Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory Research Articles

Sources of self-efficacy in academic contexts: A longitudinal perspective.

The formation of self-efficacy, according to Bandura's (1997) social-cognitive theory, is an important area of inquiry. This theoretical tenet posits the importance of enactive learning experience, followed by lesser influences of vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional and physiological states. Quantitative research, predominantly, has produced clear and consistent evidence that supports this position. We argue that the elementary school years may indicate differently, whereby children's limited cognitive maturity and learning experiences could compel them to rely on other psychosocial informational sources. To date and to our knowledge, very few studies, if any, have explored the sustained influence of enactive learning experience across time. In this study, consequently, we tested a sequential predictive model that involved the differential influences of the 4 major informational sources on self-efficacy and then self-efficacy on academic achievement. Three time points of data (N = 328, Year 6) were collected across the calendar year, and Mplus 7.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998-2012) was used to assist us in our structural modeling testing. At Time 1, only enactive learning experience and vicarious experience positively influenced self-efficacy. At Time 2, after controlling for prior variance of Time 1 corresponding factors, only enactive learning experience remained significant. At Time 3, after controlling for autoregressive paths, enactive learning experience remained significant, and both verbal persuasion and emotional and physiological states positively influenced self-efficacy. The impact of self-efficacy on academic achievement was significant across the 3 occasions (βs = .20-.46). (PsycINFO Database Record

The Role of Self-Care for Parents in Recovery From Substance Use Disorders: An Integrative Review of Parental Self-Care.

Lack of stress modifiers, such as self-care behaviors (SCBs), can increase vulnerability to drug use for parents in recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs). The purpose of this integrative review was to determine how the existing literature describes, conceptualizes, and measures SCB for parents in the general population for its application to parents with a history of SUD. Framed by Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory of Substance Abuse, four qualitative and five quantitative studies identify SCB, although only one study describes SCB of parents in recovery. Few studies addressed parental SCB, and most of those studies focused on behaviors for new mothers with or without SUDs during the early child years. Exploring the role of SCB in relation to parental well-being for the general population is a needed area for further research, even more so for parents who are recovering from SUDs.

Expert Role Modeling Effect on Novice Nursing Students' Clinical Judgment

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to determine the effect of the specific prebriefing strategy of expert role modeling on novice nursing students' clinical judgment scores. MethodQuantitative experimental design assessed clinical judgment scores with the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR). Both the control and treatment groups received standard prebriefing. The treatment group received the intervention of viewing an expert role modeling video. Data analysis included comparison of self-assessed, peer rated, and trained external faculty rated clinical judgment scores obtained with the LCJR for each student performing the role of the primary registered nurse. Theoretical foundation was Bandura's social cognitive theory and Tanner's model of clinical judgment. ResultsStudent self and peer LCJR scores did not demonstrate statistically significant differences between the control and treatment groups. Expert faculty reviewer ratings demonstrated statistically significant (p = .000) differences between the control and treatment groups' LCJR scores. ConclusionsStudy findings supported the concept that incorporating an expert nurse role modeling video before each simulation scenario improved students' scores on the LCJR when rated by expert faculty reviewers.

Student Perceptions of and Confidence in Self-Care Course Concepts Using Team-based Learning

Objective. To evaluate changes in student perceptions of and confidence in self-care concepts after completing a team-based learning (TBL) self-care course. Methods. Team-based learning was used at two universities in first professional year, semester-long self-care courses. Two instruments were created and administered before and after the semester. The instruments were designed to assess changes in student perceptions of self-care using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) domains and confidence in learning self-care concepts using Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory. Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to evaluate pre/post changes, and Mann Whitney U tests were used to evaluate university differences. Results. Fifty-three Cedarville University and 58 Manchester University students completed both instruments (100% and 92% response rates, respectively). Student self-care perceptions with TPB decreased significantly on nine of 13 items for Cedarville and decreased for one of 13 items for Manchester. Student confidence in self-care concepts improved significantly on all questions for both universities. Conclusion. Data indicate TBL self-care courses were effective in improving student confidence about self-care concepts. Establishing students' skill sets prior to entering the profession is beneficial because pharmacists will use self-directed learning to expand their knowledge and adapt to problem-solving situations.

An opportunity to combat obesity lies in the at-risk college population.

