Chapter09: Social-Cognitive Theory
1. The two previous theories that are most similar to social cognitive theory are phenomenological theory and
___________.
a) Behaviorism
b) Personal construct theory
c) Evolutionary psychology
d) Trait theory
Ans: b
2. Which of the following does not describe central features of persons, according to social-cognitive theory?
a) Persons are beings who can reason about the world using language
b) Persons are largely motivated by factors outside of awareness
c) Persons can reason about the present, the past and hypothetical events in the future
d) Reasoning about events commonly involves reflection on the self
Ans: b
3. Social-cognitive theory emphasizes the study of individual persons who may differ idiosyncratically from others
and as such, those who do research within this approach often rely on _________ techniques.
a) nomothetic
b) idiographic
c) fixed assessment
d) free association
Ans: b
4. That an individual may be skilled at public speaking but terrible at socializing in small groups illustrates the idea
that competencies, among other structures of personality, are _____________.
a) context-specific
b) domain-general
c) irrelevant
d) random
Ans: a
5. In behaviorism, behavior was shaped by rewards and punishments in the environment. In social-cognitive
theory, behavior is at least partly shaped by ____________ rewards and punishments in the environment.
a) standards for
b) goals for
c) expectancies about
d) none of the above
Ans: c
6. People with high self-efficacy beliefs on a task will do all of the following except which one?
a) Attempt difficult tasks
b) Be persistent in one’s efforts
c) Overthink the utility of the task
d) Stay calm during task performance
Ans: c
7. In using a microanalytic research strategy to study self-efficacy, a researcher would ask people to indicate their
degree of certainty in performing _________behaviors in _________contexts.
a) specific; all
b) specific; designated
c) general; all
d) general; designated
Ans: b
8. Cervone and Peake (1986) used an anchoring technique to manipulate ____________.
a) self-efficacy
b) skill
c) self-esteem
d) optimism
Ans: a
9. Research indicates that _____________ goals are often more motivating than ____________ goals because they
decrease the probability of slacking off.
a) proximal; distal
b) proximal; learning
c) distal; learning
d) distal; proximal
Ans: a
10. Self-evaluative reactions refer to the _______________ reactions that are triggered when we evaluate our
ongoing behavior in light of our personal standards for performance.
a) cognitive
b) social
c) physical
d) emotional
Ans: d
11. Reciprocal determinism is the concept that personality, behavior, and the environment must be understood as a
system of forces that __________influence one another.
a) sort of
b) barely
c) mutually
d) quickly
Ans: c
12. Shoda, Mischel, and Wright’s (1996) research supported the CAPS model by demonstrating that behavior varied
across____________.
a) time
b) situations
c) cohorts
d) historical periods
Ans: b
13. In Shoda, Mischel, and Wright’s (1996) research, the distinctive patterns of within-person variability in behavior
were called _______________.
a) behavioral signatures
b) cognitive affects
c) cognitive-affective processing systems
d) verbal aggression
Ans: a
14. The effects of modeling run counter to the Skinnerian belief that individuals must be directly ___________ for
learning to occur.
a) taught
b) instructed
c) reinforced
d) spoken to
Ans: c
15. In one of his “Bobo doll” studies, Bandura (1965) manipulated whether children were offered incentives for
modeling a target’s behavior. He did this to demonstrate the distinction between acquisition and ________.
a) reinforcement
b) performance
c) instruction
d) imitation
Ans: b
16. Bandura’s work on vicarious conditioning suggests that even ________ responses can be learned through
observing others.
a) logical
b) systematic
c) emotional
d) verbal
Ans: c
17. Which of the following statements about self-regulation and social-cognitive theory is true?
a) Self-regulation involves only goals.
b) Self-regulation involves only goals and evaluative standards
c) Self-regulation involves only competencies and evaluative standards
d) Self-regulation involves all of the social-cognitive structures, including goals, standards, and
expectancies.
Ans: d
18. Bandura and Cervone’s (1983) experiment demonstrated the influence of __________ and __________ on
motivation.
a) goals; feedback
b) goals; competencies
c) feedback; competencies
d) feedback; self-esteem
Ans: a
19. Mischel and colleagues’ research using the delay of gratification demonstrates that children are best able to
delay gratification when _________________.
a) rewards are covered up only
b) they use cognitive strategies only
c) the rewards are covered up and they use cognitive strategies
d) none of the above
Ans: c
20. Mischel’s research on the continuity of delay of gratification scores indicates that they predict __________.
a) cognitive skills in adolescence
b) self-control skills in adolescence
c) SAT scores in adolescence
d) all of the above
Ans: d