I was looking over my thesis from my Master’s degree and found one of my research papers on Social Modeling. Please read the excerpt below and see if it helps you understand how people perceive the world around them and change a habit.
A. Lasher Hope
Excerpt from Lasher’s Social Modeling
People will achieve success or failure due to their positive or negative outlook. Self-efficacy is the driving force of social modeling. Self-efficacy is an individual’s estimate or personal judgment of his or her own ability to succeed in reaching a specific goal. This can be quitting smoking, losing weight, stop drinking, changing a behavior, or reducing stress. It is based on the person’s belief to excel. When a person believes they can successfully accomplish something based on their attitude or ability to complete the task, they will do well. The person must realize the benefit of finishing something outweighs the struggle it may take to complete it. (Changing Theories, 2006).
Dr. Carlo DiClemente found in his research that a person can be influenced to be positive about their outlook when trying to change their lifestyle. He saw when using the Transtheoretrical Model of Change that Dr. James Prochaska and he developed, a person did not have to hit bottom to be motivated to change a behavior. They saw unmotivated people could be encouraged to cease behaviors because the model focused on where they were in the process of change, and not focused on the end result. In most programs to quit an addictive behavior, the approach is an all or none event to stop the behavior. DiClemente and his colleagues used gradual steps that involved multiple tasks. It gave the people different coping activities. The research focused on positive outcomes and showing the people they could achieve success by changing a little bit at a time. They were not pushed to change, but rather they each learned how to change at their own pace. DiClemente used this model at a Houston clinical research unit. The people researched had a dependence to alcohol. The researchers could determine which person would have a good outcome and who would have a poor outcome to stop drinking. The people who were successful had a high self-efficacy during the program. It was interesting to note, that this success rate did not matter whether the person was in the inpatient or outpatient program. The results were still the same. (Amaria, Tartaglia, 2002).
The HBM, Health Behavior Model in Changing Theories discussed the same concept. It is a psychological model that predicts behaviors by focusing on attitudes and beliefs of individuals. The Health Behavior Model was one of the first models to adapt theory from behavioral sciences to address health problems. It is still one of the most widely recognized conceptual frameworks to help in all types of health behaviors. (Changing Theories, 2006).
Reflecting on what I learned from the learning theories draws me to this conclusion. We need both cognitive and behavior theories to understand a personality and to utilize social modeling. A cognitive theory will highlight a learner who might doubt their capabilities to learn may end up working halfheartedly. This in turn will help the person who is teaching to see the problem and be able to help the person. While behavioral theories contends that motivating positive reinforcement of a learning style, and using reinforcements will cause the person to succeed simply because good behavior was reinforced and effective reinforcers were present. (Learning Theories, 2004). In this instance, using both the operant conditioning technique of B.F. Skinner and DiClemente’s Transtheoretical Model would be beneficial for any personality trait. Both techniques do involve a process. Other theories only show a measured success if the person showed great improvement. Both techniques of Skinner and DiClemente help the person maintain a positive behavior over time. Social modeling can’t happen overnight. Using these theories would be beneficial to the person, by keeping them positive when facing new challenges, and reducing stress. I feel the person would feel successful at a higher percentage rate and be less likely to feel like they are a failure.
A. Lasher Footprint
The bottom line is can this research relate in the workplace, the classroom or dealing with other people in general? Yes, I believe studying different personalities and learning styles of people will help the facilitator, the teacher, the manager, or the worker get along with other people. People tend to judge too quickly when they see a trait that is undesirable. For example in an office, if each person was given an assessment to understand their personalities and the personalities of their co-workers, I believe there would be more harmony in the workplace. In turn, the manager of the office would see the strengths and weaknesses of each individual and utilize self-efficacy to promote their strengths. I feel this would work when a facilitator was preparing for a training or lecture. They would be able to see the different personalities and use self-efficacy to get the people to respond in a positive manner. Using self-efficacy is a key to pulling out of an individual the inner strength of that person, or seeing what makes them tick. Social modeling is so critical in our society today. People need to become aware of their strengths as well as their weaknesses. They need to see it is not all about them, but what they do will affect someone else. Above anything else, people need to believe that they can succeed.
References:
Changing Theories. (2006). Retrieved May 16, 2014 from: http://www.comminit.com/changetheories/ctheories/changetheories-51.html
Amaria, H., Tartaglia, D., UMDNJ, School of Public Health, ICSA DiClemente, Carlo. Retrieved September 19, 2006 from: http://newsroom.mbooth.com/sainnovators/profiles/CarloDiClemente.html.
Barker, K. (2006). The Sabido Methodology. Population Media Center, Jair Vega Casanova: The Communication Initiative.
Fishbein, M. (1986 -1991). Developing Effective Behavior Change Interventions–summarizing Bandura. University Of Illinois. p. 3.
Velicer, W. F, Prochaska, J. O., Fava, J. L., Norman, G. J., & Redding, C. A. (1998). Smoking cessation and stress management. Applications of the Transtheoretical Model. of behavior change. Homeostasis, 38, 216-233.
Velicer, W.F., Prochaska, J.O., Rossi, J., & DiClemente, C.C. (1996). A criterion measurement model for addictive behaviors. Addictive Behaviors, 21: 555-584.
Skinner, B.F. Simply Psychology, Retrieved May 16, 2014 from http://www.simplypsychology.org/operant-conditioning.html
Until next time,
A. Lasher Converse
Monalisa
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