Approximately 70% of United States [or U.S.] adults are either overweight or obese. Obesity increases the risk of chronic disease and strains healthcare access, quality, and cost. Weight gain occurs in college students threatening optimal weight maintenance. Physical activity is fundamental to preventing disease. College students incur multiple challenges in weight management. The purpose of the article is to describe the opportunity for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to intentionally become wellness promoters. The literature was reviewed and interventions developed. Guided by Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, focus was concentrated on environmental influences through a proposed Staying Active Campaign (SAC). College students are a vulnerable population at risk for unhealthful practices. Young adulthood is a critical period of weight gain that carries risk for later adulthood. College students desire and require assistance for successful weight management. Interventions can be directed by APRNs to achieve healthful weight management and create a campus-wide culture that reinforces healthful practices. Obesity in the college population is a twofold circumstance. Action by APRNs is needed to address obesity and advocate for the prevention of future obesity. The SAC decreases the confounding college environment and supports the students' ability to be physically active while establishing personal lifelong behaviors to emulate and share with others.

A diversified portfolio model of adaptability.

A new model of adaptability, the diversified portfolio model (DPM) of adaptability, is introduced. In the 1950s, Markowitz developed the financial portfolio model by demonstrating that investors could optimize the ratio of risk and return on their portfolios through risk diversification. The DPM integrates attractive features of a variety of models of adaptability, including Linville's self-complexity model, the risk and resilience model, and Bandura's social cognitive theory. The DPM draws on the concept of portfolio diversification, positing that diversified investment in multiple life experiences, life roles, and relationships promotes positive adaptation to life's challenges. The DPM provides a new integrative model of adaptability across the biopsychosocial levels of functioning. More importantly, the DPM addresses a gap in the literature by illuminating the antecedents of adaptive processes studied in a broad array of psychological models. The DPM is described in relation to the biopsychosocial model and propositions are offered regarding its utility in increasing adaptiveness. Recommendations for future research are also offered. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Influence of Three Aspects of Adaptation on the Relationships between Coaching and Work Outcomes

Based on Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory, this paper examined the contextual effects of leaders' coaching style on followers' adaptation in three aspects, adaptive behaviour/ performance, ...

Teachers’ Self- and Collective Efficacy: The Case of Novice English Language Teachers

This paper studies the relationship between EFL teachers’ self-efficacy and collective efficacy among 55 novice EFL teachers from Milad Language Institute in Tehran, Iran. The participants were asked to complete the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran and Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), and the short version of Collective Teachers’ Efficacy Instrument (CTEI) (Goddard and Goddard, 2001). Data analysis revealed that there is a significant relationship between the teachers’ self-efficacy and their collective efficacy. To investigate which components of self-efficacy might have more predictive power in predicting teachers' collective efficacy, regression analysis was run. The first subscale of self-efficacy, i.e., self-efficacy for students' engagement, was found to be a good predictor of teachers' self-efficacy. The paper presents possible differences in the sources of collective efficacy and teacher self-efficacy and the interaction between teachers’ self-efficacy and collective efficacy. The conclusions and implications of the research are discussed with reference to Bandura's (1977) social cognitive theory and the earlier findings.

Edutainment's Impact on Health Promotion: Viewing The Biggest Loser Through the Social Cognitive Theory.

Through a critical rhetorical analysis using Bandura's social cognitive theory as a lens to view The Biggest Loser (TBL), this article illustrates the contradictions between the show's health promotional aims and its entertainment aims, which show the problems the show creates for health promotion practitioners working on obesity. The social cognitive theory constructs of observational learning, psychological determinants, and environmental determinants emerged from this reading of TBL as central to how the show masquerades as a health promotion tool. This reading reveals that TBL promotes a neoliberal construction of health and obesity that challenges the worldview that many health promotion campaigns take and, therefore, complicates our own efforts to combat obesity. With this revealed, it is suggested that TBL be incorporated into health promotion campaigns only as a foil.

