizes a very under-researched aspect.

3. Moral justification is a defense mechanism we all use. Destructive behavior is made personally and socially acceptable by portraying it in the service of moral ends. This is the reason why most of the remedies against violent means often fall on deaf ears.

In this sentence, Bandura tells us about defense mechanisms.

4. People's beliefs about their abilities have a great effect on those abilities.

If you believe you are good at something, you will keep trying to improve and, in time, you will probably be a real expert. A phrase that speaks of the Pygmalion Effect.

5. To achieve success, individuals possess a sense of self-efficacy, of fighting together to meet life's inevitable obstacles and inequalities.

Self-efficacy is that sense of being able to achieve one's goals. It is an ability intimately linked to a sense of success and control.

6. We have developed a better understanding of everyday issues than the most celebrated of university professors.

A reflection that shows us how passion for the knowledge of daily life is more powerful than systematized study in a laboratory.

7. Psychology cannot tell people how to live their lives. It can, however, provide them with the means to effect personal and social change.

Why is psychology important? Well, it may not show us the way, but it does provide us with certain effective resources.

8. Learning is bidirectional: we learn from the environment, and the environment learns and is modified by our actions.

Another reflection on learning and how knowledge changes the human and physical environment.

9. Trusting yourself does not guarantee success, but not doing so guarantees failure.

A motivational phrase that is perhaps the Canadian author's most famous.

10. Achievement is socially judged by ill-defined criteria, so one tends to rely on others to figure out how one is doing.

It is a mistake to value our own achievements from the perspective of other individuals.

11. Fortunately, most human behaviors are learned by observation through modeling from other subjects.

We learn by observation, not by instruction.

12. Given certain environmental conditions, the kindest and most polite people can commit absolutely atrocious acts.

Do you know the Stanford Prison experiment? Bandura explains this phenomenon, so much researched in social psychology.

13. Individuals are producers of their life circumstances, and not only products of them.

We have the capacity to modify our environment.

14. Most of the images on which we base our actions are based on vicarious learning.

In this article we explain what vicarious learning is.

15. It's ironic: talented people with high aspirations are especially vulnerable to feelings of failure even though they may achieve great success.

The higher the expectations, the higher the threshold at which we feel satisfied with what we have achieved.

16. We are more interested in theories that explain failure than in those that explain success.

Paradoxically, we are more attracted to learning about negative phenomena.

17. A theory that denies that thoughts can regulate actions is not able to explain the complexity of human behavior.

This sentence by Albert Bandura is a frontal criticism of behaviorism.

18. People who see themselves as highly effective act, think and feel differently than those who perceive themselves as ineffective. The former produce their own future, rather than simply predicting it.

In this reflection he speaks of the internal locus of control.

19. Even notable performance achievements do not necessarily increase the perception of self-efficacy.

Even though we may achieve remarkable successes, self-efficacy is a virtue that is not reinforced by such environmental circumstances.

20. You cannot afford to be realistic.

Too much realism anchors us to mediocrity.

21. Once consolidated, reputation is very difficult to change.

If you have been given a label, it will be very difficult to change it.

22. People with low self-confidence think that their achievements are due to external factors, rather than to their own skills or abilities.

In this case it tells us about the external locus of control.

23. Perceived self-efficacy predicts academic dropout.

One of the major causes of school failure.

24. The satisfaction that individuals feel about the activities they perform are influenced by a long list of elements and standards of self-evaluation.

How we perceive success and self-fulfillment is less subjective than we might imagine.

25. Insecure people avoid social comparisons that pose a threat to their self-esteem.

And perhaps for this reason they tend to isolate themselves and lavish less on social events.