The Social Cognitive Perspective SocialCognitive Perspective Cognitive Social

The Social Cognitive Perspective.

Social-Cognitive Perspective [Cognitive Social Learning Perspective] Albert Bandura: § Our behaviors are influenced by: § our environment § our sense of personal control in a particular environment or situation. § Our behaviors apply principles of learning, cognition, and social behavior to personality § Emphasizes ways in which personality is influenced by interaction with our environment

Reciprocal Determinism We are reminded that… Reciprocal Determinism § the process of interacting influences between personality and environmental factors. § Ex. television influences viewing preferences, which in turn influences behavior. 1. § 2. § 3. § Different individuals prefer different environments. You choose your environment and it then shapes you. Individual differences in personalities dictate how we interpret and react to situations. Perception influences reaction These differences in personality are partly responsible for creating the situations to which we respond. How you treat others reflects how they treat you.

Our Sense Of Personal Control § Personal Control: our sense of whether or not we feel that we have control or are controlled by our environments. § There are two extremes when it comes to perceptions of control: 1. External Locus of Control: outside forces beyond one's personal control determines a person's fate. 2. Internal Locus of Control: one controls one's own fate. Studies show that "internals" achieve more in school, act more independently, and feel less depressed than do "externals". “Internals” tend to be better at delaying gratification, and coping with stress.

Learned Helplessness § the hopelessness and passive resignation that an animal or human learns when they are unable to avoid repeated aversive events. § Ex. Dog experiment § Internal or external? perceived control is vital to healthy human functioning!

Optimism and Health § Optimism (or lack thereof) affects wellbeing. § Depression and hopelessness weakens the immune system thereby reducing the effectiveness of the disease-fighting immune system.

Attribution Style § A person's attributional style is linked to how optimistic or how pessimistic one is. § Positive attributional style = attribute poor performance to something that you can change. § Ex. a poor test score would motivate you to change your study habits. § Negative attributional style = attribute poor performance to a lack of ability. § sense of lacking control leads to pessimism and feelings of hopelessness. .

A dash of realism… § If positive thinking can be healthy, realism § Anxiety of potential failure can fuel energetic efforts § A healthy balance: enough optimism, pessimism, and realism! How can optimism be bad? • fail to take sensible precautions • sense of invulnerability • ironically, most people are overconfident when incompetent…

Assessment Techniques § Assessment techniques include studies of people's feelings of personal control. § The best means of predicting people's future behavior is past behavior in similar situations. § Ex. the best predictor of future grades is past grades, or that the best predictor of future aggressiveness is past aggressiveness. Best predictors are NOT personality tests or an interviewer's intuition

Evaluating this perspective § Underestimates people's unconscious motives, emotions and dispositions (traits). § However, this perspective has been developed from research on learning and cognition and reminds us of the importance of social situations with respect to how they affect us as well as how we affect the situation. § Ultimately, the cognitive-behavioral theory is currently the predominant psychological approach to explaining human behavior. **See the table at end of chapter (14. 4 in 5 th edition or page 545 in Myers modules) "The Four Perspectives on Personality".

Perspective Explanation of behavior Assessment techniques Evaluation Psychoanalytic Unconscious conflicts between pleasureseeking impulses and social restraints Projective tests aimed at revealing unconscious motivations A speculative, hard-to-test theory with enormous cultural impact Trait Expressing biologically influenced dispositions, such as extraversion or introversion Personality inventories that assess the strengths of different traits A descriptive approach criticized as sometimes underestimating the variability of behavior from situation to situation. Humanistic Processing conscious Questionnaire feelings about oneself in assessment of selfthe light of one’s concept experiences and needs A theory that re-invigorate contemporary interest in the self; criticized as subjective and sometimes naively selfcentered and optimistic Socialcognitive Reciprocal influences between people and their situations, colored by perceptions of control An interactive theory that integrates research on learning, cognition, and social behavior; criticized as underestimating the importance of emotions and enduring traits Correlational and experimental studies of people’s feelings of control.