Liberty CH7 Cognitive and Social Cognitive Aspects of Personality Paper 3 Cognitive and Social-Cognitive Aspects of Personality Purpose The straightforwa

Liberty CH7 Cognitive and Social Cognitive Aspects of Personality Paper 3 Cognitive and Social-Cognitive Aspects of Personality

Purpose

The straightforward Chapter 7 applies basic cognitive notions to personality, arid thus includes field theory, field dependence, schemas, constructs, scripts, and attributions. The main classic theorist is George Kelly, and the modern counterparts are attributional models of helplessness (e.g., Seligman). Bandura’s social-cognitive learning theory is presented iii detail as a sophisticated modern theory that integrates many key cognitive and behavioral notions. Significant attention is given to Julian Rotter’s notions of locus of control and social learning, and self-regulation processes are discussed. The chapter ends with a brief overview of modern conceptualizations of human information processing and the similarities and differences between humans and computers in terms of thought processing and personality. A though some texts include some of these matters in a behaviorist/learning chapter, we find that many students understand this material better after they understand the work of Pavlov, Skinner, and Dollard and Miller.

Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

– Discuss individual differences in explanatory style (e.g., optimism and pessimism) and the construct of learned helplessness.

Discuss Julian Rotter’s Locus of Control approach to understanding

personality, and the importance of expectations in shaping behaviors.

Identify the central tenets of Albert Bandura’s Social-Cognitive

Learning Theory, including an understanding of observational learning,

self-efficacy, and self-regulation.

Discussion questions

Briefly describe how “vicarious learning” occurs. What are some of the things that determine whether or not a learned behavior is actually performed and discuss an example of vicarious learning in personality development.
Explain what is meant by internal versus external locus of control, including any pertinent considerations from social learning. How does locus of control relate to health (physical and/or mental)?