1. The Social-Cognitive Perspective
Unit 10
Personality

2. Do-Now Locus of Control Test

3. Social-Cognitive Perspective
Proposed by Albert Bandura (1925-today)
Emphasizes the idea of personality as the combination of our traits, mental processes, and environment.
Conditioning, modeling behavior, observing others
Thinking about a situation
Interpreting and responding to external events
How do you and your environment interact?
Social-Cognitive Perspective

4. Albert Bandura Canadian/American Psychologist
Most well-known for creating the social learning theory, the social cognitive theory, and performing the Bobo Doll experiment.
Emphasized Self-Efficacy, or one’s beliefs in one’s ability to achieve goals.

5. Reciprocal Influences
Reciprocal Determinism: The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and the environment.
Our personalities are both the products and the creators of our environments.
Reciprocal Influences

6. Biopsychosocial Approach to Personality

7. ACTIVITY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFmFOmprTt0 (teacher)
(Seligman)

8. Personal Control: The extent to which one believes they have control over their environment. The extent to which they are not helpless.
Learned Helplessness- When a person or animal feels as though they have no control over events, and come to feel helpless and hopeless.
Personal Control

9. External Locus of Control: When you believe that chance or forces outside of your control determine what happens to you.
Tend to be more depressed, less successful, and less independent.
Internal Locus of Control: When you believe that you control what happens to you.
Tend to achieve more, have better health and be less depressed.
Personal Control

10. Julian Rotter American Psychologist
Best known for his ideas on social learning theory and creating the Internal-External Scale.
Theorized that one’s expected outcome of a behavior affected their motivation to participate in that behavior.

11. Roy Baumeister American Psychologist
Studied Self-Control: The ability of a person to control their actions and experience delayed gratification.
Found that exerting control over impulses takes energy and must be strengthened through “exercise”.

12. How one explains positive and negative events can affect or demonstrate how in control or helpless they feel.
Students who are pessimistic would say that, after failing a test, they did so because “I’m stupid” or that “there’s nothing I can do about it”. (Lack of control, helplessness)
Students who are optimistic would say they failed a test because “I needed to study more” or “I didn’t make enough of an effort”. (In control of situation.)
Optimism vs. Pessimism

13. Positive Psychology: The scientific study of optimal human functioning
Positive Psychology: The scientific study of optimal human functioning. Has 3 pillars.
Positive Emotions:
Pursuing happiness and satisfaction with life.
Positive Character:
Creativity, courage, compassion, leadership, self-control.
Positive Groups:
Healthy families, effective schools, civil dialogue, community
Positive Psychology

14. Review What is the Social-Cognitive Perspective on Personality?
Reciprocal Determinism?
How does learned helplessness affect one’s optimism, feelings of self-worth, and sense of control?
Review