Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
Module 20
Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY
• Definition
– Says that personality development is shaped
primarily by three forces:
• environmental conditions (learning)
• cognitive-personal factors
• behavior
• all interact to influence how we evaluate,
interpret, organize, and apply information
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Interaction of three factors
– Cognitive-personal factors
• cognitive factors
• Include our beliefs, expectations, values,
intentions, and social roles
• personal factors
• include our emotional makeup an our
biological and genetic influences
– Behaviors
• include a variety of personal actions, such as
the things we do and say
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Interaction of three factors
– Environmental factors
• include our social, political, and cultural
influences, as well as our particular learning
experiences
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Bandura’s social cognitive theory
– assumes that personality development, growth,
and change are influenced by four distinctively
human cognitive processes:
– highly developed language ability
– observational learning
– purposeful behavior
– self analysis
– Bandura: much of human personality and
behavior is shaped by our own thoughts and
beliefs
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Four cognitive factors
1. Language ability
• powerful tool for processing and understanding
information that influences personality
development
2. Observational learning
• we observe parents, brothers, sisters, peers,
friends, and teachers
• we learn a great deal
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Four cognitive factors
3. Purposeful behavior
• capacity to anticipate events, plan ahead, and
set goals influences our personality
development, growth, and change
4. Self-analysis
• internal process
• allows us to monitor our own thoughts and
actions
• deciding to change our goals or values, we can
significantly affect our personality development
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Locus of control
– refers to our beliefs about how much control we
have over situations or rewards
– Internal locus of control
• believe that we have control over situations
and rewards
– External locus of control
• believe that we do not have control over
situations and rewards and that events outside
ourselves (fate) determine what happens
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY (CONT.)
• Delay of gratification
– refers to not taking an immediate but less
desirable reward and instead waiting and using
an object or completing a task that promises a
better reward in the future
• Self-efficacy
– refers to the confidence in your ability to organize
and execute a given course of action to solve a
problem or accomplish a task
– use previous experiences
– compare
– listen
– use feedback
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
TRAIT THEORY
• Definition
– an approach for analyzing the structure of
personality by measuring, identifying, and
classifying similarities and differences in
personality characteristics or traits
– Trait
• relatively stable and enduring tendency to
behave in a particular way
• Gordon Allport
• found 18,000 terms; out of these 4,500 were
considered to fit definition of personality traits
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
TRAIT THEORY (CONT.)
• Raymond Cattell
– took Allport’s list of 4,500 traits and used factor
analysis to reduce the list to the most basic traits
– factor analysis
• complicated statistical method that finds
relationships among different or diverse items
and allows them to be grouped together
• 35 basic traits Cattell called source traits
• describe all differences among personalities
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
TRAIT THEORY (CONT.)
• Finding traits: big five
– Five factor model organizes personality traits and
describes differences in personality using five
categories
• openness
• conscientiousness
• extraversion
• agreeableness
• neuroticism
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
p463 BIG FIVE
Introduction to Psychology, 7th Edition, Rod Plotnik
Module 20: Social Cognitive & Trait Theories
GENETIC INFLUENCES ON TRAITS
• Behavioral genetics
– study of how inherited or genetic factors influence
and interact with psychological factors to shape
our personality, intelligence, emotions, and
motivation and also how we behave, adapt, and
adjust to our environment
• Studying genetic influences
– Heritability
• statistical measure that estimates how much of
some cognitive, personality, or behavioral trait
is influenced by genetic factors