Post on 11-Jan-2016
The Social-Cognitive Perspective
Social-Cognitive Perspective Albert Bandura (1925- )
• Perspective stating that understanding personality involves considering the situation and thoughts before, during, and after an event
• How do your thoughts, behaviors & environment influence your personality?
Social-Cognitive Perspective
• Play “The Social-Cognitive Model” (5:43) Segment #27 from Psychology: The Human Experience (5:43).
• Albert Bandura explains his theory.• Social-Cognitive Model is used to
explain the personality of Nelson Mandela.
Social Cognitive differs from Humanistic & Psychoanalytic Perspectives in Three Ways:
1. It relies heavily on experimental findings
2. It emphasizes conscious, self-regulating behavior
3. It emphasizes that our sense of self (personality) can vary, depending on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a given situation.
The Social-Cognitive Perspective:
Interacting with Our Environment
Social Cognitive PerspectiveKey Terms
• Reciprocal determinism - explains personality as the result of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental interactions
• Self-efficacy—belief that people have about their ability to meet demands or control aspects of a specific situation
Reciprocal Determinism: Three Factors Shape Personality
• We develop personality by choosing which environment to be in, which exposes us to certain situations, which in turn leads us make certain choices, which leads us to choose an environment…
• An interaction of three factors:– The environment– A person’s experiences & behaviors– Thoughts or cognitions
Reciprocal Determinism
Self-Efficacy• The sense that one can control the outcome of
one’s environment• We develop this in childhood but it continues as a
lifelong process.• A person’s cognitive skills, abilities & attitudes
create our self-system• We develop new behaviors and strengthen our
self-efficacy by observing others and through mastery experiences.
• Different from Self-Esteem which is more global – How you feel about yourself in overall.
Achievement Motivation
• Play “Self-Efficacy” (5:00) Segment #19 from Psychology: The Human Experience.
The Social-Cognitive Perspective:
Personal Control
Internal Locus of Control• The perception that we control our own fate
External Locus of Control• The perception that chance, or forces beyond a
person’s control, control one’s fate
Learned Helplessness• The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal
or human learns when unable to avoid repeated bad events
• Martin Seligman studied dogs that were unable to escape a painful stimulus and eventually stopped trying to escape.
Learned HelplessnessReciprocal Determinism
The Social-Cognitive Perspective:
Evaluating the Perspective
Evaluation of Social Cognitive Perspective
• Well grounded in empirical, laboratory research• However, laboratory experiences are rather simple
and may not reflect the complexity of human interactions
• Ignores the influences of unconscious, emotions, conflicts instead placing responsibility of behavior firmly on ourselves.
Freud vs. Bandura on Human Aggression
• Freud – Human aggression is a universal unconscious instinct controlled by the superego and restraints of society.
• Bandura – All behavior is driven by conscious goals and motives. Aggression is the result of a deliberate, rational choice in a particular situation.