Cognitive Theories

Personality PsychologyPersonality Psychology

George Kelly Personal Construct Theory Born: April 28, 1905, Perth, Kansas Died: March 6, 1967. Career: He received a bachelor's degree physics and math, and a master's in

sociology. Then he received a bachelor of education degree in psychology and he received his Ph.D. in psychology.

During the depression, he worked at Fort Hays Kansas State College, where he developed his theory and clinical techniques. During World War II, Kelly served as an aviation psychologist with the Navy, followed by a stint at the University of Maryland.

In 1946, he left for Ohio State University, the year after Carl Rogers left, and became the director of its clinical program. He worked with Julian Rotter. It was here that his theory matured, where he wrote his two-volume work, The Psychology of Personal Constructs. In 1965, he began a research position at Brandeis University, where Maslow was working.

George Kelly Personal Construct Theory Known as the first Cognitive theorist.

Human as Scientist

In an effort to understand the world, we develop personal constructs that serve as hypotheses that make the world meaningful to us.

Construct: your constructs represent the view you have constructed about the world as you experienced it. On the other hand, your constructs indicate how you are likely to construe the world as you continue to experience it.

George Kelly Personal Construct Theory We seek to understand the world around us and to forecast the

events in our lives. If the constructs we develop are useful, we keep them. We generate constructs and hypotheses with which we try to anticipate and control events in our lives.

To understand someone, we must "study" his or her own personality theory. For example, you come home and your roommate is crying. You ask what is wrong and she says nothing…what hypothesis do you develop and how do you react? You then look over and see a pile of chopped onions and you realize why she has been crying.

George Kelly Personal Construct Theory Constructive Alternativism

While there is only one true reality, reality is always experienced from one or another perspective, or alternative construction.

Fundamental Postulate His fundamental postulate says this: "A person's

processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events."

George Kelly Personal Construct Theory Constructive Alternativism

While there is only one true reality, reality is always experienced from one or another perspective, or alternative construction.

Fundamental Postulate His fundamental postulate says this: "A person's

processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which he anticipates events."

A person's activities are guided by the constructs he uses to predict events. Therefore, it is the anticipated future that primarily guides our behavior.

George Kelly Personal Construct Theory Within this model, the individual creates his or her own ways of seeing the world

in which he lives; the world does not create them for him; (s)he builds constructs and tries them on for size; the constructs are sometimes organized into systems, group

of constructs which embody subordinate and superordinate relationships;

the same events can often be viewed in the light of two or more systems, yet the events do not belong to any system; and

the individual's practical systems have particular foci and limited ranges of convenience.

11 Corollaries Construction

"A person anticipates events by construing their replications." We anticipate by interpreting.

Experience "A person's construction system varies as he successively construes the replication of

events." We reconstruct in the light of experience.

Dichotomy "A person's construction system is composed of a finite number of dichotomous

constructs." We make bipolar constructs (i.e. Selfish vs. Unselfish).

Organization "Each person characteristically evolves, for his convenience in anticipating events, a

construction system embracing ordinal relationships between constructs." We develop an organized, hierarchical system of constructs.

Range "A construct is convenient for the anticipation of a finite range of events only." Each

construct has a certain focus, and is not useful for everything.

Modulation "The variation in a person's construction system is limited by the permeability of the

constructs within whose range of convenience the variants lie." Some constructs we develop are flexible and open to experience; others are not.

11 Corollaries Choice

"A person chooses for himself that alternative in a dichotomized construct through which he anticipates the greater possibility for extension and definition of his system." We are free and able to chose among alternative of the construct.

Individuality "Persons differ from each other in their construction of events." No two people

interpret events in the same way.

Commonality "To the extent that one person employs a construction of experience which is similar to

that employed by another, his psychological processes are similar to the other person." If our construction system -- our understanding of reality -- is similar, so will be our experiences, our behaviors, and our feelings.

Fragmentation "A person may successively employ a variety of construction subsystems, which are

inferentially incompatible with each other." We can be inconsistent within ourselves.

Sociality "To the extent that one person construes the construction processes of another, he

may play a role in a social process involving the other person." Social interactions entail understanding other constructs.

Social Learning Theory

Albert Bandura Born: December 4, 1925, in the small town of Mundare

in northern Alberta, Canada. He was the youngest child and only boy among six

children in a family of Eastern European descent. His parents had each emigrated to Canada when they were adolescents—his father from Krakow, Poland, and his mother from the Ukraine. 

