Module 58 REVIEW

• 58-1 How do social-cognitive theorists view personality development, and how do they explore behavior?

• Albert Bandura first proposed the social-cognitive perspective, which views personality as the product of the interaction between a person’s traits (including thinking) and the situation—the social world around us.
• The behavioral approach contributes an understanding that our personality development is affected by learned responses.
• Social-cognitive researchers apply principles of learning, as well as cognition and social behavior, to personality.
• Reciprocal determinism describes the interaction and mutual influence of behavior, internal personal factors, and environmental factors.
• Assessment situations involving simulated conditions exploit the principle that the best predictor of future behavior is a person’s behavior patterns in similar situations.

• 58-2 What criticisms have social-cognitive theorists faced?

• Social-cognitive theories of personality build on well-established concepts of learning and cognition, and sensitize researchers to how situations affect, and are affected by, individuals.
• Social-cognitive theorists have been faulted for underemphasizing the importance of unconscious motives, emotions, and biologically influenced traits.

Multiple-Choice Questions

1. Who of the following is considered the leading advocate of personality’s social-cognitive approach?
   1. Gordon Allport
   2. Carl Jung
   3. Karen Horney
   4. Carl Rogers
   5. Albert Bandura
2. The way we explain negative and positive events is called
   1. personal control.
   2. reciprocal determinism.
   3. self-efficacy.
   4. attribution.
   5. situational assessment.
3. Which of the following is an example of an assessment likely to be used by a social-cognitive psychologist?
   1. A student teacher is formally observed and evaluated in the classroom.
   2. A person applying for a managerial position takes the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
   3. A defendant in a criminal case is interviewed by a court-appointed psychologist.
   4. In a pre-marriage counseling session, a young couple responds to ambiguous inkblots.
   5. A depressed young man is asked by his therapist to relax on a couch and talk about whatever comes to mind.

Practice FRQs

1. Heidi is an avid reader. Explain how Heidi’s desire to read may be supported by the following elements of reciprocal determinism:
   • Internal factors
   • Environmental factors
   • Behavioral factors

Answer

1 point: Internal factors that cause Heidi to enjoy reading might include her verbal aptitude or her curiosity. Page 606

1 point: Environmental factors that cause Heidi to enjoy reading might include having grown up in a family where reading was valued and encouraged. Page 606

1 point: Behavioral factors that cause Heidi to enjoy reading might include the pleasure she gets from reading, which further reinforces her desire to read. Page 606

2. Explain the main criticism of social-cognitive theories and one main support for this approach.

(2 points)