M3. Lesson 5: Cognitive Social Learning Theory

Question 1

What does the cognitive social learning theories of both Rotter and Mischel attempt to do?

Answer 1

The cognitive social learning theories of both Rotter and Mischel attempt to synthesize the strengths of reinforcement theory with those of cognitive theory.

Question 2

How does Rotter interpret people’s behavior in a specific situation?

Answer 2

According to Rotter, people’s behavior in a specific situation is a function of their expectations of reinforcements and the strength of the needs satisfied by those reinforcements.

Question 3

What is the basic prediction formula?

Answer 3

In specific situations, behavior is estimated by the basic prediction formula that suggests that the potential for a given behavior to occur is a function of the person’s expectancy plus the value of the reinforcement.

Question 4

What is the general prediction formula?

Answer 4

The general prediction formula states that need potential is a function of freedom of movement and need value.

Question 5

What is need potential?

Answer 5

Need potential is the possible occurrence of a set of functionally related behaviors directed toward the satisfaction of a goal or a similar set of goals.

Question 6

What is freedom of movement?

Answer 6

Freedom of movement is the average expectancy that a set of related behaviors will be reinforced.

Question 7

What is the need value?

Answer 7

Need value is the degree to which a person prefers one set of reinforcements to another.

Question 8

Why do people developed generalized expectancies for success in many situations?

Answer 8

In many situations, people develop generalized expectancies for success because a similar set of experiences has been previously reinforced.

Question 9

What is locus of control?

Answer 9

Locus of control is a generalized expectancy that refers to people’s belief that they can or cannot control their lives.

Question 10

What is interpersonal trust?

Answer 10

Interpersonal trust is a generalized expectancy that the word of another is reliable.

Question 11

What is maladaptive behavior?

Answer 11

Maladaptive behavior refers to those actions that fail to move a person closer to a desired goal.

Question 12

What does Rotter’s method of psychotherapy aim to do?

Answer 12

Rotter’s method of psychotherapy aims toward changing goals and eliminating low expectancies.

Question 13

What does Mischel’s cognitive-active personality system (CAPS) suggest?

Answer 13

Mischel’s cognitive-active personality system (CAPS) suggests that people’s behavior is largely shaped by an interaction of stable personality traits and the situation, which include a number of personal variables.

Question 14

What are personal dispositions?

Answer 14

Personal dispositions have some consistency over time but little consistency from one situation to another.

Question 15

What produces behavior?

Answer 15

Relatively stable personality dispositions interact with cognitive-affective units to produce behavior.

Question 16

What do cognitive-affective units include?

Answer 16

Cognitive-affective units include people’s encoding strategies, or their way of construing and categorizing information; their competencies and self-regulatory plans, or what they can do and their strategies for doing it; their expectancies and beliefs about the perceived consequences of their actions; their goals and values; and their affective responses.

Question 17

What assumption do Rotter and Mischel’s theories have?

Answer 17

The cognitive social learning theories of Julian Rotter and Walter Mischel each rest on the assumption that cognitive factors help shape how people will react to environmental forces.

Question 18

What do Rotter and Mischel reject?

Answer 18

Both theorists (Rotter and Mischel) object to Skinner’s explanation that behavior is shaped by immediate reinforcement and instead suggest that one’s expectations of future events are prime determinants of performance.

Question 19

What did Rotter contend about human behavior?

Answer 19

Rotter contended that human behavior is best predicted from an understanding of the interaction of people with their meaningful environments.

Question 20

What did Rotter believe as an interactionist?

Answer 20

As an interactionist, he (Rotter) believed that neither the environment itself nor the individual is completely responsible for behavior. Instead, he held that people’s cognitions, past histories, and expectations of the future are keys to predicting behavior. In this respect, he differed from Skinner, who believed that reinforcement ultimately stems from the environment.