Parents had no formal education but placed a high value on educational attainment. For example, his father taught himself to read three languages, Polish, Russian, and German, and he also served as a member of the school board in the district where they lived.

Albert Bandura

He received his bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia in 1949. He went on to the University of Iowa, where he received his Ph.D. in 1952. It was there that he came under the influence of the behaviorist tradition and learning theory.

University of Iowa was closely connected (theoretically) with Yale. Yale is considered the birthplace of the Social Learning Theory. Important figures in this area are Clark Hull, Neil Miller and John Dollard.

In 1953, Bandura joined the faculty at Stanford University.

Basic Premise We learn behavior through observation Vicarious reinforcement: Learn through

observing consequences of behaviors of others.

Reciprocal Determinism: Behavior, Person

and Environment influence

each other.

The Observational Learning Process: 4 Steps

Attentional processes Retention processes Production processes Incentive and motivational processes

Step 1: Attentional Processes

Developing cognitive processes to pay attention to a model - more developed processes allow for better attention

Must observe the model accurately enough to imitate behavior

Step 2: Retention Processes

To later imitate behavior, must remember aspects of the behavior

Retain information in 2 ways: Imaginal internal representation: Visual image

Ex: Forming a mental picture Verbal system: Verbal description of behavior Ex:

Silently rehearsing steps in behavior

Step 3: Production Processes

Taking imaginal and verbal representations and translating into overt behavior- practice behaviors

Receive feedback on accuracy of behavior- how well have you imitated the modeled behavior?

Important in mastering difficult skills Ex: Driving a car

Step 4: Incentive and Motivational Processes

With incentives, observation more quickly becomes action, pay more attention, retain more information

Incentive to learn influenced by anticipated reinforcements

Aspects of the Self: Self-reinforcement and Self-efficacy

Self-reinforcement: Rewards or punishments given to oneself for reaching, exceeding or falling short of personal expectations Ex: Pride, shame, guilt

Self-efficacy: Belief in ability to cope with life Meeting standards: Enhances self-efficacy Failure to meet standards: Reduces self-efficacy

Self-Efficacy

High self-efficacy Believe can deal effectively with life events Confident in abilities Expect to overcome obstacles effectively

Low self-efficacy Feel unable to exercise control over life Low confidence, believe all efforts are futile

Sources of Information in Determining Self-efficacy

Performance attainment Most influential Role of feedback More we achieve, more we believe we can

achieve Leads to feelings of competency and control

Sources of Information in Determining Self-efficacy

Vicarious experience Seeing others perform successfully If they can, I can too

Verbal persuasion Verbal reminders of abilities

Physiological and emotional arousal Related to perceived ability to cope Calm, composed feelings: Higher self-efficacy Nervous, agitated feelings: Lower self-efficacy

Jullian Rotter

B = f(E + RV)

Locus of Control Internal vs. External

Martin Seligman

Learned Helplessness

Optimism vs. Pessimism Attributions/Locus of Control

Learned Optimism

Carol Dweck’s Mastery Oriented vs. Helpless

Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory

Albert Ellis Born: Sept. 27, 1913 in Pittsburgh PA, raised in the Bronx Died: July 24, 2007 He was a sick child who grew up is a poor and not too functional

family. He earned a master's in English during the depression. He was persuaded not to do his original dissertation on love and

sex, so he did one on personality test questions. In 1955, his theory began. Today it is call Rational Emotive

Behavioral Theory or REBT. The modern precursor of REBT was Alfred Adler.

Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory

ABC Theory of Personality

A (activating event) B (belief system) C (emotional consequence)

D (disputing the beliefs rationally and behaviorally minimizes the disturbed consequences)

Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory

12 Irrational Ideas That Cause and Sustain Neurosis

It is a dire necessity for adults to be loved by significant others for almost everything they do.

Certain acts are awful or wicked, and that people who perform such acts should be severely damned.

It is horrible when things are not the way we like them to be. Human misery is invariably externally caused and is forced on us by

outside people and events. If something is or may be dangerous or fearsome we should be

terribly upset and endlessly obsess about it. It is easier to avoid than to face life difficulties and self-responsibilities We absolutely need something other or stronger or greater than

ourselves on which to rely.

Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory

12 Irrational Ideas That Cause and Sustain Neurosis

We should be thoroughly competent, intelligent, and achieving in all possible respects.

Because something once strongly affected our life, it should indefinitely affect it.

We must have certain and perfect control over things. Human happiness can be achieved by inertia and inaction. We have virtually no control over our emotions and we cannot help

feeling disturbed about things.