Albert Bandura

Albert Bandura ( born December 4, 1925 in Mundare ) is a Canadian psychologist. He is regarded as one of the leading psychologists of the second half of the 20th century.

Life

Albert Bandura received his bachelor's degree in 1949 in psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada. He then attended the University of Iowa where in 1952 he received his doctorate ( Ph.D.) in psychology. In 1974 he was president of the American Psychological Association.

1952 married Bandura Virginia Varn, with whom he has two daughters.

Work

During his time at the University of Iowa Bandura was influenced by learning theorist Kenneth W. Spence, nevertheless was Bandura's main interest further clinical psychology.

His interest in the psychology of learning was awakened by the book Social Learning and Imitation of Miller and Dollard ( 1941). They used the behaviorist learning theory as a basis to explain the phenomenon of social learning and imitating. Your assumptions on this issue dominated the psychological literature for nearly two decades. Only in the early 1960s, Bandura began with a series of articles and books to change these statements, saying of a learning by observation.

Together with Richard H. Walters Bandura published in 1959 the book Adolescent aggression. He sat in aggression research, the crucial role of social learning of aggressive behavior in addition to engines and frustration as the shutter button.

His most well-known study in 1963 conducted Bobo Doll study, the (also: observational learning ) for the development of the theory of learning in the model led.

In addition, he developed the concepts of self -efficacy and social cognitive learning theory. These studies also form an important theoretical basis for the concept of patient competence.

Awards and achievements

Bandura, who works at Stanford University since the 1950s, is considered one of the leading psychologists of our time. He has received numerous awards and recognitions for his work and is a member of several scientific societies. In 1974 he was appointed president of the American Psychological Association. In 1990 he was awarded by the Freie Universität Berlin honorary doctorate because he " ... an understanding of meaningful learning processes, emotional processes and human behavior changes significantly improved [ has ]. " In 2004 he was awarded the Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology from the American Psychology Association and an Honorary Professorship the University of Athens. In early 2008 the Grawemeyer Award in Psychology was awarded to him.

Writings

• RH Walters: Social Learning and personality developement. New York 1963.
• Model learning. Stuttgart 1976, ISBN 3-12-920590- X.