Enhancing Self-Efficacy and Performance: An Experimental Comparison of Psychological Techniques

Purpose: We assessed how 6 psychological performance enhancement techniques (PETs) differentially improved self-efficacy (SE) and skill performance. We also assessed whether vicarious experiences and verbal persuasion as posited sources of SE (Bandura, 1982) were supported and, further, if the effects of the 6 PETs remained after controlling for achievement motivation traits and self-esteem. Method: A within-subject design assessed each individual across 2 trials for 3 disparate PETs. A between-groups design assessed differences between PETs paired against each other for 3 similar novel tasks. Participants (N = 96) performed 2 trials of 10 attempts at each of the tasks (kick, throw, golf putt) in a counterbalanced sequence using their nondominant limb. Participants completed the Sport Orientation Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and General Self-Efficacy Scale and were randomly allocated to either the modeling or imagery, goal-setting or instructional self-statement, or knowledge-of-results or motivational feedback conditions aligned with each task. Results: An instructional self-statement improved performance better than imagery, modeling, goal setting, and motivational and knowledge-of-results augmented feedback. Motivational auditory feedback most improved SE. Increased SE change scores were related to increased performance difference scores on all tasks after controlling for age, sex, achievement motivation, and self-esteem. Conclusions: Some sources of SE may be more influential than others on both SE and performance improvements. We provide partial support for the sources of SE proposed by Bandura's social-cognitive theory with verbal persuasion but not vicarious experiences improving SE.

Factors Associated with Anger among Male Adolescents in Western Iran: An Application of Social Cognitive Theory.

Introduction:Anger can be defined a natural emotional response that is gradually formed to protect us in dealing with threats, damages, assaults, and failures; while hatred is a change of attitude which is built following the persistence of anger towards a subject or an individual. One of the main reasons of adolescents’ reference to the counseling centers is their anger accompanied by violence.Objective:This study aims to determine the social cognitive factors associated with anger among a population of adolescents in the west of Iran based on the social cognitive theory.Methodology:Samples were selected based on multi-stage cluster sampling. Method including the first and the second-grade male high school students from Ilam town (N=360). The Spielberger’s anger questionnaire (STAXI 2) and a self-designed questionnaire based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory were employed as the data collection instruments in the present study.Results:Of the selected population, 200 students were the first-grade and 160 students were the second-grade students. 135 students were the first child of the family, 150 students were the second or the third birth, and 75 students were the fifth or above in their families. Descriptive tests and correlation analysis were used to conduct the statistical analysis. Although there was a significant and inverse relationship between all the components of the theory and anger, the strongest relationship was seen in self-efficacy (-0.585) and the weakest relationship was seen in modeling (-0.297).Discussion and Conclusion:If was concluded that helping people to know their abilities and have a better personal judgment in this case, can influence their anger control. In addition, the process of stress management can effectively increase an individual’s emotional coping.

Flipping the on switch: Men who became regularly physically active during middle age

One method to increase physical activity (PA) in ageing adults is through the use of intervention research, and a means to inform designs of PA interventions is to examine the practices of those who are successful in adhering to activity. However, authors of recent review articles suggest that males are underrepresented in intervention research studies. Consequently, this study was designed to use the interpretative phenomenological analysis approach to explore the motivators and practices of three older active males who independently initiated regular PA participation during middle age. Participants discussed the role of mentors and other influences, and their awareness of effort or intensity during activity. Data analysis suggested that these men assertively managed their environments and used internal restraints in order to regulate their PA participation, consistent with some elements of Bandura's social cognitive theory. Activity researchers might consider counselling participants in effective use of the indicated strategies.

An interactive, bilingual, culturally targeted website about living kidney donation and transplantation for hispanics: development and formative evaluation.

