cognitive perspective

Question 1

what is field dependance?

Answer 1

• sees the big picture
• ex: see the forest not the trees
• social people
• they look for context in confusing situations

Question 2

what is field independance?

Answer 2

-sees the details
-ex: see the trees not the forest
- are more autonomous people
- can ignore distractions
- they look for details in confusing situations

Question 3

what are the four approaches in interpreting the social world?

Answer 3

• Locus of control
• attributional style
• optimism/ pessimism
• mastery orientation

Question 4

what is the personal construct theory?

Answer 4

• people develop theories about how the world works
• everyone has unique theories on interpreting world events
• ex: you get what you deserve, if you work hard good things will happen

Question 5

what is the function of personal construct?

Answer 5

• it helps organize, interpret and predict people’s behaviours

Question 6

what is locus of control?

Answer 6

• general tendency to explain events in your life
• do you take responsibility/ control or deny it?

Question 7

what is internal locus of control?

Answer 7

• I believe I can control what happens in my life
• ex: I got a bad grade because I didn’t study

Question 8

what is external locus of control?

Answer 8

• I believe that fate is in the hands of chance/ others
• ex: I failed my test because the teacher performs poorly in class

Question 9

positive effects of locus of control:

Answer 9

more likely to:
- have better health
- follow what the doctor says
- have a better credit score

Question 10

What is learned helplessness?

Answer 10

• if nothing goes my way I tend to believe that I am helpless
• perceive that there is not association between my actions and the outcomes
• ex: why should I try, it won’t work out anyways!

Question 11

what are the 3 elements to look at in learned helplessness?

Answer 11

is cause Stable vs Unstable? (e.g., it’s not gonna change)
* is cause Internal vs External? (e.g., it’s about me)
* is cause Global vs Specific? (e.g., every part of my life)
– if for neg events answers are: Stable, Internal, Global,
then one feels helpless

Question 12

Optimism/ pessimism

Answer 12

• concern’s about people’s expectancies for the future

Question 13

people are motivated by what?

Answer 13

-goals
- how much effort you put into your goals are influenced by: the value of it (how much you want it) and How confident/ doubtful you are that you can achieve it

Question 14

optimism is?

Answer 14

a general belief / confidence that things will turn out for the best

Question 15

optimistic people are most likely to:

Answer 15

persevere, see challenges as an opportunity to grow, have more effective coping strategies

Question 16

defence pessimism:

Answer 16

-are pessimists with a history of doing well
- very anxious prior to test situation
- use anxiety for better performance

Question 17

optimists and defence pessimists have:

Answer 17

same goals, different expectancies and different strategies
- both are effective
- differ in how they interpret and respond to challenges

Question 18

difference between: optimism/ pessimism and realism:

Answer 18

• positivism: Positive expectations for future: imagine desired outcome
• pessimism: Neg expectations for future: imagine undesired outcome
• Realistic Orientation: imagine mix of desired and
  undesired possible outcomes

Question 19

Defense pessimism vs realist

Answer 19

defence pessimist has negative expectation, which makes them anxious and then are motivated to avoid failure.

realists have both negative and positive expectations, are hopeful and anxious but they have a plan just in case

Question 20

entity theorists believe that:

Answer 20

• intelligence is a fixed trait and it is a quality that cannot be changed
  ex: failure means one is stupid
• focus is on performance and avoid challenging tasks

Question 21

incremental theories believe that:

Answer 21

• challenging situations are opportunities to learn
• if one fails they should work harder or try a different way
• focus on learning, prefer challenging tasks

Question 22

( for personality) Entity theorists believe that:

Answer 22

believe traits are fixed
- Once an individual/group is labeled, new counter info is rejected/ignored

Question 23

for personality) incremental theorists

Answer 23

believe people can change
- Behaviour seen as due to situations, goals, motivation