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6. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY OF MASS COMMUNICATION 141

spreads, the new ways gain further social support. Models also display
preferences and evaluative reactions, which can alter observers’ values
and standards. Changes in evaluative standards affect receptivity to the
activities being modeled. Models not only exemplify and legitimate new
practices, they also serve as advocates for them by directly encouraging
others to adopt them.
In effecting large-scale changes, communications systems operate
through two pathways (Fig. 6.4). In the direct pathway, communications
media promote changes by informing, enabling, motivating, and guiding
participants. In the socially mediated pathway, media influences are used
to link participants to social networks and community settings. These
places provide continued personalized guidance, as well as natural incen-
tives and social supports for desired changes (Bandura, 1997, 2001d). The
major share of behavior changes is promoted within these social milieus.
People are socially situated in interpersonal networks. When media influ-
ences lead viewers to discuss and negotiate matters of import with others
in their lives, the media set in motion transactional experiences that fur-
ther shape the course of change. This is another socially mediated process
through which symbolic communications exert their effect.
The absence of individualized guidance limits the power of one-way
mass communications. The revolutionary advances in interactive tech-
nologies provide the means to expand the reach and impact of communi-
cations media. On the input side, communications can now be personally
tailored to factors that are causally related to the behavior of interest. Tai-
lored communications are viewed as more relevant and credible, are better
remembered, and are more effective in influencing behavior than general
messages (Kreuter, Strecher, & Glassman, 1999). On the behavioral guid-
ance side, interactive technologies provide a convenient means of individ-
ualizing the type and level of behavioral guidance needed to bring desired

Dual Paths of Influence

Connections to
Media Influence Behavior Change
Social Systems

FIG. 6.4. Dual path of communication influences operating on behavior both
directly and mediationally through connection to influential social systems.