BackgroundAs the kidney shortage continues to grow, patients on the waitlist are increasingly turning to live kidney donors for transplantation. Despite having a disproportionately higher prevalence of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD), fewer waitlisted Hispanic patients received living donor kidney transplants (LDKTs) than non-Hispanic whites in 2014. Although lack of knowledge has been identified as a barrier to living kidney donation (LKD) among Hispanics, little is known about information needs, and few bilingual educational resources provide transplant-related information addressing Hispanics’ specific concerns.ObjectiveThis paper describes the process of developing a bilingual website targeted to the Hispanic community. The website was designed to increase knowledge about LKD among Hispanic patients with ESKD, their families, and the public, and was inspired by educational sessions targeted to Hispanic transplant patients provided by Northwestern University’s Hispanic Kidney Transplant Program.MethodsNorthwestern faculty partnered with the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois for expertise in ESKD and Hispanic community partners across the Chicago area. We established a Community Advisory Board (CAB) of 10 Chicago-area Hispanic community leaders to provide insight into cultural concerns and community and patients’ needs. Website content development was informed by 9 focus groups with 76 adult Hispanic kidney transplant recipients, living kidney donors, dialysis patients, and the general Hispanic public. The website development effort was guided by community input on images, telenovela scripts, and messages. After initial development, formal usability testing was conducted with 18 adult Hispanic kidney transplant recipients, dialysis patients, and living kidney donors to identify ways to improve navigability, design, content, comprehension, and cultural sensitivity. Usability testing revealed consistently high ratings as “easy to navigate”, “informative”, and “culturally appropriate”. Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Gagne’s Conditions of Learning Theory guided website design to facilitate adult learning.ResultsThe website, “Infórmate: Living Kidney Donation for Hispanics/Latinos” (Infórmate Acerca de la Donación de Riñón en Vida), includes six sections: Treatment Options, Donation: Step-by-Step, Benefits and Risks, Financial Issues, Immigrant Issues, and Cultural Beliefs and Myths. Sections host 5-10 interactive messages that summarize important points and link to detailed explanations for users interested in learning more about specific issues. The website hosts interactive videos, multimedia testimonials, telenovelas, games, and quizzes. Photographs and videos of Hispanic living donors are shown to promote pride and ownership.ConclusionsOur success in developing a website was driven by a development team with expertise in transplantation, social science, evaluation, instructional design, and Hispanic perspectives, and by a patient-centered approach toward content and design. Based on feedback from usability testing and our CAB, the website is sensitive to Hispanic cultural sensibilities. We have nearly completed a formal evaluation of the website’s impact on increasing Hispanics’ knowledge about LKD and will disseminate the website thereafter.

Modeling the intention to choose natural vaginal delivery: using reasoned action and social cognitive theories.

The Behavioral Intention Model is one of the best and most widely models used regarding attitude of behavioral of pregnancy and decrease the rate of cesarean section (CS) among pregnant women, except effect of attitude and subjective norms on behavioral intention. Two variables of self-efficacy, and outcome expectation, relate to individual's behavior in an upcoming situation, and both of them are important at the development of behavior. The purpose of the present study was to develop a model to explain women's inten-tion to choose natural vaginal delivery (NVD). The variables of self-efficacy and outcome expectations, derived from Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory, and Behavioral Intention Model constructs were used to define the model. The study was descriptive and cross-sectional in nature and took place in Pars Abad, Iran in 2014. The non-probability sample consisted of 200 pregnant women who voluntarily participated in the study and provided the data. SPSS 21 and MPLUS 6.8 were employed to analyze the data. Self-efficacy, outcome expectations, and attitude toward NVD were associated with intention to choose the NVD. The study findings may play a role in designing educational interventions aimed at influencing the NVD and improving childbirth programs.

“But I Wasn't Told To”: Lack of Education and Workplace Policy as Barriers in the Provision of Family Planning Information

Access to family planning has been identified as critical to public health. Improving the linkage between medical and social services could result in improved access to care for those most at risk of unintended pregnancy. This study used a survey based on Alfred Bandura's social cognitive theory (1986) to increase the understanding of the barriers social workers confront in the provision of family planning information to clients. Although moral disagreement with family planning presented a barrier for some, workplace policy, participation in family planning trainings, and working in an urban setting were of greater value in understanding barriers.

The relationship between self-efficacy and diabetic foot self-care

AimsResearch has shown that the ongoing rate of diabetes-related amputations remains significant despite the existence of prevention methods and that amputation in most cases can be prevented. The purpose of the study was to assess the relationship between the level of self-efficacy and performance of foot self-care in those with diabetes as they relate to the prevention of lower extremity amputation (LEA). MethodsA descriptive correlational study was conducted using the theoretical framework of Bandura's social cognitive theory. The Foot Care Confidence Scale (FCCS) and the Nottingham Assessment of Functional Footcare (NAFF) survey instruments were distributed to individuals over 18 years old with diabetes Type 1 and 2 in the lower peninsula of Michigan (N = 223). ResultsNo significant correlation was identified between the level of self-efficacy and performance of foot self-care behaviors. Statistical significance was found between foot self-care behaviors and gender with males scoring higher than females. ConclusionsThis study adds to the body of knowledge regarding self-efficacy and diabetic foot self-care behaviors. Further research is needed to explore the relationship of gender, diabetes education attendance, and foot self-care behaviors as influencing factors in LEA prevention.

