The Social-Cognitive Theory of Personality

Social-Cognitive Theory of Personality: Definition Proposed by Albert Bandura Emphasizes the interaction of our traits with our social situations We learn many of our behaviors through conditioning or observing others and modeling our behavior after theirs (“social” part) Also draws off of the work of Skinner Helps us form habits Also emphasize the importance of mental processes: what we think about our situations affects our behavior (“cognitive” part)

Key Elements of Social-Cognitive Theory of personality

Reciprocal Determinism Interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment (Bandura) Children’s TV-viewing habits (past behavior) influence their viewing preferences (internal factor), which influence how television (environmental factor) affects their current behavior Reciprocal: two or more parties exchanging something Determinism: your behavior is determined by…

Self-Efficacy Performance Standards: Standards that people develop to rate the adequacy of their own behavior in a variety of situations Those who succeed in meeting their own internal performance standards develop self-efficacy Self-Efficacy: Expectancy that one’s efforts will be successful A person’s level of confidence in her or his own abilities to gain reinforcement Can be situation specific: abilities in science v. rock climbing ability

Personal Control (Julian Rotter) External Locus of Control: perception that chance or outside forces determine a person’s fate When could this be helpful? Internal Locus of Control: people who believe that they control their own destiny Attitude, preparation, effort – all controlled by the individual Who achieves more in school and work? Internals Who acts more independently? Who enjoys better health and feels less depressed? Locus: a particular position, point, or place

Assessing Behavior in Situations How do social-cognitive theorists assess personality? Often through observation in realistic situations Best means of predicting future behavior is through examining a person’s past behavior in similar situations Best predictor of future grades is past grades Best predictor of future job performance is past job performance

Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Theory More than other theories, it builds from psychological research on learning and cognition Critics: Focuses so much on the situation that it fails to appreciate the person’s inner traits Where is the person? Human emotions? Traits have been shown to predict behavior at work, love, and play