the cognitive approch to personality Flashcards
history of the cognitive approch
behaviourism> social learning/personal construct>social cognition/information processing
what was behaviorist view in personality?
that personality is a set of learned responses to the environment
that anyone personality can be formed or changed through patterns of reinforcement and punishment
what was skinner’s approch
method:systematic obeservation and controled experimentation
data:directly obeserveble behaviour that be assessed objectively
subject:rats
emphasis:environmental causes of behaviour and personality
what was the main points of the behaviorist approach?
-we can only study observable behaviour
-mind does not explain behaviour
-personality is shaped by what we learn from the environment
(classical and operant conditioning)
classical conditioning
behaviors are learned by connecting a neutral stimulus with a positive one.
goal: for the dog to come when i ring my bell
process: ring the bell(neutral stimulus) + steak(positive stimulus)>dog comes
if i do it long anought, after the conditioning : ring bell>dog comes
operant conditioning
goal: for the dog to come when i ring my bell
process: ring the bell>the dog comes>give the steak(reinforce there behaviour)
what is the view of skinner today
not very good
but important part in personality psychology
social learning
1-observe behaviour of others being rewarded
2-use your MIND to connect the two
3-decide to behave similarly
observational learning (modeling)
-aquire a behaviour by watching someone else do it and observing the consequence
-Bandura’s Bobo doll study-clown
what are some extensions of the basic conditioning principles?
-observational learning
-expectancies/incentives
ex: altruism in young children,video games and violence and shaming prison sentences
is altruism innate,or learned ?
evidence of prosocial behaviour:
cross-species evidence
Roots of altruism seen in babies: Toddlers eager to help out, even with no prospect of reward
what was the finding in Hamlin,Wynn and bloom study?
-in the study where babys would watch a video of an object helping or harming the other object, they would then choose witch object they wanted to play with.
they most often wanted to play with the one that helped the other
showing that perhaps we are born with a sense of good and evil or we learn about helping other very early on
what is the root of altruism
innate morality or
direct reinforcement(of similar behaviours in the past)
observational learning (parents)
-indirect reinforcement(older sibling)
no direct reward but expectancies(anticipated consequence)
what are the effects of violent media in children?
exposure to violent tv and video games :
-increses aggressive behaviour,thoughts,and feelings
-increse physiological arousal
-decreses pro-social behaviors
why does violence in media increse agression?
-classical conditionig:
videogames are fun to play,plesureble feeling associated with violence
-operant conditioning
video game player is directly rewarded for being violent
-observation learning
role models (movie stars) are rewarded for violence
wich films lead to violence?
grantiotis,realistic violence
shaming prision sentences
-date back to the old testament
-scarlet A
-revival of shame punishment started in the late 1980
how would shaming sentences would deter crime ?
-observational learning:observe semone else punished for antisocial act
-expectancies of punishment
what are the problems with this type of sentences?
-motivates escape,hiding, avoidance
-leads to blaming others,agression
-more adaptive to feel guilt in response to failure
(guilt promotes preparation,apology,confession)
early cognitive perspective
our personality reflects how we process information about ourselves,others and the world
-how we process information reflects our mental representations of ourselves
Personal construct theory was made by who?
George Kelly
What is Personal construct theory?
overarching perceptions shape interpretations of reality which impacts our personality
so if you want to change your personality you must first change your reality of the world
modern cognitive perspective
-people have different cognitions which shape personality
what are some of these cognitions?
attitudes,belifs,values and schemas about the self or others
locus of control was proposed by who?
Julian rotter
what the two locus of control/”focus of control”
External locus and internal locus
external locus
belife that fate,luck or outside forces are responsible for what happens
internal
belif that one’s own ability,effort,or actions determine what happens
to masure locus of control what do we use?
rotter’s scale
-two choices mark the one that u belive is right
reserch findings on locus of control
internal locus
-increses academic performence
-more effective health-preventation behaviour
-social/political activism
external locus:learned helplessness
learned helplessness is the learned belif that outcomes can’t be controlled
Seligman-dog research
-exposure to unavoidable shock
-shock was not dependable of dog’s behaviour
-dog learn helpleness,it becomes depressed
what are some donwsides of internal locus?
-some things are truly out of our control
-survivor guilt
-why not externalize negative events
Explanatory style
the way in which people habitually explain the causes of negative events
what are the categories to explanatory style?
-Locus :
internality (it’s me ) -self-blame
externality(its something in the environment)
what are the categories to explanatory style?
-Stability
Stable(its gonna to last forever)- FATALIZAM
Unstable( it’s going away)
what are the categories to explanatory style?
Globality
Global(its gonna to undermine everything) CATASTROPHIZING
Specific(its effects are limited to this one thing)
passimistic explanatory style
-internal,stable,global
-people with these are usually are more depressed
-more health problems
what people want to have is:
external,unstable,specific attribution
stable vs global
-The stable/unstable dimension represents whether a person believes a repeated event will be the same or subject to change.
-Global versus specific refers to whether or not a person’s explanation generalises the event to others beyond the specific event in hand.
Terman Longitudinal study-for importance of explanatory style
found that participants with catastrophizing had increase mortality
participants described bad events and those were judged for internally,stability and globality
