Reflecting on Social Cognitive Theory and Marshmallows

This week in lecture we talked about the social cognitive theory, marshmallow test and self-regulation.

Part of the social cognitive theory is the concept of Reciprocal Influence. This is the idea that three aspects all influence each other. These aspects are Socal Influences, Self Influence, and Achievement Outcomes. I strongly agree with this idea due to personal experience when I was in high school. I was having issues with other girls at school and I really didn’t feel as though I belonged at school. This lead to my want to stay home from school which had a large negative impact on my grades in my classes, I even failed a class because I wasn’t in class enough to know enough for the exam. The issues I had in the social aspects of going to school and my achievement outcomes were influenced in a negative way. In feeling very low about the social issues I was having my self-efficacy was pretty much non-existent. Self-efficacy plays a big role in how much the reciprocal influences impact a student. The better a student believes they are able to succeed, the higher the chance of positive outcomes.

The marshmallow test was interesting as well as entertaining because as a child I feel I wouldn’t have been able to sit and wait for as long as some of those kids did. I like how the researchers used marshmallows to test the self-regulation of children. The idea of self-regulation is along the same lines as self-control and self-restraint.

Coming from the experiences I had in my younger school years I feel like I was let down by some teachers in a way because they were not concerned by my absence in class.  How can teachers able to take more of these three types of influences like social, self, and achievement influences into account when observing their students and their behaviour in the classroom?