COURSE NOTES: Personality

denotes a term that you should know how to define, and to recognize and give examples. denotes an important person. You should remember this person's name and what (s)he has done. denotes an important research finding. denotes an issue that you should be able to discuss or explain.

Chapter 12: 

Mischel and Bandura: Cognitive Social Learning Theory

Traits in Cognitive Social Learning Theory: Mischel

The Trait Controversy: Mischel's Challenge

• (r = .30)
• average relationship between self-report personality measures and behavior
• little consistency across situations
• (greater temporal consistency)

The Consistency Paradox

• discrepancy between intuition and empirical findings
• common sense (intuition): consistency
• research evidence (empirical): little consistency

The Situational Context of Behavior

situational hedges: "Person does x when y."

"Johnny will hit back [behavior] when teased [situational hedge]."

Imagine combinations of these behaviors:

• hit
• cry
• smile
• With any of these situations:
  • ... when pushed.
  • ... when teased.
  • ... when complimented
• Some combinations make sense; others are bizarre (and observers may consider them “psychotic”).
• Meaningful combinations are consistent for various normal personality traits:
  • aggressive
  • friendly
  • withdrawn

Illustration of a Dispositional Construct (Shyness) as an If-Then Linkage between a Category of Conditions and a Category of Behaviors [See Figure 12.1 in the Cloninger text on page 357.]

Cognitive Person Variables

Encoding Strategies and Personal Constructs

personal constructs: trait terms people use to describe themselves and other people

• hard-working
• passionate

prototypes: typical exemplars of "fuzzy" categories

situational descriptions

descriptions of events

(must assess individual meanings of stimuli)

Competencies

• behavioral
• cognitive

Examples of Cognitive and Behavioral Construction Competencies:

• Sexual gender identity
• Knowing structure of the physical world
• Social rules and conventions
• Personal constructs about self, others
• Rehearsal strategies for learning

Expectancies

• If I study 3 hours, will I get an A ?
• If I run, will I catch the bus?

Stimulus-Outcome Expectancies

• What will happen next?

Self-Efficacy Expectancies

• Can I do it?

Subjective Stimulus Values

Self-Regulatory Systems and Plans

Delay of Gratification

Mischel's research with children

• visibility of reward
• thinking about something else
• modeling

Preschool Children Who are Better Able to Delay of Gratification Become High Schoolers Who:

• are attentive and can concentrate
• can put their ideas into words
• are reasonable
• keep calm
• deal with stress maturely

Delay of gratification is a core "ego strength"

• predicts cognitive & social competence later

Performance in Cognitive Social Learning Theory: Bandura

Reciprocal Determinism

• B: behavior
• P: person
• E: environment

Self-Regulation of Behavior: The Self-System

self-observation (of performance)

judgmental process (standards)

self-response (e.g., rewards)

Self-Efficacy

Efficacy and Striving Toward Goals

Physiological Correlates of Efficacy

Processes Influencing Learning

Attentional Processes: Observing the Behavior

Observer: sensory capacities, arousal level, motivation, perceptual set, past reinforcement

Retention Processes: Remembering It

Motor Reproduction Processes: Doing It

Motivational Processes: Wanting It

Observational Learning and Modeling

Learning may occur without reinforcement.

vicarious learning

identification

• modeling
• power vs. status effects

standards for behavior

Modeling of Self-Reinforcement

• With superior models, young boys demand better performance of themselves on a bowling task before rewarding themselves.

Modeling of Aggression

• Filmed models
• Learning is not always evident in performance.
• Both boys and girls imitate aggression more often if the aggressive model is rewarded than if the model is punished. Regardless of condition, boys are (on average) more aggressive than girls.

Modeling also occurs in adulthood.

Therapy

self-efficacy

treatment of phobias, etc.

varies with behavioral domain

High self-efficacy leads to persistence toward our goals.

Efficacy expectations and outcome expectations. [graphic presented in lecture]

Changing Efficacy Expectations Through Therapy

• Performance accomplishments
• Vicarious experience
• Verbal persuasion
• Emotional arousal

PERFORMANCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• MODE OF INDUCTION:
  • participant modeling
  • performance desensitization
  • performance exposure
  • self-instructed performance

VICARIOUS EXPERIENCE

• MODE OF INDUCTION
  • live modeling
  • symbolic modeling

VERBAL PERSUASION

• MODE OF INDUCTION:
  • suggestion
  • exhortation
  • self-instruction
  • interpretive treatments

EMOTIONAL AROUSAL

• MODE OF INDUCTION:
  • attribution
  • relaxation
  • biofeedback
  • symbolic desensitization
  • symbolic exposure

Efficacy and Striving Toward Goals: The goals we set are important.

The Person in the Social Environment

Collective efficacy helps us achieve difficult goals together.

moral disengagement: failure to regulate one's behavior to live up to high moral standards

• cheating, because "everyone is doing it"
• being cruel, without thinking of individual responsibility

• http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/indiv_pages/mischel.html
• http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Bandura/bobo.htm

An interview with Albert Bandura:

• http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2000/ janfeb/farm_report/psychology.html

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