1. The Social-Cognitive Theory of Personality

2. Social-Cognitive Theory of Personality: Definition
Proposed by Albert Bandura
Emphasizes the interaction of our traits with our social situations
We learn many of our behaviors through conditioning or observing others and modeling our behavior after theirs (“social” part)
Also draws off of the work of Skinner
Helps us form habits
Also emphasize the importance of mental processes: what we think about our situations affects our behavior (“cognitive” part)

3. Key Elements of Social-Cognitive Theory of personality

4. Reciprocal Determinism
Interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment (Bandura)
Children’s TV-viewing habits (past behavior) influence their viewing preferences (internal factor), which influence how television (environmental factor) affects their current behavior
Reciprocal: two or more parties exchanging something
Determinism: your behavior is determined by…

6. Self-Efficacy
Performance Standards: Standards that people develop to rate the adequacy of their own behavior in a variety of situations
Those who succeed in meeting their own internal performance standards develop self-efficacy
Self-Efficacy: Expectancy that one’s efforts will be successful
A person’s level of confidence in her or his own abilities to gain reinforcement
Can be situation specific: abilities in science v. rock climbing ability

7. Personal Control (Julian Rotter)
External Locus of Control: perception that chance or outside forces determine a person’s fate
When could this be helpful?
Internal Locus of Control: people who believe that they control their own destiny
Attitude, preparation, effort – all controlled by the individual
Who achieves more in school and work?
Internals
Who acts more independently?
Who enjoys better health and feels less depressed?
Locus: a particular position, point, or place

8. Assessing Behavior in Situations
How do social-cognitive theorists assess personality?
Often through observation in realistic situations
Best means of predicting future behavior is through examining a person’s past behavior in similar situations
Best predictor of future grades is past grades
Best predictor of future job performance is past job performance

9. Evaluating the Social-Cognitive Theory
More than other theories, it builds from psychological research on learning and cognition
Critics:
Focuses so much on the situation that it fails to appreciate the person’s inner traits
Where is the person? Human emotions?
Traits have been shown to predict behavior at work, love, and play