Chapter 12 Social Cognitive Theory: Bandura and Mischel Flashcards
Acquisition
The learning of new behaviours viewed by Bandura as independent of reward and contrasted with performance - which is seen as dependent on reward.
Behavioural signatures
Individually distinctive profiles of situation-behaviour relationships.
Cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS)
A theoretical framework developed by Mischel and colleagues in which personality is understood as: -containing a large set of highly interconnected cognitive and emotional processes
-the interconnections cause personality to function in an integrated, coherent way or as a system.
Competencies
A structural unit in social-cognitive theory reflecting the individual’s ability to solve problems or perform tasks to achieve goals.
Context specificity
The idea that a given personality variable may come into play in some settings or contexts but not others, with the result that a person’s behaviour may vary systematically across contexts.
Delay of gratification
The postponement of pleasure until the optimum or proper time, a concept particularly emphasized in social-cognitive theory in relation to self-regulation.
Evaluative standards
- Criteria for evaluating the goodness or worth of a person or thing.
- In social-cognitive theory, people’s standards for evaluating their own actions are seen as being involved in:
- the regulation of behaviour
- and the experience of emotions such as pride, shame, and feelings of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with onself.
Expectancies
In social-cognitive theory, what the individual anticipates or predicts will occur as a result of specific behaviours in specific situations (anticipated consequences).
Goals
In social-cognitive theory, desired future events that motivate the person over extended periods of time and enable the person to go beyond momentary influences.
Microanalytic research
Bandura’s suggested research strategy concerning the concept of self-efficacy in which specific rather than global self-efficacy judgements are recorded.
Observational learning (modelling)
Bandura’s concept for the process through which people learn merely by observing the behaviour of others, called models.
Perceived self-efficacy
In social-cognitive theory, the perceived ability to cope with specific situations.
Performance
- The production of learned behaviours, viewed by Bandura as dependent on rewards
- in contrast with the acquisition of new behaviours, which is seen as independent of reward.
Reciprocal determinism
- The mutual, back-and-forth effects of variables on one another
- in social-cognitive theory, a fundamental causal principle in which personal, environmental, and behavioural factors are viewed as causally influencing one another.
Self-evaluative reactions
Feelings of dissatisfaction versus satisfaction (pride) in onself as people reflect on their actions.
Self-regulation
Psychological processes through which persons motivate their own behaviour.
Vicarious conditioning
Bandura’s concept for the process through which emotional responses are learned through the observation of emotional responses in others.
What does social‐cognitive theory centre its analyses of personality on?
Social‐cognitive theory centers its analyses of personality on uniquely human cognitive capacities.
What are the personality structures emphasized in social‐cognitive theory?
The personality structures emphasized in social‐cognitive theory are:
- Competencies and skills
- Expectancies and beliefs
- Behavioral standards
- Personal goals
How does social-cognitive theory address personality processes?
Social‐cognitive theory addresses personality processes in two primary ways.
- The principle of reciprocal determinism captures the back‐and‐ forth influences between personality and the environment.
- Personality is construed as a cognitive–affective processing system. Much research on personality processes from a social‐ cognitive perspective has explored the phenomena of observational learning, self‐regulation, and self‐control.
What does the social‐cognitive theory analysis of observational learning emphasize?
That people’s knowledge and skills primarily are acquired by observing others.
What does the social‐cognitive theory analysis of motivation emphasize?
The social‐cognitive theory analysis of motivation emphasizes the role of people’s thoughts about themselves.
What does research on the development of cognitive and behavioral competencies associated with delay in gratification illustrate?
Research on the development of cognitive and behavioral competencies associated with delay in gratification illustrates the social‐cognitive approach to questions of both self‐control and personality development.
Who are the theorists who have made primary contributions to the development of the social-cognitive approach?
Two theorists who have made primary contributions to the development of the social‐cognitive approach are Albert Bandura and Walter Mischel.
Why is it called social-cognitive?
Thanks to their ability to think about themselves, their past, and their future, individuals are seen to have the capacity to influence their own experiences and development. Since these thinking processes develop through interaction with the social environment, they are called social‐cognitive.
What does the social-cognitive theory analysis of motivation include?
The social‐cognitive theory analysis of motivation emphasizes the role of people’s thoughts about themselves.
- Self‐efficacy judgments, or perceptions of one’s capability to execute behaviors are key to motivation
- Self‐efficacy beliefs influence people’s selection of goals, effort and persistence toward achieving the goal, emotions prior to and during task performance, and success in coping with stress and negative events
- In addition, much work examines processes of goal setting and the role that people’s evaluations of their own actions play in goal‐directed motivation.
What do the four personality variables (competencies and skills, expectancies and beliefs, behavioral standards, personal goals) refer to?
These four personality variables refer to four distinct classes of cognition; they thus can be seen as distinct subsystems within the overall system of personality.
Does behaviour vary across situations from a social-cognitive perspective?
Yes. Any given person may have different skills, beliefs, standards, and goals in different situations. Thus, behavior naturally varies across situations in a meaningful manner that reflects the individual’s personality characteristics.
How are standards for self-control learnt?
Standards for self‐ control are learned through the observation of models and through reinforcement.
What does the ability to delay gratification involve?
The ability to delay gratification involves the development of cognitive competencies, especially involving the control of attention; people who distract themselves from frustrating situations are better able to control their negative emotions and impulses.
Does a person’s capacity to delay gratification change over their life?
Research indicates that individual differences in the capacity to delay gratification are remarkably stable across the course of development.
