ROTTER & MISCHEL: COGNITIVE SOCIAL LEARNING THOERY Flashcards
What is the first assumption of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
Humans interact with their meaningful environments. People’s reactions to environmental stimuli depend on the meaning or importance they attach to an event. Reinforcements are influenced by individual cognitive capacity, and behavior results from the interaction of environmental and personal factors.
: How does Rotter’s theory explain the role of reinforcements in behavior?
Reinforcements are not solely dependent on external stimuli but are given meaning by an individual’s cognitive capacity. Personal traits alone do not cause behavior; rather, behavior arises from the interaction of personal and environmental factors.
What is the second assumption of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
Human personality is learned. Personality is not fixed at any particular stage of development and can be modified through learning. Although past experiences provide stability, personality remains open to change through new experiences.
How does past experience influence personality according to Rotter?
Personality is shaped by accumulated experiences, but these experiences are not constant. They are influenced by intervening experiences, which then shape present perceptions and learning.
What is the third assumption of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
Personality has a basic unity, meaning that people’s personalities maintain relative stability over time. They evaluate new experiences based on past reinforcements, leading to consistency in personality.
What does Rotter mean by “basic unity of personality”?
People develop stable ways of evaluating experiences based on past reinforcement. This consistency in evaluation leads to a relatively stable and unified personality.
What is the fourth assumption of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
Motivation is goal-directed. People are not simply driven by the need to reduce tension or seek pleasure; instead, they behave in ways that move them toward their goals.
How does Rotter’s theory challenge traditional motivation theories?
Unlike traditional theories that focus on tension reduction or pleasure-seeking, Rotter argues that people are primarily motivated by their expectations of moving toward goals, even if the process involves stress or discomfort
What is Rotter’s empirical law of effect?
The empirical law of effect states that reinforcement is any action, condition, or event that influences an individual’s movement toward a goal. People are most strongly reinforced by behaviors that bring them closer to anticipated goals.
What is the fifth assumption of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
People are capable of anticipating events and use their perceived movement toward anticipated events to evaluate reinforcers.
How does anticipation influence behavior in Rotter’s theory?
People assess reinforcers based on how they perceive their progress toward an anticipated goal. This capacity for anticipation plays a key role in predicting human behavior.
What are the five basic assumptions of Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
- Humans interact with meaningful environments.
- Personality is learned and can be modified.
- Personality has a basic unity, providing stability.
- Motivation is goal-directed, not just tension reduction.
- People anticipate events and evaluate reinforcers accordingly.
How does Rotter describe human interaction with their environment?
Humans assign meaning to environmental stimuli, and reinforcement depends on cognitive interpretation, not just external factors. Behavior results from the interaction of personal and environmental factors.
What does Rotter say about personality development?
Personality is not fixed; it evolves as long as a person is capable of learning. Past experiences provide stability, but new experiences can reshape personality.
What does Rotter mean by “basic unity” of personality?
People evaluate new experiences based on previous reinforcement, leading to consistency and stability in personality.
How does Rotter explain motivation?
People act based on expectations of achieving goals rather than just reducing tension. Example: College students endure stress to graduate.
What is Rotter’s empirical law of effect?
Reinforcement is any action, condition, or event that moves an individual toward a goal.
What are the four key variables for predicting behavior?
- Behavior Potential (BP)
- Expectancy (E)
- Reinforcement Value (RV)
- Psychological Situation
Behavior Potential (BP)
Likelihood of a specific behavior occurring.
Expectancy (E)
Belief that behavior will lead to reinforcement.
Reinforcement Value (RV)
Preference for a specific reinforcement
Psychological Situation (s)
Perceived cues in a given moment.
What determines behavior potential in a situation?
It depends on expectancy and reinforcement value. Higher expectancy or reinforcement value increases the likelihood of a behavior.
What is expectancy in Rotter’s theory
Expectancy is a person’s belief that a specific reinforcement will follow a particular behavior. It is subjective and influenced by past experiences, fantasies, and beliefs.
Generalized Expectancy (GE)
Based on past reinforcement history
Specific Expectancy (E’)
Varies in specific situations
What determines total expectancy of success?
It is a combination of generalized and specific expectancies, influencing effort and persistence toward goals.
What is reinforcement value?
It is the preference a person attaches to a reinforcement when all reinforcements have equal probability of occurring.
What is Rotter’s formula for predicting behavior?
