Social-Cognitive Theories

1. Social-Cognitive Theories AP Psychology

2. Social-cognitive perspective • Social-cognitive perspective emphasized the interaction of cognitive, behavioral, environmental and learning factors, which affect personality. • How do your thoughts, behaviors & environment influence your personality?

3. Social-Cognitive Perspective Albert Bandura (1925- ) • Perspective stating that understanding personality involves considering the situation and thoughts before, during, and after an event

4. Social Cognitive differs from Humanistic & Psychoanalytic Perspectives in Three Ways: • It relies heavily on experimental findings • It emphasizes conscious, self-regulating behavior • It emphasizes that our sense of self (personality) can vary, depending on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a given situation.

5. The Social-Cognitive Perspective: Interacting with Our Environment Albert Bandura

6. Social Cognitive PerspectiveKey Terms • Reciprocal determinism - explains personality is the result of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental factors • According to Bandura, personality is influenced by: • Thoughts (cognition), • The way a person acts (behavior), • The environment one grows up in.

7. Reciprocal Determinism

8. Social Cognitive PerspectiveKey Terms • Self-efficacy—the beliefs or opinions a person has about him or herself, also influence personality. • The thought of “I think I can” would positively affect the way a person acts when performing a task or activity

9. Self-Efficacy-Acquisition Emotional State Verbal Encouragment • The sense that one can control the outcome of one’s environment • We develop this in childhood but it continues as a lifelong process. Performance Outcomes Self-Modeling Development of Self-Efficacy Behavior and Performance

10. Self-Efficacy-Strengths • We develop new behaviors and strengthen our self-efficacy by observingothers and through mastery experiences. • Different from Self-Esteem which is more global – How you feel about yourself in overall.

11. The Social-Cognitive Perspective:Personal Control Julian Rotter and Martin Seligman

12. Julian Rotter—expectancy theory • Rotter believed that learning results in expectancies, which are our expectations of the outcome of a situation. • These expectancies guide behavior • Example: personal effort, through what we think is going to happen- this can also be influenced by our sense of control in a situation

13. External Locus of Control • The perception that chance, or forcesbeyond a person’s control, control one’s fate • The expectation to fail because you did not write the test, or don’t know what is going to be on the test

14. Internal Locus of Control • The perception that we control our own fate • You control how long and how much you study, resulting in the expectation that you can pass the test

15. Martin Seligman--Learned helplessness • Seligmanbelieved that learned helplessnessresults when people who repeatedly attempt something and continuously fail will eventually give up

16. Learned Helplessness • Martin Seligman studied dogs that were unable to escape a painful stimulus and eventually stopped trying to escape.

17. Learned Helplessness

18. The Social-Cognitive Perspective:Evaluating the Perspective

19. Evaluation of Social Cognitive Perspective • Well-grounded in empirical, laboratory research • However, laboratory experiences are rather simple and may not reflect the complexity of human interactions • Ignores the influences of unconscious, emotions, conflicts instead placing responsibility of behavior firmly on ourselves.

20. Freud vs. Bandura on Human Aggression Freud Bandura All behavior is driven by conscious goals and motives. Aggression is the result of a deliberate, rational choice in a particular situation. • Human aggression is a universal unconscious instinct controlled by the superego and restraints of society.