Module 8: Cognition and the Self Flashcards
Bandura believed that environmental, behavioural, and personal factors are all equal, intertwined predictors of one another. This idea is called:
reciprocal determinism
Bandura used the term ______________ to describe the process of social learning
modelling
According to Bandura, 3 factors impact the strength of the modelling effect:
- Features of the model
- Consequences of model’s behaviour
- Qualities of the observer
Are people lower in self-esteem more likely to be affected by social learning?
No. Self-esteem is not related to the social learning process
What 4 component processes are crucial in a social learning situation?
- Attention
- Retention
- Production
- Motivation
What are two important elements in Bandura’s theory that rely heavily on cognitive processes?
- Self-regulation
- Self-Efficacy
What is the difference between self-esteem and self-efficacy?
Self-esteem
- How we evaluate our own worth or abilities
Self-efficacy
- One’s belief about their ability to achieve their goals as a result of their actions
Does having high or low self-efficacy in certain tasks automatically produce higher or lower self-esteem?
No
According to Walter Mischel’s cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS) theory…
There are individual “if…then…” relationships that contribute to the consistency of variation in an individual’s behaviour and ultimately their personality
The personality variables in Mischel’s CAPS theory are called:
cognitive-affective units
According to Mischel’s CAPS theory, situation is not limited to things in the environment (like those theories put forth by classical behaviourists like Skinner). What does this mean?
This means that the situation is inclusive of a whole set of internal cognitive and motional factors
Aside from CAPS, one of Mischel’s most well-known contributions is his research on:
delayed gratification
According to Mischel, disruptions in one’s ability to delay gratification can contribute to social problems such as…
dropping out of school or criminal activity
Mischel conducted a longitudinal study with marshmallows and children to assess delayed gratification. What did he find?
Delayed gratification group was:
- More effective, assertive, and better equipped in coping with life frustrations
- also achieved higher SAT scores
Bandura and Mischel studied the effect of social learning on self-control. What did they find and what did they speculate from these results?
Finding:
- model’s choice (delayed vs. immediate gratification) affected the child’s choice
- effect was less pronounced when children were read a description of the model’s choice compared to when they witness the model making this choice
Speculation:
- May explain why some children with unstable families develop problems with self-control later on
Herman Witkin studied differences in perceptual style and came to call this topic:
field dependence versus field independence
What does it mean to be field dependent?
You perceive the orientation of objects by relying on environmental cues
What does it mean to be field independent?
You perceive the orientation of objects by relying on bodily cues
What type of students (field dependent versus independent) tend to favour the natural sciences, math, and engineering?
Field independent
What type of students (field dependent versus independent) tend to favour social sciences and education?
Field dependent
Field _______________ people tend to rely on social information and frequently ask other people for their opinion
dependent
Field _______________ people function with more autonomy and thus they demonstrate a detached orientation toward others and show preference for non-social situations
independent
Field ____________ people have shown to be better at ignoring distracting information and focusing on the more important details
independent
With regard to pain perception, “reducers” have been found to consume psychoactive drugs more, listen to louder music, drink more coffee, and have a lower threshold for boredom compared to augmenters. What is the hypothesis for this?
Their nervous system is thought to reduce the effects of sensory stimulation
According to Kelly, a personal construct is similar to a…
cognitive schema
What are some examples of personal constructs?
Smart-not smart, cooperative-uncooperative, tall-short, boring-interesting
According to Kelly’s personal construct theory, personality differences exist because…
people possess different personal constructs that they use to construe the social world
According to Kelly’s personal construct theory anxiety is the result of…
not being able to understand and predict life events, that is, our personal constructs failing to make sense of our circumstances
Locus of control
A person’s perception of responsibility for life events (whether that be internally or externally)
If a person generally believes that they can do little to influence events, then in a new situation, they would have a ___________ ______________ that things are outside of their control
generalized expectancy
In general, a _________ locus of control is conducive to well-being and predicative of a variety of outcomes (i.e., reduced risk of obesity, completion of degree in more timely manner, higher credit ratings)
internal
According to Higgins’ theory of regulatory focus, promotion focus (advancement, growth) correlates with traits like:
extraversion and behavioural activation
According to Higgins’ theory of regulatory focus, prevention focus (safety, prevention of negative outcomes) correlates with traits like:
neuroticism and harm avoidance
Mischel’s CAPS theory emphasizes personality ___________ rather than static traits
processes
The mirror recognition test is a method for assessing the development of:
self-awareness
What are among the first aspects of the self that people learn to identify and associate with themselves?
Gender and age
From age 3 to 12 children’s self-concepts are based mainly on…
developing talents and skills
During adolescence, the self-concept becomes based more on abstract psychological terms such as…
Likes, dislikes, mood states, ideologies, etc.
People more easily process information that is consistent with their…
self-concept
Self-schemas can include:
Past self
Current self
Possible selves
Ideal self
Ought self
Higgins referred to the ought and ideal selves as:
self-guides
Ideal self guides us to focus on achievement and goals. What type of focus would this be associated with?
Promotion
Ought self guides us to focus on avoiding harm and seeking safety. What type of focus would this be associated with?
Prevention
Describe the typical self-esteem fluctuations over the life span
Low during adolescence, gradual rise through midlife, increases tend to accompany other positive life events
With regard to the self-concept, what is an explanation for why following failure, those with low self-esteem are more likely to perform poorly/give up while those high in self-esteem are more likely to try harder?
Since failure feedback is consistent with the self-concept of those low in self-esteem they are more likely to accept it unlike those who are high in self-esteem because the failure feedback is inconsistent with their self-concept
Why have programs been proposed for expanding self-concept?
Because those with high self-complexity (that is, those who have a self-concept made up of many parts) a failure in any one aspect is buffered because there are many other aspects of the self
A strategy in which a person facing a challenge expects to do poorly
Defensive pessimism
Deliberately doing the things that increase the probability of one’s failure
Self-handicapping
One study found that self-esteem level was indeed related to depression. However this relation was much stronger among those higher in…
self-esteem variability
According to Baumeister there are 2 types of identity crises:
- Identity deficit
- When a person has not formed an adequate identity and has trouble making major decisions - identity conflict
- A conflict between two or more aspects of identity
In 2015 the APA task force on violent media released a meta-analysis and concluded that the impact of exposure to violent video game use on aggressive outcomes is robust. However there were several critiques:
- Did not include a representative sample of research in this field
- Not transparent about the studies selected
- Chosen statistical procedures that are known to inflate estimates of effects
An updated meta-analysis of exposure to violent video game use on aggressive outcomes found that:
The relation between violent video game use and aggressive behaviour may be statistically significant but it is small (explains less than 0.5% of the variance in outcomes)