BPx1,s1,ra = f (Ex1,ra,s1 + RVa,s1 )
BP: Behavior Potential
E: Expectancy of reinforcement
RV: Reinforcement Value
s: Psychological Situation
What factors influence reinforcement value?
- Internal Reinforcement: Personal perception of an event.
- External Reinforcement: Social or cultural values attached to an event.
- Need Satisfaction: Reinforcers are more valuable when they fulfill strong needs.
- Future Consequences: Anticipation of reinforcement-reinforcement sequences.
How does the psychological situation influence behavior?
Behavior results from an individual’s interpretation of external and internal cues, not just stimuli or traits alone.
What is Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
It suggests that behavior is determined by expected outcomes (expectancies) and the value of those outcomes (reinforcement value).
What is generalized expectancy?
It refers to a person’s overall expectation that a behavior will lead to a certain reinforcement, based on past experiences.
What is need potential (NP) in Rotter’s theory?
It is the likelihood of performing functionally related behaviors to satisfy a specific need.
What is freedom of movement (FM)?
It is the overall expectation that certain behaviors will lead to reinforcement for a general need.
What is need value (NV)?
The degree to which a person prefers one set of reinforcements over another.
What is Rotter’s General Prediction Formula?
NP = f (FM + NV), meaning need potential is a function of freedom of movement and need value.
What are Rotter and Hochreich’s six broad categories of needs?
- Recognition-Status – Need for achievement and prestige.
- Dominance – Need to control others.
Independence – Need for self-reliance. - Protection-Dependency – Need to be cared for.
- Love and Affection – Need for acceptance and positive regard.
- Physical Comfort – Need for food, security, and health.
What is locus of control?
The belief about whether outcomes are controlled by internal factors (effort, ability) or external factors (luck, fate).
What does Rotter’s I-E Scale measure?
The degree to which a person believes they control their own fate (internal) or are controlled by external forces.
What is Interpersonal Trust according to Rotter (1980)?
A generalized expectancy that the word, promise, oral or written statement of another individual or group can be relied on.
How does interpersonal trust differ from gullibility?
Trust is believing others when there is no evidence for disbelief, whereas gullibility is foolishly or naively accepting others’ words.
Why is interpersonal trust important in social learning?
Because rewards and punishments often come from others, shaping our expectations of whether people’s words can be trusted.
What is the Interpersonal Trust Scale?
A scale developed by Rotter (1967) to measure individual differences in trust through 25 trust-related statements and 15 filler items.
How is the Interpersonal Trust Scale scored?
It uses a 5-point scale from Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree, with high scores indicating high trust and low scores indicating generalized distrust.
What is maladaptive behavior in Rotter’s Social Learning Theory?
Persistent behavior that fails to move a person toward their desired goal.
What causes maladaptive behavior?
A combination of high need value and low freedom of movement, meaning the person sets unrealistic goals that they lack the ability to achieve.
How does setting unrealistic goals lead to maladaptive behavior?
When people aim for goals beyond their reach (e.g., being loved by everyone), they adopt defensive or self-defeating behaviors.
What are some common maladaptive behaviors when goals are set too high?
Social aggression: Acting out to gain attention.
Withdrawal: Avoiding people to prevent rejection or failure.
How does low freedom of movement contribute to maladaptive behavior?
Lack of information or skills.
Faulty evaluation of personal abilities.
Generalization of failure from one domain to anothe
How can generalization of failure lead to maladjustment?
A physically weak adolescent may assume he is incapable in unrelated areas like acting or leadership due to his lack of athletic ability.
What are the key characteristics of maladjusted individuals?
Unrealistic goals.
Inappropriate behaviors.
Inadequate social skills.
Unreasonably low expectancies of success.
Can maladaptive behavior be changed?
Yes, through unlearning inappropriate behaviors and learning productive ones in controlled environments like psychotherapy.
Interpersonal Trust
A generalized expectancy that the word, promise, or statement of another individual or group can be relied upon.
It is not gullibility but a belief in communication when there is no reason to disbelieve.
Development of Interpersonal Trust
Trust develops through experiences where verbal promises or threats are either fulfilled or broken.
Individuals develop different levels of trust based on past reinforcement.
Definition of Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is about effecting behavioral change through social interaction.
It is a problem-solving approach but not just for quick solutions—it aims for long-term life orientation change.
Goal of Rotter’s Therapy
Bringing harmony between freedom of movement and need value.
Reducing defensive and avoidance behaviors.
