Reciprocal determinism is the theory set forth by psychologist Albert Bandura that a person’s behavior both influences and is influenced by personal factors and the social environment. Bandura accepts the possibility of an individual’s behavior being conditioned through the use of consequences. At the same time he asserts that a person’s behavior (and personal factors, such as cognitive skills or attitudes) can impact the environment.[1] These skill sets result in an under- or overcompensated ego that, for all creative purposes, is too strong or too weak to focus on pure outcome. This is important because Bandura was able to prove the strong correlation between this with experiments
Bandura was able to show this when he created the Banduras Box experiment. As an example, Bandura’s reciprocal determinism could occur when a child is acting out in school. The child doesn’t like going to school; therefore, he/she acts out in class. This results in teachers and administrators of the school disliking having the child around. When confronted by the situation, the child admits he/she hates school and other peers don’t like him/her. This results in the child acting inappropriately, forcing the administrators who dislike having him/her around to create a more restrictive environment for children of this stature. Each behavioral and environmental factor coincides with the child and so forth resulting in a continuous battle on all three levels.