Question 1

True or false: Bandura's theory was based on the idea that learning only happens when behavior is reinforced.

Accepted Answer

False. He argued that observational learning occurs without direct reinforcement, as seen in the Bobo doll study where children imitated without rewards.

Question 2

True or false: Bandura believed that self-efficacy is entirely determined by past successes and failures.

Accepted Answer

False. He identified four sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, and physiological states—not just past outcomes.

Question 3

True or false: Bandura's social cognitive theory rejects the idea that behavior is solely shaped by environment or internal forces.

Accepted Answer

True. He proposed reciprocal determinism: behavior, personal factors, and environment all interact bidirectionally to shape human action.

Question 4

True or false: Bandura's Bobo doll experiment was originally designed to study the effects of violent video games.

Accepted Answer

False. The 1961 experiment used a filmed adult hitting an inflatable doll; video games didn't exist then. It modeled observational learning of aggression.

Question 5

True or false: Bandura conducted his Bobo doll study on children as young as six months old.

Accepted Answer

False. Participants were preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years, not infants, to ensure they could understand and imitate the modeled aggression.

Question 6

True or false: Bandura's early research included a study on snake phobias using guided mastery therapy.

Accepted Answer

True. In the 1970s, he developed a successful treatment where participants watched a model handle snakes, then gradually approached them themselves.

Question 7

True or false: Bandura coined the term 'self-efficacy' in his 1977 paper 'Self-Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavioral Change'.

Accepted Answer

True. That landmark paper introduced self-efficacy, defining it as belief in one's ability to succeed in specific situations, revolutionizing motivation research.

Question 8

True or false: Bandura served as president of the American Psychological Association in 1974.

Accepted Answer

True. He was APA president for a one-year term, a rare honor recognizing his massive influence on psychology and social learning theory.

Albert Bandura Trivia Questions