AP PSYCH Unit 10.3 Social-Cognitive Perspective of PersonalityThe Self

The Social-Cognitive Perspective� Social-Cognitive Perspective - Albert Bandura: views

personality as an interaction of our traits with our situations� Social – learn through conditioning, or observing and

modeling. How we interact with our environment� Cognitive – what we think about our situations affects our

behavior

*Remember this?!

Reciprocal Influences� Reciprocal

Determinism – the interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, & environment� The 3 factors of

behavior, cognition, & environment are interlocking determinants of each other

Reciprocal Influences1. Different people choose

different environments� Your friends, your media, you

chose them and then they in turn help shape you

2. Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events� Anxious people react to

situations differently than calm people

Reciprocal Influences3. Our personalities help

create situations to which we react� How we view and treat

people influences how they treat us○ If you think someone is

mad at you, you give them the cold shoulder, so then you of course get the anger you expected from them in return…

Demonstration

� Imagine YOU just failed a test.� List all the reasons why that happened.� Internal vs. External locus of control.

Personal Control� Whether we control the environment or the environment

controls us� External locus of control – perception that chance or

outside forces beyond our personal control determine our fate

� Internal locus of control – perception that we can control our own fate� Internals achieve more and are better at delaying gratification

Strengthening Self-Control

� Strengthen self-control:� Plan your day and follow through� Attention & Energy (which can be hard)� Self-regulation� Willpower� Exercise

Environments in Which We Lack Personal Control

� When unable to avoid repeated adverse events an animal or human learns helplessness (unit 6)� We perceive control as external

○ Prisons, factories, schools, nursing homes, unfamiliar cultures

Benefits of Personal Control

� Perceived control is basic to human functioning

○ More perceived control leads to more happiness and productivity

� Is there anything wrong with too much control or too many choices?� The tyranny of choice

Learned Helplessness

Optimism vs. Pessimism� Attributional style is your

way of explaining positive or negative events

� Pessimism & attributing poor performance to lack of ability (“I can’t do this”) is losing internal locus of control and promotes learned helplessness

Blindness to One’s Own Incompetence

� “Ignorance of one’s own incompetence”

� Dunning–Kruger Effect: overconfidence might be related to not even knowing one’s incompetence and thinking the total opposite, that they know a lot or are doing a great job when they totally aren’t!

Positive Psychology

Assessing Behavior in Situations

� Why is observing people in realistic and simulated situations better for analyzing behavior than a personality test?� A job interview that tests you on the

job itself rather than a conversational interview

� Apprentice, Super Star K, Master Chef

� Student teaching, videos of lessons� Good predictor

Evaluating The Social-Cognitive Perspective� Critics say that social-cognitive

psychologists pay a lot of attention to the situation and pay less attention to the individual, inner traits, unconscious mind, emotions, and genetics

Study this!

Exploring the Self

� Write down your possible “self” for each of these scenarios:

1. The self you hope to become2. The self you fear you will become3. The self you think you are to your

friends4. The self you think you are to your

family5. The self you are at school� Was each self different??

Exploring the Self� The Self – in contemporary psych,

assumed to be the center of personality, organizer of our thoughts, feelings, & actions

� Can you have several possible selves?

Exploring the Self� Research studies show how we

overestimate our concern that others evaluate our appearance, performance, and blunders -spotlight effect� You actually stick out less

than you think when you wear the wrong thing!

� Ever been guilty of this?!

The Benefits of Self-Esteem� A successful life results from a

healthy self-image, high self-esteem– one’s feelings of high or low self-worth

� When self-esteem is deflated, we view ourselves and others critically; if you’re down on yourself, you’re down on others

� Low self-esteem reflects on our failure in meeting challenges, or surmounting difficulties

Self-Serving Bias� Most of us have decent self-esteem� Self-Serving Bias – our readiness to perceive ourselves

favorably� People accept more responsibility for good deeds than for bad� Most people see themselves as better than average� People accept more responsibility for successes than for failures� Blame unfavorable events or behaviors on external factors

Are you ever guilty of this?

Self-Serving Bias� Can too much self-esteem be

bad?� Insults and criticism hurt

people with a “swelled head”� Especially with younger people

and “Generation Me”� Defensive self-esteem is

fragile and egotistic� Secure self-esteem is less

fragile and less dependent on external evaluation

Culture & The Self� How do individual & collectivist cultures affect people?� Individualism – giving priority to one’s own goals over group

goals, defining identity in terms of personal attributes rather than group identifications� Western, “I” or “Me”

� Collectivism – giving priority to group goals (usually extended family or work group) and defining one’s identity accordingly� Eastern, “We”