Albert Bandura
We become what we watch and believe we can do
The psychologist who showed that much of human learning happens by watching others, and that belief in oneself shapes what we attempt.
techniques
People are not just shaped by their world; they help to make it.
Who they were
Albert Bandura demonstrated, in his famous studies with an inflatable Bobo doll, that children learn behavior simply by observing it — no reward required. From this grew his social-cognitive theory, which holds that person, behavior, and environment continually shape one another. He later introduced "self-efficacy," the quiet conviction that one is capable of meeting a challenge, and showed how powerfully it governs the goals we set and the effort we sustain. His work moved psychology toward seeing people not as passive products of their conditioning but as active agents in their own lives.
Famous books
What they left on the shelf
Terms they cared about
Ideas worth knowing
Their big idea
Social Cognitive Theory
Albert Bandura showed that much of what we know is learned by watching others, not only through reward and punishment. Behavior, our own thinking, and the surrounding world shape one another, and the belief that we can act effectively quietly steers what we attempt.
Questions in their spirit
What they’d ask you
Sit with one. Answer online, or in the app.
Carry the idea forward
Bandura — What they’d ask you
Psipas asks you one small, honest question at a time — and builds the picture from your answers.