Topic 1: Social Learning & Cognitive Theories {by 9/10}
There were multiple readings due last week (Bandura) and this week (Ellis & Harper; Meichenbaum; Lazarus & Folkman). For this discussion, share at least three thoughts: (1) In your own words, explain your understanding of Bandura’s thoughts on reciprocal determinism and self-efficacy? How are these constructs related to CBT? (2) What are a couple examples of how Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is both similar to CBT and different from CBT? Explain each thought. (I realize you are still learning the basics of CBT – give it your best shot based on what you do know.) (3) Share your understanding of Meichenbaum’s “internal dialogue” and its relevance to modern CBT.
Your original post should be posted by the beginning of class 9/10. Have your two replies posted no later than 9/12. *Please remember to click the “reply” button when posting a reply. This makes it easier for the reader to follow the blog postings.
Sep 09, 2026 @ 20:33:22
Sep 11, 2026 @ 12:08:53
Hi Fran! When reading over your post, I like the use of the word “continuously” when you describe your view of reciprocal determinism. I enjoy it because I feel like it implies that the effect the environment has on us and the effect we have on the environment is always changing. It feels less like a back and forth and more circular which is exactly how reciprocal determinism should feel. It also shows that this continuous relationship can change from positive to negative and vice versa. Additionally, the way you describe self-efficacy really emphasizes the importance of an individual’s perception without explicitly stating it. While their actual capabilities are important, an individual’s perception of how well they will do is most important. Also, the examples you provided for the different topics discussed in the post were incredibly helpful in understanding your thought process on the subject.
Sep 14, 2026 @ 01:33:33
Hi Franciele! I really liked the connection between your link of reciprocal determinism and self-efficacy to the piece on internal dialogue. I saw these pieces as connected because of your strong emphasis on how a client views themselves through cognitive processes. By changing one’s way of thinking through CBT techniques, one’s self-perception, as well as their self-esteem and confidence may improve.
Sep 17, 2026 @ 23:31:57
Franciele, i admire your thought of Bandura’s idea of reciprocal determinism especially your example about someone avoiding situations because they believe they are socially awkward. Then again, as stated in my point, the people we find ourselves with in an environment can change the perspective when they are socially active. I also agree with your comparison of REBT and CBT as both approaches focus on changing unhelpful thinking but I think REBT is more direct in challenging irrational beliefs.
Sep 09, 2026 @ 20:44:40
The concept of reciprocal determinism functions as a relationship between the environment, an individual’s behaviors, and their personal beliefs and personality. When these factors interact, they always affect each other and vice versa. Something interesting about Bandura’s thoughts on these reciprocal determinants is that an individual needs to intentionally interact with the environment for it to have an effect and not remain a potentiality. Reciprocal determinism is related to CBT because CBT uses the same concept. The main difference is that CBT uses reciprocal determinism with different factors, such as thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and bodily sensations. Bandura also discussed self-efficacy, the belief an individual has in their ability to succeed at a task, as part of his social cognitive theory. Bandura thought an individual’s level of self-efficacy was a determining factor for how they would perform a given task. This strongly relates to CBT, as self-efficacy is a thought that affects a person’s behavior. In CBT, a therapist may attempt to change a person’s level of self-efficacy to change the person’s behaviors and emotions.
Looking at Ellis’ REBT, it seems similar to CBT in how both types of therapy expect the client to complete work outside of the therapy session. In CBT, therapists may give a client worksheets for homework, while REBT may give the client self-management techniques. Another similarity between CBT and REBT is how they change how a person interprets information to change their emotions and behaviors. REBT may focus more on the emotional side, but both CBT and REBT are trying to change how a person reacts to their environment through their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. While there are similarities, REBT and CBT differ in their approach. In CBT, the therapist is more focused on collaborating with the client to create goals. In REBT, it seems more confrontational and focused on challenging the client’s thoughts. While CBT does challenge the client’s thoughts, it does not seem to do so with the same amount of confrontation as REBT.
According to Meichenbaum, internal dialogue is how people think about themselves and plan their behavior. Additionally, internal dialogue has important functions, as it can affect how people respond to stress and can even have physiological effects. This strongly relates to modern CBT because changing a person’s internal dialogue can change their behaviors, emotions, and physiological reactions. For example, if someone thinks, “I am bad at public speaking,” they may become physically nervous and behave less confidently. Internal dialogue is a person’s thoughts, which therapists try to change in CBT to change the client’s behaviors, emotions, and physiological reactions.
