Question

What is The Reciprocal Model and how does affect society today?

Answer 1

Reciprocal determinism is a behavioural concept , which was proposed by Albert Bandura. It explains that how behaviour of an individual can be determined by three basic factors; individual traits(cognitive process), enviroment (external stmuli) and the behaviour itself, of the individual. The individual traits includes personality traits of an individual. It plays a crucial role in determining how a person thinks, acts and reacts in any given situation. It includes the individual's beliefs,expectations,cognitive processing, attitude; everything that has been rewarded or punished in the past . On the other hand, environmental factors includes external stimuli like physical surrounding around the individual . The environment aids the frequency and the intensity of the behaviour of an individual (based on rewards or punishments). For example , If an introverted shy (individual triat)student enters a classroom. She is expected to find the corner seat for herself , in order to avoid social conventions and attention(behaviour pattern). Now, if the professor greets the shy student and encourages her to sit in front of the class, along with others, who happily makes space for her; the environment ( friendly classmate and encouraging professor) could lead to a change in the behavioural pattern of the girl.She might now percieve the class as welcoming (environmental change) and therefore, is reinforced to sit in front , along with other students (behavioural change). The Reciprocal Model can be used for providing cognitive -behavioural therapy to anxiety patient. For example, each time an individual is met with an anxiety provoking situation ( reciting a poem on stage), he is expected to think irrationally, act impulsively and experience breathlessness (cognitive process). Instead of running away from the situation, if the patient is encouraged to face his anxiety and perform the recitation of poem, to which the audience applause and appreciates (enviroment) ; the individual would be reinforced to fight the anxiety provoking stimuli, instead of taking a flight (in future). Therefore, The Reciprocal Model has its implication in multiple therapies that deal with anxiety and behioural disorders,that effects the functioning of an individual in the society.