title: What are the benefits from a debate about cognition, behavior, and causality?
abstract: Some authors have argued that the debate about whether or not self-efficacy can be legitimately viewed as a cause of behavior is futile due to incommensurability between underlying philosophies. Nevertheless, the debate provides a valuable case study of comparative paradigms in psychology for teaching purposes. It also stimulates a secondary debate about whether clinical utility is a sufficient criterion in clinical decision making. Another consequence of the debate has been a reminder of the negative consequences of the focus on the individual in contemporary psychology.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Hawkins
mesh_terms: D001527:Behaviorism; D019336:Cognitive Science; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011584:Psychology / Q000193:education; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000592:standards; D012647:Self-Assessment; D014836:Volition