Moral Disengagement and Aggression: Comments on the Special Issue

This special issue on relationship between moral disengagement and aggression brings together nine sophisticated as well as theoretically, methodologically and analytically stimulating studies. Three of articles are concerned with individual characteristics that moderate (or buffer or aggravate) impact of moral disengagement on aggression or include moral disengagement as a moderator on link between individual characteristics and aggression. Three address trajectories and age-related changes by exploring developmental pathways of moral disengagement and aggression, while remaining three treat moral disengagement in its situational context in school and family and raise questions of socialization. Besides summarizing and discussing nine articles, this commentary raises some critical issues-for example, regarding assessment of moral developmental processes.For past decade, a growing, but still rather small group of international researchers have studied moral disengagement and its relation to prosocial and antisocial/aggressive behaviors in children and adolescents (including both traditional bullying and cyberbullying). Although much has been learned about both concurrent and longitudinal (inter) relationships (e.g., Barchia & Bussey, 2011; Gini, 2006; Hymel, Schonert-Reichl, Bonanno, Vaillancourt, & Rocke Henderson, 2010; Perren & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, 2012), crucial issues regarding these relationships are still (partly) unresolved-for example, with respect to contextual and situational factors (e.g., see recent review by Gini, Pozzoli, & Hymel, 2014). This special issue on moral disengagement and aggression is result of a recent initiative bringing together many of these researchers in order to critically reflect on both conceptual and methodological foundations of this research and to develop avenues for future research. In this commentary, I discuss articles and their joint contribution towards advancement of theorizing and research in field against background of avenues suggested, namely (1) age-related changes (emergence of moral disengagement; precursors of moral disengagement; changes in moral standards, emotions, and justifications); (2) trajectories (Who is becoming morally disengaged? How and why?); (3) situational processes (situational variations; interplay between moral standards, emotions, justifications, and behavior; cognitive dissonance); (4) contextual effects (family, peers, and school; subcultural norms); and (5) interventions (moral disengagement as a mediator; morality as an intervention goal). Before doing so, core elements of Bandura's social cognitive theory of human agency (e.g., Bandura, 2002; Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996; Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, & Pastorelli, 2001), which lies at heart of this research, are briefly characterized to establish a common reference point with respect to conceptual and methodological issues raised later.The social cognitive theory of human agency offers an inclusive conceptual framework within which moral dimensions of aggressive and antisocial behaviors can be described. According to Bandura (2002), moral agency involves both the power to refrain from behaving inhumanely and proactive power to behave humanely (p. 101). Based on understanding that individuals monitor and regulate their behavior by anticipating consequences for self and others, anticipatory self-pride (for morally good behavior) and self-blame (for morally bad behavior) ensure that behavior is enacted in concordance with personal moral standards (Paciello, Fida, Tramontano, Lupinetti, & Caprara, 2008). Still, individuals can enact behaviors that are not concordant with these (individual as well as social) moral standards while claiming to adhere to them. By disconnecting moral thought and moral action, they avoid feelings of conflict, guilt, or remorse. …

Development and evaluation of a self-efficacy instrument for Japanese sleep apnea patients receiving continuous positive airway pressure treatment.

The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate a self-efficacy instrument for Japanese obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Analyzed subjects were 653 Japanese OSA patients (619 males and 34 females) treated with CPAP at a sleep laboratory in a respiratory clinic in a Japanese city. Based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, the CPAP Self-Efficacy Questionnaire for Sleep Apnea in Japanese (CSESA-J) was developed by a focus group of experts, using a group interview of OSA patients for the items of two previous self-efficacy scales for Western sleep apnea patients receiving CPAP treatment. CSESA-J has two subscales, one for self-efficacy and the other for outcome expectancy, and consists of a total of 15 items. Content validity was confirmed by the focus group. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor loadings of self-efficacy and outcome expectancy were 0.47–0.76 and 0.41–0.92, respectively, for the corresponding items. CSESA-J had a significant but weak positive association with the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and a strong positive association with “Self-efficacy scale on health behavior in patients with chronic disease.” Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.85 for the self-efficacy subscale and 0.89 for the outcome expectancy subscale. The intraclass correlation coefficient using data from the first and second measurements with CSESA-J for a subset of 130 subjects was 0.93 for the self-efficacy and outcome expectancy subscales. These results support CSESA-J as a reliable and valid instrument for measuring the self-efficacy of Japanese OSA patients treated with CPAP. Further studies are warranted to confirm validity for female OSA patients and generalizability.

