Albert Bandura: The Man and His Ideas–A Dialogue

The latest addition to Praeger’s Dialogues in Contemporary Psychology Series, this book is a dialogue with one of the seminal contributors to American psychology. Albert Bandura: The Man and His Ideas will introduce the reader to Bandura’s major ideas and points of view, conveying through the extemporaneousness of the dialogue style a feeling for his personality. Posing questions which focus on Bandura’s research and published works, editor Richard Evans gives the reader an overview that traces Bandura’s career from early training onward. With an introduction by noted psychologist Ernest R. Hilgard and a complete bibliography of Bandura’s published work, this book will prove an invaluable resource for students and scholars.

The book begins with an examination of Bandura’s early training and how he was influenced by the logical positivism and behavioralism which pervaded during the Kenneth Spence era at Iowa. He talks about his early work on modeling and how he developed and applied an empirical theory based approach to psychotherapy. In subsequent chapters Bandura discusses his theories and research in the area of aggression and how the results from his research have become an issue in public policy regarding such issues as the role of mass media in generating violence. He talks about his conceptions of moral development and moral disengagement. He discusses his views on the role of competency and skills in the individual and how they relate to the individual’s level of self-efficacy. Finally, Bandura reacts to some of the criticism of his work.