The Social-Cognitive Perspective

Social-Cognitive Perspective Albert Bandura (1925- )

• Perspective stating that understanding personality involves considering the situation and thoughts before, during, and after an event

• How do your thoughts, behaviors & environment influence your personality?

Social-Cognitive Perspective

• Play “The Social-Cognitive Model” (5:43) Segment #27 from Psychology: The Human Experience (5:43).

• Albert Bandura explains his theory.• Social-Cognitive Model is used to

explain the personality of Nelson Mandela.

Social Cognitive differs from Humanistic & Psychoanalytic Perspectives in Three Ways:

1. It relies heavily on experimental findings

2. It emphasizes conscious, self-regulating behavior

3. It emphasizes that our sense of self (personality) can vary, depending on our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in a given situation.

The Social-Cognitive Perspective:

Interacting with Our Environment

Social Cognitive PerspectiveKey Terms

• Reciprocal determinism - explains personality as the result of behavioral, cognitive, and environmental interactions

• Self-efficacy—belief that people have about their ability to meet demands or control aspects of a specific situation

Reciprocal Determinism: Three Factors Shape Personality

• We develop personality by choosing which environment to be in, which exposes us to certain situations, which in turn leads us make certain choices, which leads us to choose an environment…

• An interaction of three factors:– The environment– A person’s experiences & behaviors– Thoughts or cognitions

Reciprocal Determinism

Self-Efficacy• The sense that one can control the outcome of

one’s environment• We develop this in childhood but it continues as a

lifelong process.• A person’s cognitive skills, abilities & attitudes

create our self-system• We develop new behaviors and strengthen our

self-efficacy by observing others and through mastery experiences.

• Different from Self-Esteem which is more global – How you feel about yourself in overall.

Achievement Motivation

• Play “Self-Efficacy” (5:00) Segment #19 from Psychology: The Human Experience.

The Social-Cognitive Perspective:

Personal Control

Internal Locus of Control• The perception that we control our own fate

External Locus of Control• The perception that chance, or forces beyond a

person’s control, control one’s fate

Learned Helplessness• The hopelessness and passive resignation an animal

or human learns when unable to avoid repeated bad events

• Martin Seligman studied dogs that were unable to escape a painful stimulus and eventually stopped trying to escape.

Learned HelplessnessReciprocal Determinism

The Social-Cognitive Perspective:

Evaluating the Perspective

Evaluation of Social Cognitive Perspective

• Well grounded in empirical, laboratory research• However, laboratory experiences are rather simple

and may not reflect the complexity of human interactions

• Ignores the influences of unconscious, emotions, conflicts instead placing responsibility of behavior firmly on ourselves.

Freud vs. Bandura on Human Aggression

• Freud – Human aggression is a universal unconscious instinct controlled by the superego and restraints of society.

• Bandura – All behavior is driven by conscious goals and motives. Aggression is the result of a deliberate, rational choice in a particular situation.