Introduction to Psychology Virginia Union University

 Freud’s Psychodynamic Theory  Humanistic Theories  Social Cognitive Theory  Trait Theory

 Personality development shaped by 3 influential factors:  Environmental conditions  Cognitive-personal factors  Behavior  All of the above factors influence how we evaluate, interpret, organize & apply information

 Environmental Conditions  Includes our social, political influence, and cultural influence, as well as our particular learning experiences

 Cognitive factors  Includes our beliefs, expectations, values, intentions & social roles  Personal factors  Includes our emotional makeup & our biological & genetic influences

 Behavior  Includes a variety of personal actions, like the things we do or say

 Assumes that personality development, growth, and change are influenced by four cognitive processes  Highly developed language ability  Observational learning  Purposeful behavior  Self-analysis

 Language ability  Tool for processing and understanding information that influences personality development  Information turned into ideas, beliefs, values & goals, which shape, motivate & guide our behavior

 Observational learning  Watching, imitating & modeling

 Purposeful behavior  Our capacity to anticipate events, plan ahead, and set goals influences our personality development, growth and change

 Self-analysis  Internal process that allows us to monitor our own thoughts and actions  Deciding to change our goals and values can influence personality development

 How you perceive the world effects how you behave  Locus of Control  Our beliefs about how much control we have over situations & rewards  Internal locus of control We believe that we have control over situations & rewards  External locus of control We believe that we do not have control over situations & rewards, events outside influence what happens

 Now or Later? Marshmallow study  Not taking an immediate but less desirable reward and instead waiting and pursuing an object or completing a task that promises a better reward in the future

 Do you believe that you can?  Confidence in your ability to organize & execute a given course of action to solve a problem or accomplish a task