The therapist plays an active role as a teacher.
Two Major Therapeutic Approaches
Changing the Importance of Goals
Eliminating Unrealistically Low Expectancies for Success
Changing Goals (Three Problem Sources)
Conflicting Goals
Destructive Goals
Unrealistic High Goals
Conflicting Goals
Example: Adolescents struggle between independence and protection-dependency.
Therapy: Help them see which behaviors relate to each need and alter need value to ensure consistency in behavior.
Destructive Goals
Patients persist in self-destructive pursuits leading to failure and punishment.
Therapy: Reinforce movements away from these goals.
Unrealistic High Goals
High goals → failure & pain → avoidance behaviors (running away, repression).
Therapy: Help patients realistically reevaluate and lower goals by reducing reinforcement value.
Eliminating Low Expectancies (Three Causes)
Lack of Skills or Information
Faulty Evaluation of the Present Situation
Faulty Generalization
Lack of Skills or Information
Therapy: Act as a teacher, instructing on problem-solving techniques.
Example: Social skill training (ignoring inappropriate behaviors, modeling, advising).
Faulty Evaluation of the Present Situation
Example: A woman afraid of asserting herself at work due to childhood experiences.
Therapy: Help her differentiate past from present & learn assertiveness techniques.
Faulty Generalization
Example: A weak adolescent in sports assumes failure in all areas.
Therapy: Reinforce small successes in other domains to build confidence.
Cognitive-Affective Personality System
Early Personality Theories (Eysenck, Allport) → Stable personality traits determine behavior.
Mischel’s Critique → Behavior depends more on situations than on fixed traits.
Consistency Paradox
People believe behavior is consistent, but research shows high variability across situations.
Seymour Epstein (1979, 1980) Counterargument
Aggregation theory: If we sum up behaviors, we’ll see overall trait consistency.
Mischel disagreed → Low correlations (~0.30) between traits and behaviors suggest inconsistency is real
Person-Situation Interaction
Behavior = Interaction of personality traits & specific situations.
Traits are condition-dependent: Behavior is not globally consistent but situation-specific.
Cognitive-Affective Units in CAPS
Behavior is shaped by dispositions + cognitive-affective processes.
Key Processes:
1. Beliefs & Values
2. Goals & Expectations
3. Cognitions (Thought Patterns)
4. Emotional Responses
cognitive-Affective Personality System Model Summar
Behavior is determined by:
1. Stable Personality Traits
2. Situational Influences
3. Cognitive-Affective Processing
Neither situation alone nor traits alone predict behavior—it’s the interaction between both.
Rotter’s Psychotherapy
Harmony between freedom of movement and need value
Problems come from conflicting goals, destructive goals, unrealistic goals.
Mischel’s CAPS
Personalityy isn’t stable across situations—behavior depends on cognitive-affective processes.
Consistency paradox: People think personality is consistent, but research shows variability.
Traits & situations interact to predict behavior
What does CAPS explain?
It accounts for both variability across situations and stability within a person.
What does CAPS propose about behavior?
Behavior changes from situation to situation in a predictable and meaningful way.
What is a behavioral signature in CAPS?
The unique, stable pattern of variation in a person’s behavior across different situations.
How does CAPS solve the consistency paradox?
By showing that behavior is consistent within specific situations rather than across all situations.
ow does CAPS predict behaviorow does CAPS predict behavior
Using if-then statements: If situation A occurs, then behavior X will happen.
What assumption does CAPS make about personality?
Personality is a stable system that processes information about different situations.
What cognitive-affective units influence behavior?
Encodings (how situations are perceived)
Expectancies & Beliefs (anticipated outcomes)
Competencies & Self-Regulatory Strategies (skills & self-control)
Goals & Values (personal priorities)
Affective Responses (emotions & reactions)
How do we determine the influence of situation vs. personal traits?
By observing whether behavior is uniform or varied across individuals in the same situation.
When are situation variables more powerful than personal traits?
When people react similarly in the same situation (e.g., watching an emotional movie).
When are personal traits more powerful than situation variables
When people react differently to the same situation (e.g., job layoffs).
What are cognitive-affective units?
Stable personal variables that interact with situations to shape behavior.
What did the delay-of-gratification study by Mischel & Ebbesen (1970) find?
Children who focused on the treat struggled to wait.
Those who distracted themselves (e.g., looking away, singing) were able to wait longer.
Both situation and cognitive-affective processes influence behavior
