Social-Cognitive Approach Personality is acquired through learning and then is displayed in particular situations Emphasis placed on: how thoughts and expectations guide our interactions social situations

Big Names Bandura Bobo Doll and Vicarious Social Learning Mischel Agency

How Different From Skinner? Cognitive Focus: Emphasis on memory of past reinforcements and expectations about the consequences of actions. Social-Interpersonal Focus—How particular situations guide action, and the most important situational variable is other people. Humans as Agents of Change--Choice from a number of possible behaviors. The environment does not only influence the person--the person also influences the environment.

Rotter’s Expectancy Theory Learning creates cognitive expectancies Behavior determined by: what the person expects to happen following a behavior value on the outcome. generalized expectancies (apply across different situations)

Rotter’s Locus of Control Personal efforts and actions Fate, luck, or circumstances InternalExternal

Outcome Positive Negative “I did it” “Unlucky Break” Optimistic Bias

Outcome Positive Negative Me Other Person “I did it” “She got lucky”“She screwed up” “Unlucky Break” Self-Serving Bias

Bandura and Agency Viewed people as agents, or originators, of experience Human agency is the ability to act and make things happen Agency entails Intentionality Forethought Self-reflective

Self-Efficacy A central mechanism of personal agency and self-regulation Refers to belief that we can successfully perform behaviors that will produce desired effects Plays a central role in governing our thoughts, motivations, and actions Arises from past accomplishments and changes over the course of our lives

Self-Efficacy Learned Chance of Success

“I think I can”

Vicarious Learning Gone Wrong Frequent exposure to aggression and violence in the media encourages people to behave aggressively Moral disengagement permits individuals and institutions to perpetuate and encourage violence and inhuman activities while justifying their behavior Bo-Bo Doll Experiments

Psychotherapy Modeling as an aid of changing behaviors Therapeutic strategies designed to help patients improve their perception over their own effectiveness through guided mastery experiences Encourages the use of contemporary technologies to modify behavior

Reciprocal Determinism

Walter Mischel personal dispositions are situation specific personal dispositions encourage behaviors that alter situations that, in turn, promote other behaviors people choose situations that are in tune with their personal dispositions personal dispositions are more important in some situations but not others

Social-Cognitive Approach Positives: based on solid foundation (learning/cognition) treatment procedures Negatives: no role for unconscious thoughts and feelings doesn’t capture the complexities, richness, and uniqueness of human personality sometimes “I think I can is not enough”

The Humanist Approach motivated by an innate drive toward growth people are naturally good, creative, loving, and joyful to explain actions, we must understand a person’s “perceptions of themselves” “phenomenological approach.”

Rogers’s Self-Theory we need the positive regard of others (unconditional positive regard) our behavior is directed at self-actualizing others’ evaluations affect personality if they question person’s worth (conditions of worth) “Johnny is a bad boy” vs. “Hitting is not nice”

Rogers’s Self Theory

Carl Rogers Client-centered therapy focus on thoughts, abilities, cleverness of client not focused on insights of therapist therapist as a sounding board for client’s thoughts

Evaluation of the Humanistic Approach Positives therapeutic alliance Negatives too naïve, romantic, and unrealistic too simple do all problems stem from blocked self- actualization? too vague too western