These theories can help investigate, diagnose, and define ways people interact with products, services, and systems.
People learn by observing others completing an activity.
The Social Cognitive Theory explains how people acquire and maintain certain behavioral patterns while providing the basis for intervention strategies (Bandura, 1997). Evaluating behavioral change depends on the factors of environment, people, and behavior. SCT provides a framework for designing, implementing, and evaluating programs.
Environment refers to the factors that can affect a person’s behavior. There are social and physical environments. Social environments include family members, friends, and colleagues.
Physical environment includes factors such as the size of a room, the ambient temperature, or the availability of certain foods. Environment and situation provide the framework for understanding behavior (Parraga, 1990). The situation refers to the cognitive or mental representations of the environment that may affect a person’s behavior. The situation is a person’s perception of place, time, physical features, and activity (Glanz et al., 2002).
The three factors—environment, people, and behavior—are constantly influencing each other. Behavior is not simply the result of the environment and the person, just as the environment is not simply the result of the person and behavior (Glanz et al., 2002).
The environment provides models for behavior. Observational learning occurs when a person watches the actions of another person and the reinforcements that the person receives (Bandura, 1997).
The concept of behavior can be viewed in many ways. Behavioral capability means that if a person is to perform a behavior, they must know what the behavior is and have the skills to perform it.
Factors that determine whether a person will attempt to complete an activity or not.
The Theory of Reasoned Action suggests that a person’s behavior is determined by their intention to perform the behavior and that this intention is, in turn, a function of their attitude toward the behavior and their subjective norm.
The best predictor of behavior is intention. Intention is the cognitive representation of a person’s readiness to perform a given behavior, and it is considered to be the immediate antecedent of behavior.
This intention is determined by three things:
- Attitude toward the specific behavior
- Subjective norms
- Perceived behavioral control
The theory holds that only specific attitudes toward the behavior in question can be expected to predict that behavior.
In addition to measuring attitudes toward the behavior, we also need to measure people’s subjective norms—their beliefs about how people they care about will view the behavior in question. To predict someone’s intentions, knowing these beliefs can be as important as knowing the person’s attitudes.
Finally, perceived behavioral control influences intentions. Perceived behavioral control refers to people’s perceptions of their ability to perform a given behavior.
As a general rule, the more favorable the attitude and the subjective norm, and the greater the perceived control, the stronger the person’s intention to perform the behavior in question.
Parts
Intention is the deciding factor, driven by:
- Attitude about the activity
- Whether an individual thinks they can actually do it
- What the individual thinks other people will think about them doing it
An entity or person decides what and how much information people are given.
The gatekeeper decides which information will go forward and which will not. In other words, a gatekeeper in a social system decides which commodities—materials, goods, and information—may enter the system.
It is important to realize that gatekeepers can control the public’s knowledge of actual events by letting some stories pass through the system while keeping others out.
Gatekeepers can also be institutions or organizations. In a political system, there are gatekeepers—individuals or institutions that control access to power positions and regulate the flow of information and political influence.
Gatekeepers exist in many jobs, and their choices hold the potential to shape the mental pictures people create about what is happening in the world around them.
Media gatekeeping demonstrates that decision-making is based on principles of news values, organizational routines, input structure, and common sense.
Gatekeeping is vital in communication planning, and almost all communication-planning roles include some aspect of gatekeeping.
The gatekeeper’s choices are influenced by a complex web of preferences, motives, values, and circumstances. Gatekeeping is inevitable and, in some circumstances, useful.
The way a message is designed also shapes the content of the message itself.
Medium Theory focuses on the characteristics of the medium itself rather than on what it conveys or how information is received.
In Medium Theory, a medium is not simply a newspaper, the Internet, or a digital camera. Rather, it is the symbolic environment of any communicative act.
Media, apart from whatever content is transmitted, impact individuals and society.
Marshall McLuhan’s thesis is that people adapt to their environment through a certain balance of the senses, and the primary medium of an age brings out a particular sensory ratio, thereby affecting perception.
Statements
Some of McLuhan’s famous expressions include:
- “The medium is the message.”
- “The medium is the massage.”
- “We live in a mess-age.”
- “The content of a new medium is an old medium.”
Motivation and processing ability determine attitude change.
Attitudes guide decisions and other behaviors. Persuasion is a primary source of attitude development.