Sep 13, 2026 @ 10:10:30
Hi Braden! I like how we both had similar opinions on REBT being a more “blunter” version of CBT. I agree that REBT seems more confrontational and outright challenging than CBT, and I think this idea was also confirmed and reiterated in our class discussion. I also agree with your comments about reciprocal determinism, and I like how you emphasized the idea that all 3 factors (environment, behaviors, personality) constantly affect each other and vice versa. I also like how you pointed out Bandura’s idea that an individual needs to intentionally interact with the environment for it to have effect, which I thought was a very interesting point made in the reading that I hadn’t taken into account before.
Sep 10, 2026 @ 10:27:28
(1) I understand Bandura’s thoughts on reciprocal determinism as the continuous interaction between one’s cognitive processes, behaviors, and the environment. This “triadic” relationship influences how one functions in their day-to-day life. This construct is related to CBT because the reciprocal nature of the factors in reciprocal determinism mirror the relationship between the factors of CBT. Although the factors of CBT are thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and bodily sensations, these factors all have great influence over one another when it comes to one’s daily functioning.
Bandura describes self-efficacy as how strongly one believes they are capable of achieving something or completing a task or expectation correctly. If an individual has low self-efficacy, they may not perform as well on a specific task as someone with higher self-efficacy, simply because they believe they are less or incapable of succeeding. This relates to CBT because it highlights the ways in which our thoughts and behaviors influence one another. In CBT, intervening in the thought patterns to increase one’s level of self-efficacy may show consistent improvement in their ability to succeed at performing a task they were once struggling with.
(2) Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is similar to CBT in a few different ways, such as the way in which these approaches attempt to change one’s emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, as well as the way in which the clinician encourages their client to practice techniques outside of the therapy space. These approaches are different in the sense that REBT focuses more on emotions and irrational thoughts, whereas CBT is more zoned-in on automatic thoughts and beliefs. Additionally, CBT emphasizes more collaboration between the clinician and the client, and REBT is more clinician-imposed.
(3) I understand Meichenbaum’s “internal dialogue” as the way in which an individual talks about themselves through covert actions, such as their thoughts and beliefs. If an individual has a negative or self-depricating internal dialogue, they may have significant struggles with their level of self-efficacy and overall belief in positive self-attributes. Internal dialogue is relevant to modern CBT because CBT interventions have the potential of interrupting these negative thought patterns, which in turn, can positively impact the behaviors that may sustain their thoughts and beliefs.
Sep 13, 2026 @ 10:14:37
Hi Fran! I agree with your comments on internal dialogue, and I like how we both used similar examples when explaining it in terms of an individual having a negative internal dialogue, which can lead to lower self-efficacy. I like how you connected internal dialogue, self-efficacy, and CBT together as a way to explain how CBT can be used to reconstruct and individuals internal dialogue to improve their self-efficacy. I also like your distinction between REBT and CBT, as I didn’t really think about CBT focusing more on automatic thoughts and REBT focusing more on irrational thoughts. I appreciate this different outlook and it made me look at the two differing methods in a new way.
Sep 10, 2026 @ 12:57:28
According to Bandura, reciprocal determinism describes how psychological functioning is due to the relationship between an individual’s environment, behaviors, and personality. Reciprocal determinism relates to CBT by emphasizing the idea of differing factors influencing and affecting each other. In CBT, the focus is how an individual’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings interact and affect one another. Bandura also discusses self-efficacy, which is the idea that an individual’s belief in their abilities can affect their outcomes and performance in events. Bandura describes how individuals with higher self-efficacy tend to perform better and have more positive outcomes than those with lower self-efficacy. This relates to CBT in the sense that CBT an individual’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings can affect their outcomes or performance in certain situations.
Ellis’s REBT (rational emotive behavior therapy) describes the idea of using rational thinking to make positive personality/behavior changes to better an individual’s life. Ellis repeatedly uses the concept of “thinking straight” when referring to REBT and changing an individual’s rational thinking process. REBT is similar to CBT in the sense that they both require extensive work outside of counseling sessions to be effective and elicit change. REBT also assigns homework to clients like CBT to support behavior change outside of session. I think that REBT differs from CBT as it seems to bring a blunter and more outright approach to behavior change. CBT to me seems more like collaborative goal setting with the client, while REBT seems to outright challenge a client’s negative internalized beliefs.
