Behavioural therapy, self-efficacy and modelling with Albert Bandura

Although all students of psychology are familiar with Bandura's name, his most cited work in textbooks does not reveal much about the man behind the ideas. Instead, this interview offers a close look at the life of a great pioneer of the sector. Bandura exemplifies the importance of adopting a open-minded and curious to approach clinical practice and the evolving knowledge on the nature of change. His thirst for knowledge, his discipline and his dedication to the field of psychology are inspiring.

In this compelling interview, the creator of social cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory reveals that he was fascinated early in his career by the wide-ranging effects of the behaviour modification. Bandura observed that the "spillover", capable of propagating from a single behaviour to other areas of functioning, was able to radically improve people's lives by making relatively minor changes to their behaviour. Convinced that there were other examples of this phenomenon, Bandura set out on a quest, collecting and distilling what he had learned in his first article on the different uses of the learning theory in therapy.

In this conversation with Toni Zeiss, Bandura also examines the contributions of theinsight behavioural in psychotherapy, including the importance of the social environment in shaping the personality and behaviour of the individual, the ability to conduct more rigorous clinical research, and the extension of the scope of therapy to preventative work. Bandura argued that, although important, these contributions were not sufficiently adequate, as 'I was gathering a lot of evidence to show that these conditioning processes were, in fact, cognitively mediated'. Outlining the conceptual model and process of the guided mastery, Bandura provides a very useful clinical tool that therapists of any orientation can easily integrate into their practice.

Bandura was not only instrumental in developing revolutionary theories about the way we learn, but also committed himself to applying them to pressing social issues on a global scale. Before the social justice was recognised by many as one of the essential aspects of applied psychology, Bandura was involved in a project involving the broadcasting of soap operas in developing countries in which women were shown as being able to exercise control over their own reproductive health. From his famous experiment with the Bobo doll to his recent work on the processes of societal change, Bandura describes the evolution of his theories and their application through vivid accounts of turning points in his career.