pink-book

combine bits of information into “chunks” and create decision rules, known as heuristics, to
make choices faster and more easily. According to basic CIP concepts, before people will use
health information, it must be 1) available, 2) seen as useful and new, and 3) processable, or
format-friendly.
For Further Reading
Bettman, J. R. (1979). An information processing theory of consumer choice. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Interpersonal Level
Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory (SCT) explains behavior in terms of triadic reciprocality (“reciprocal
determinism”) in which behavior, cognitive and other interpersonal factors, and environmental
events all operate as interacting determinants of one another. SCT describes behavior as
dynamically determined and fluid, influenced by both personal factors and the environment.
Changes in any of these three factors are hypothesized to render changes in the others.
One of the key concepts in SCT is the environmental variable: observational learning. In
contrast to earlier behavioral theories, SCT views the environment as not just a variable that
reinforces or punishes behaviors, but one that also provides a milieu where an individual can
watch the actions of others and learn the consequences of those behaviors. Processes
governing observational learning include:
• Attention—gaining and maintaining attention
• Retention—being remembered
• Reproduction—reproducing the observed behavior
• Motivation—being stimulated to produce the behavior
Other core components of SCT include:
• Self-efficacy—judgment of one’s capability to accomplish a certain level of performance
• Outcome expectation—judgment of the likely consequence such behavior will produce
• Outcome expectancies—the value placed on the consequences of the behavior
• Emotional coping responses—strategies used to deal with emotional stimuli, including
psychological defenses (denial, repression), cognitive techniques such as problem
restructuring, and stress management
• Enactive learning—learning from the consequences of one’s actions (versus
observational learning)
• Rule learning—generating and regulating behavioral patterns, most often achieved through
vicarious processes and capabilities (versus direct experience)
• Self-regulatory capability—much of behavior is motivated and regulated by internal
standards and people’s self-evaluative reactions to their own actions
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APPENDIX B