Meichenbaum describes internal dialogue as an individual’s internal speech and discusses how internal dialogue can be influenced by events and behaviors and an individual’s internal dialogue can in contrast influence events and behaviors. This relates to CBT as an individual’s thoughts can directly influence or be influenced by their behaviors or feelings. In CBT, client may work to shift their internal dialogue from negative to positive by reframing their thinking. If a client is able to effectively reframe their thoughts, it can lead to more positive behaviors and/or feelings.
Sep 11, 2026 @ 12:01:09
Hi Grace! I find it interesting that we came to similar conclusions regarding the difference between REBT and CBT. I still agree that this is the case, but after our previous class, I am wondering if we are correct that REBT was blunter or if that was just the way that Ellis worded it in his writings. Additionally, it intrigues me that when talking about internal dialogue and CBT, you seem to separate the internal dialogue from traditional thoughts. I say this because you point out how the internal dialogue reframes our thoughts. It adds another factor where how an individual perceives the environment effects their internal dialogue which changes how they think about the environment. To me, it shows how reciprocal determinism also connects to the idea of internal dialogue.
Sep 14, 2026 @ 01:27:23
Hi Grace! I really like how you emphasized how one’s internal dialogue can be influenced by environmental factors, as well as influence those same factors. This point was not something I had made a connection on during the readings, so this definitely adds another layer to consider. This highlights the reciprocal interactions that may contribute to maladaptive automatic thoughts, which can be intervened upon using CBT techniques. By including the fact that even covert behaviors (like the internal dialogue) can have an impact on the environment and vice versa, it highlights the importance of intervention to prevent these maladaptive thoughts from spiraling into detrimental behaviors impacting functioning.
Sep 17, 2026 @ 23:47:47
Hi Grace, I’m impressed with how you connected Bandura’s idea to CBT. Moreover, your concept about self-efficacy was vital because what people believe about their own abilities can affect how they approach challenges. In other words, I agree with your comparison of REBT and CBT. REBT is more direct to challenging irrational beliefs while CBT is more focused on working with the clients to understand their thoughts in a more realistic way.
Sep 19, 2026 @ 09:49:57
Hi Grace,
I really liked how you explained the connection between Bandura’s reciprocal determinism and CBT. I agree that our thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and environment can all influence each other. I also agree with your point about REBT being more direct than CBT. REBT seems to challenge irrational beliefs more strongly, while CBT feels more collaborative and allows the counselor and client to work together to understand and change negative thought patterns. Your explanation of Meichenbaum’s internal dialogue also stood out to me because the way we talk to ourselves can have such a big impact on how we feel and behave.
Sep 15, 2026 @ 02:28:46
Bandura’s idea of reciprocal determinism is quite confusing to me. His concept is based on how our thoughts, behavior, and environment influence each other. So if I am to believe I am not good at social interactions or situations, I will probably avoid interacting with others. What about the environment changing that narrative. The environment we find ourselves in really matters too. If I am to find myself in an environment or in a mist of people where they are very socially active, due to the exposure, I tend to learn social skills to be a part of me. I believe the environment changes the mindset as well. On the other hand, self-efficacy is also vital because it focuses on how confident someone feels about their ability to handle situations. All these ideas connects well with CBT based on how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect one another.
When it comes to REBT and CBT, I see a lot of similarities as both approaches focus on how a person’s thoughts or beliefs can affect emotions. If a person encounters a stressful situation with the mind full of “I cannot handle this”, Both REBT and CBT will help examine the way of thinking and enhance a healthier response. One thing I know for sure is that, REBT focus on challenging irrational beliefs whereby CBT replaces distorted thoughts with more realistic thoughts.
Lastly, my understanding of Meichenbaum’s internal dialogue is that, the things we say and manifest to ourselves can impact how we respond emotionally and behaviorally. I think how the mind works influences us more than anything. We move according to how we our mind tells us to. I always tell myself and people I know that “if you tell yourself you are tired, you are going to be tired”. This is about the mindset, how our thoughts impact everything we do. Telling yourself you are going to fail in an exam makes you anxious and have difficulty in performing well.
Sep 19, 2026 @ 09:46:30
Hello,
I really like the example you gave about reciprocal determinism and social interactions. I agree that our environment can play a big role in changing the way we think about ourselves. Being around people who are more social can give us opportunities to observe, learn, and become more confident in our own social skills. I also agree with your point about internal dialogue. What we tell ourselves can definitely affect how we feel and behave. Your example about telling yourself that you are going to fail an exam is a good example of how negative thoughts can increase anxiety and possibly affect our performance. This is one of the things I find interesting about CBT because changing the way we think can also help change how we feel and respond to situations.