The model features two routes of persuasive influence:
- Central Route
- Peripheral Route
The ELM accounts for the differences in persuasive impact produced by arguments that contain ample information and strong reasoning compared to messages that rely on simplistic associations of positive or negative attributes.
The key variable in this process is involvement—the extent to which an individual is willing and able to think about the position being advocated and its supporting materials.
When people are motivated and able to think about the content of a message, elaboration is high. Elaboration involves cognitive processes such as:
- Evaluation
- Recall
- Critical judgment
- Inferential judgment
When elaboration is high, the central persuasive route is likely to occur. Conversely, the peripheral route is more likely when elaboration is low.
Persuasion may also occur with low elaboration. In these cases, the receiver is not guided by an assessment of the message itself but instead follows a principle or decision rule derived from the persuasive situation.
A person’s beliefs impact their understanding of a situation and willingness to act.
According to Expectancy Value Theory, behavior is a function of:
- The expectations one has
- The value of the goal toward which one is working
When more than one behavior is possible, the behavior chosen will generally be the one with the largest combination of expected success and perceived value.
Expectancy Value Theories hold that people are goal-oriented beings. Their behaviors, based on their beliefs and values, are undertaken to achieve desired outcomes.
However, there are additional factors that influence behavior, including the social and psychological origins of needs, which give rise to motives. These motives may be guided by beliefs, values, and social circumstances into seeking various gratifications through media consumption and other behaviors.
Statements
Expectancy Value Theory suggests that:
“People orient themselves to the world according to their expectations (beliefs) and evaluations.”
Behavior, behavioral intentions, and attitudes are functions of:
- Expectancy (belief) — the perceived probability that an object possesses a particular attribute or that a behavior will have a particular consequence.
- Evaluation — the degree of positive or negative feeling toward an attribute or behavioral outcome.
(Palmgreen, 1984)
How interpretation of an event impacts a person’s understanding of it.
Attribution Theory is concerned with how individuals interpret events and how those interpretations relate to thinking and behavior.
The theory assumes that people try to determine why people do what they do.
A person seeking to understand another person’s behavior may attribute one or more causes to that behavior.
According to Heider, people make two primary types of attributions:
- Internal Attribution
- The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the person, such as attitude, character, personality, or disposition.
- External Attribution
- The inference that a person is behaving in a certain way because of something about the situation they are in.
Our attributions are also strongly influenced by emotional and motivational drives.
Examples include:
- Blaming others while avoiding personal responsibility.
- Defending ourselves against perceived attacks.
- Pointing to injustice in an unfair world.
- Blaming victims in order to distance ourselves from the possibility of experiencing similar suffering.
People also tend to see themselves as more complex and variable than others because they have greater access to their own thoughts and experiences.
Uncertainty is unpleasant and therefore motivational; people communicate to reduce it.
Uncertainty Reduction Theory proposes that people seek information in order to reduce uncertainty about others and improve their ability to predict behavior.
The theory identifies three developmental stages:
- Entry Stage
During the entry stage, information is gathered about:
- Sex
- Age
- Economic status
- Social status
- Other demographic characteristics
Much of the interaction during this stage is guided by social norms and communication rules.
- Personal Stage
As people begin sharing:
- Attitudes
- Beliefs
- Values
- Personal information
They become less constrained by social rules and communicate more freely.
- Exit Stage
During the exit stage, communicators decide on future interaction plans.
They may discuss ways to continue and strengthen the relationship.
Not every interaction progresses through all stages. Many conversations end during the entry stage, especially when people first meet or when new topics emerge later in a relationship.
Berger identified three primary strategies people use to reduce uncertainty:
- Passive Strategies
Observing another person without direct interaction.
Examples:
- Watching someone in a classroom
- Observing someone at a sporting event
- Active Strategies
Seeking information indirectly.
Examples:
- Asking others about the person
- Creating opportunities to observe the person
- Interactive Strategies
Communicating directly with the person.
People seek information in order to increase their ability to predict both their partner’s behavior and their own behavior in future situations.
Another important factor in reducing uncertainty is perceived similarity between communicators, including:
- Background
- Attitudes
- Appearance
Statements
The axioms of Uncertainty Reduction Theory follow an “if…then…” structure.
Example:
“If uncertainty levels are high, the amount of verbal communication between strangers will decrease.”