Introduction to the Special Issue: Moral Disengagement and Aggression in Children and Youth

Albert Bandura's social cognitive theory of moral agency was developed in order to explain how adults with seemingly well-established moral standards can engage in inhumane and egregious behavior against others without apparent self-recrimination. Over the past decade, a growing body of research has explored the applicability of his theory in understanding aggressive behavior among children and youth, with consistent demonstration of links between aggression and one's tendency to morally disengage, justifying or rationalizing such behavior through a number of different cognitive mechanisms. Expanding on these initial studies, this article introduces a special issue of Merrill-Palmer Quarterly that includes nine empirical articles investigating the individual and situational characteristics, socialization factors, and developmental pathways that underlie the links between moral disengagement and aggression in children and youth, with a final commentary that critically evaluates the contributions of these articles and raises further questions for future research.Aggressive behavior has long been a focus of developmental research (see Dodge, Coie, & Lynam, 2006), as scholars strive to understand the factors that promote or deter such behavior in children and youth. More recently, attention has focused on a particular subcategory of youth aggressionschool bullying (e.g., Jimerson, Swearer, & Espelage, 2010)-as scholars attempt to mobilize empirical knowledge in order to inform educational practice (e.g., Swearer, Espelage, Vaillancourt, & Hymel, 2010). Within these literatures, researchers have attempted to identify the developmental trajectories, personal characteristics, risk and protective factors, contextual contributions, and mechanisms that underlie aggressive behavior. Given the harmful impact of such behavior, and consistent evidence that aggressive children and youth and those who bully others endorse more positive attitudes toward aggression (e.g., Bentley & Li, 1995; Bosworth, Espelage, & Simon, 1999; Carney & Merrell, 2001; Crick & Dodge, 1996; Olweus, 1997; Perry, Perry, & Rasmussen, 1986; Slaby & Guerra, 1988) and show lower levels of empathy (e.g., Cohen & Strayer, 1996; Endresen & Olweus, 2001 ; Espelage, Mebane, & Adams, 2004; Gini, Albiero, Benelli, & Altoe, 2007; Jolliffe & Farrington, 2011: Miller & Eisenberg, 1988), researchers have long questioned the links between aggression/bullying and morality (e.g., Berkowitz & Mueller, 1986; Caravita, Gini, & Pozzoli, 2012; Malti, Gasser, & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, 2010; Menesini, Nocentini, & Camodeca, 2011; Tisak, Tisak, & Goldstein, 2006). Do deficits in morality underlie aggressive and bullying behavior in children and youth?As summarized elsewhere (Hymel, Schonert-Reichl, Bonanno, Vaillancourt, & Rocke Henderson, 2010), years of research in the 1980s and 1990s focused on cognitive models of moral development and documented clear links between moral reasoning and aggression among youth offenders, with delinquent youth showing lower levels of moral reasoning than nondelinquent youth (for a review, see Stams et al., 2006). Although less is known about these links within normal populations (Arsenio & Lemerise, 2004), such deficits are not clearly demonstrated among aggressive youth in community (nondelinquent) samples (e.g., Schonert-Reichl, 1999). Moreover, these relationships, as well as children's perceptions of aggression as a moral issue, appear to vary as a function of both type of aggression and sex (e.g., Murray-Close, Crick, & Galotti, 2006).One of the more recent and promising foci in this area has come from research on the applicability of Bandura's sociocognitive theory of moral agency in adults (Bandura, 1999, 2002; Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996; Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Pastorelli, & Regalia, 2001), which offers an inclusive conceptual framework within which the moral dimensions of aggression and bullying in children and adolescents can be understood (Perren & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, 2012; Perren, Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, Malti, & Hymel, 2012). …

The slippery slope: how small ethical transgressions pave the way for larger future transgressions.

Many recent corporate scandals have been described as resulting from a slippery slope in which a series of small infractions gradually increased over time (e.g., McLean & Elkind, 2003). However, behavioral ethics research has rarely considered how unethical behavior unfolds over time. In this study, we draw on theories of self-regulation to examine whether individuals engage in a slippery slope of increasingly unethical behavior. First, we extend Bandura's (1991, 1999) social-cognitive theory by demonstrating how the mechanism of moral disengagement can reduce ethicality over a series of gradually increasing indiscretions. Second, we draw from recent research connecting regulatory focus theory and behavioral ethics (Gino & Margolis, 2011) to demonstrate that inducing a prevention focus moderates this mediated relationship by reducing one's propensity to slide down the slippery slope. We find support for the developed model across 4 multiround studies.