Title:

Social Cognitive Theory as a contributor for promoting personal well-being via Music

Abstract

Social Cognitive Theory is a theoretical perspective in psychology formulated by Albert Bandura, with contributions to different areas of knowledge. Some paths of personal well-being through Music will be highlighted here. Among the various theoretical aspects of social cognitive theory is triadic determinism, which postulates that human behavior is the product of the reciprocal interaction between the person (cognitive, affective, biological process), the conditions present in the environment and the behavior itself. In this triadic view, it is understood that people have the agentic possibility of acting in the world, partially transforming it, depending on the present environmental conditions. Starting from the idea of human agency, the central relationship with the construction of one's own well-being, people can act to build better personal conditions of well-being. In another direction, the specialized literature has already shown that Music is a condition that favors well-being. In the search for well-being via Music, social cognitive theory with its theoretical power and empirical studies that support it can help in the design of interventional actions that favor personal agentic action in favor of individual well-being. Specific theoretical relationships and possible ways of meeting the social cognitive theory with the development of the agentic search for well-being behavior via Music can be briefly listed: social learning is a reference to understand the construction and favor behavioral changes; self-efficacy beliefs make it possible to understand choices, effort, persistence and resilience, and emotional states in different situations; the effective behavioral change towards the behavior of search and acquisition of well-being can be promoted through the establishment of clear and viable objectives, effectively favored in its achievement by the development of self-regulation of the personal behavior of search of well-being, in the case in focus, via Music. At the confluence of paths to teach the agentic pursuit of well-being, two of the socio-emotional competencies described in the five set of competencies by CASEL (https://casel.org/casel-sel-framework-11-2020/ ) are directly related to social cognitive theory, self-awareness and self-management skills. Although briefly exposed, what is intended to be highlighted is that the social cognitive theory can be an interconnection element and one of the axes of support for the development of actions that promote the well-being of people in general, in the focus privileged here, via access to Music.