The 3 Factors of Reciprocal Determinism

Have you ever wondered why you act differently depending on the situation? Or why your personality depends on who you’re with and what you’re doing? Some psychologists suggest that this can be explained by something called mutual determination. Simply put, it’s a constant loop that shows how our thoughts, behaviors, and environment influence each other.

This concept plays a central role in Bandura’s social learning theory. It is also known Triadic relationshipsInterdependence is a model that consists of three interrelated factors that influence behavior.

• Individuals (including how they think and feel)
• Their environment
• The behavior itself

Previous theories of learning, such as BF Skinner’s theory of operant conditioning, argued that the environment always controls people’s behavior. Such theories suggested that people were merely passive recipients of environmental influences.

However, according to Bandura, the environment not only affects a person’s thinking, but their subsequent behavior also affects their environment. In other words, the environment affects how a person thinks and feels, which in turn affects their behavior, which affects the environment, etc.

Behavioral factors in interpersonal determination

At its core, mutual determinism suggests that a person’s behavior isn’t just internal to us—it’s shaped by our thoughts and the world around us, including the people we interact with in our daily lives.

For example, consider a child who works because they don’t like school. The teachers responded by scolding them, making them dislike school even more. It is a cycle where thoughts, behaviors and environment all feed into each other.

Environmental factors in mutual determination

Behavior does not occur in isolation. The environmental component refers to the context in which the behavior occurs.

It is more than a person’s physical environment. This includes their social environment. In particular, it is heavily influenced by the people who are present (or absent) and the attitudes, beliefs, and ideals that those people hold.

So if the child from the previous example gets yelled at in class by a teacher, it affects not only them but also the classroom environment for the rest of the students, not to mention the teacher.

Personal factors in interpersonal determination

Beyond this mix of behavioral and environmental variables are the personal characteristics we bring to each situation. This individual component includes all the features that have been awarded in the past.

Behavior itself is something that may or may not be reinforced at any given time or situation. If the former student knows that their teacher is more likely to punish them if they wait until the end of the school day to misbehave, they will develop their own behavior as a result.

An example of mutual determination

Of course, the situation doesn’t have to be negative.

Imagine a shy student who usually keeps to himself (personal factor)walks into class on the first day of school to find that other students are already seated (Environmental factor) The shy student tries to slip to the back of the class to avoid being the center of attention (Behavioral factor)

But if a classmate sitting at the front of the room greets the shy student profusely and invites them to sit with them, the environment has introduced a *new* reinforcing stimulus (the friendly student) that may lead to a change in that student’s regular routine.

Rather than feeling shy and withdrawn, receiving such friendly introductions can help them become more inclusive and socially cooperative. This is an example of how environmental factors can have a beneficial effect on individual thoughts and behaviors.

Self-efficacy and mutual determination

Self-determination is also related to self-efficacy, or a person’s level of belief in their ability to achieve their goals. Self-efficacy represents the personal factor in interpersonal determination.

In situations where one’s self-efficacy is low, such as a student in a class who lacks confidence in their ability to perform well, modifying aspects of the environment can be helpful. For example, a teacher who offers additional support resources and encouragement can help promote achievement, which can improve achievement and increase a student’s sense of self-efficacy.

Requests for mutual determination

Interdeterminism is not just a theoretical concept. It also has important real-world applications. By understanding the dynamic interplay between the individual, their behavior, and their environment, psychologists are better able to define and address issues that affect mental well-being.

Examples of how mutual determinism can be applied include:

• Understanding drug addiction: This model can help psychologists better understand how connections between personal characteristics, social environment, and risky behaviors may contribute to substance use and drug addiction. By recognizing the role of each factor, psychologists can design more effective interventions that address each factor that contributes to drug use and addiction.
• Managing mental health: Mental health professionals also use psychotherapy to understand and treat conditions such as anxiety and depression. For example, they can look at how a person with depression (a personal factor) may engage in social withdrawal (a behavior), which leads to social isolation (an environmental factor), which then worsens depressive symptoms. Treatment often focuses on breaking this cycle.
• Improving learning: Mutual determinism can also be used to understand how students’ mindsets, behaviors, and environments interact to affect academic achievement. Helping students develop a more growth-oriented mindset, for example, can contribute to behaviors like studying that also lead to positive teacher feedback.

What does that mean?

Bandura’s theory represents a significant shift from a behavioral approach to a more social cognitive approach to understanding behavior. Remember, behaviorists suggested that it was the environment that almost entirely shaped individual behavior.

Meanwhile, Bandura recognized its importance A two-way relationship between individuals, their behavior and the environment.

This suggests that while people are certainly influenced by what they experience in their environment, they also have the power to change their situations and circumstances through their choices and behaviors.