Personality Theory

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Personality Theory

• Chapter 15 Learning Theories of Personality
  The Social Cognitive Learning Theories of Albert
  Bandura and Walter Mischel

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An Introduction to Social Cognitive Learning
Theory

• Behaviourism began to decline at the end of the
  1950s, replaced by cognitive psychology.
• Social Cognitive Learning Theory gave
  behaviourism a new life.
• It did so by radically altering the reinforcement
  principle.
• Behaviourism became more social and more
  cognitive.

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• Experiments on imitation (called observational
  learning by Bandura) were responsible for the
  rescue and established Social Cognitive Theory.
• The basic experiment
• Young children are exposed to a model who
  performs novel aggressive acts toward an
  inflatable doll.

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• Later, alone, the children reproduce the
  aggressive repertoire.
• Filmed and cartoon models elicit the same
  vicarious learning.

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Albert Bandura

• Bandura was born in 1925 in Mundare, Alberta, a
  small farming community.
• His father was a farmer and operated a dray
  business.
• He spent a summer after high school working on
  the Alaska Highway with tough co-workers, many
  there to avoid legal difficulties, taught him
  about the psychopathology of everyday life.

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• Entered the University of British Columbia,
  graduating in psychology
• MA and PhD from the State University of Iowa in
  1952.
• Iowa had a strong behaviouristic tradition.
• Clinical internship at the Wichita, Kansas
  Guidance Centre
• Joined the Stanford University psychology
  department, where he has remained.

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• Published a major book, Social Learning and
  Personality Development (1963), announcing the
  theorys basic ideas
• Some other significant books Adolescent
  Aggression, Principles of Behavior Modification,
  and Social Foundations of Thought and Action

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• Recipient of many honours and awards.
• Presidency of the American Psychological
  Association.
• Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award.
• He remains the David Starr Jordan Professor of
  Social Science at Stanford.
• An indefatigable and creative researcher.

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Emphases

• There is a major revision of the reinforcement
  principle.
• Reinforcement increases the probability of
  behaviour (including new learning), but it isnt
  necessary.
• The learner anticipates reinforcement to be
  received from imitating a model.

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• There is also self-reinforcement, rewarding (or
  punishing) ourselves for good or bad behaviour.
• Reinforcement is informative and motivational
• It does not have an automatic effect on
  behaviour.
• The classical view
• Reinforcement acts directly on responses to
  increase their probability.

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• Banduras view
• Reinforcement is not a consequence of behaviour
  but an antecedent, guiding behaviour.
• We can see the contrast between S-R and social
  cognitive accounts in observational learning.

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How Reinforcement Affects Observational Learning

• S-R Theories versus Social Cognitive Theory (from
  Bandura)
• Stimulus-Response Theory
• SModeling Stimuli ? R ? SReinforcement

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• Social Learning Theory
• Anticipated SReinf. ? Attention ? SModeling
  Stimuli ?
• Symbolic coding
• Cognitive organization ? R
• Rehearsal

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How Behaviour is Determined

• Unidirectional
• B f(Person, Environment)
• Partially Bidirectional
• B f(P E)
• Reciprocal
• P
• B E

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• There is an expectancy concept in Social
  Cognitive Theory called self-efficacy.
• Self-efficacy refers to expectancies about
  possibilities of reinforcement.
• 2 kinds of expectations
• Outcome expectations that the environment will
  provide a given reinforcement
• Efficacy expectations the persons belief that
  he or she can attain the reinforcement.
• Can I do it? is the efficacy question.

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• Psychotherapy is a process of changing efficacy
  expectations, and changing expectations of
  failure, punishment, frightening outcomes.
• We can do this with modelling techniques, using
  both vicarious learning and participant modelling
  in which the patient actually performs graded
  tasks.
• Gaining mastery is the goal.

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• Personality development is the result of learning
  processes.
• No stages.
• Heredity will set possibilities to be shaped by
  the learning environment.
• Reciprocal determinism will play a large role.
• Direct reinforcement will be important, but
  modelling will be even more significant.
• Observational learning will be both intended and
  unintended by parents.

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• Acquiring goals, internal standards, and efficacy
  expectations are major learning tasks in
  personality development.
• Children learn self-regulation.
• They learn to
• Self-observe
• Judge their own behaviour
• Self-react

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The Major Concepts of Social Cognitive Theory

• The principal concepts of the theory specify the
  processes of behaviour acquisition and change.
• Learning depends on processes that start with
  observation.
• Reinforcement determines performance.
• Reinforcement may be self-administered.
• Reinforcement may be vicarious.

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• The content concept of the self-system.
• Its an organization of cognitive structures by
  which self-observation, judgment, and
  self-evaluation are carried out.
• Self-regulation and self-efficacy are functions
  of the self-system.

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Implications

• Four major implications to social cognitive
  theory
• The effects of mass media
• Personality development
• Classically conditioned responses
• Psychotherapy

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• The effects of mass media
• Contrast the Freudian hypothesis of beneficial
  catharsis with Banduras modeling hypothesis.
• Which does the evidence favour?
• Clearly, the modelling hypothesis
• Children can learn about violence from TV.

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• Personality development
• Observational learning will play a major role in
  development.
• Parents teach their children by deliberate
  modelling.
• They also teach by unintended modelling (e.g.,
  aggression, breaking rules, bad language,
  smoking).
• Banduras theory provides an empirical basis to
  understand how modelled attitudes, standards, and
  behaviour are acquired by children.

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• Classically conditioned responses can be acquired
  vicariously.
• Phobic fears can be modelled and acquired by
  observers.
• Psychotherapy
• The direct application of modelling techniques in
  treatment
• This helps, but is not as effective as making use
  of performance accomplishment, leading to the
  experience of mastery.
• The procedure is called participant modeling.

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Research

• Social Cognitive Theory is commendable for its
  extensive experimental research support.
• Most of the major concepts of the theory have
  been investigated experimentally.

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Social Cognitive Theory in Perspective

• The theory has greatly changed behaviourism.
• It really is more cognitive, although perhaps not
  any more social.
• It has addressed big questions like determinism,
  destructive behaviour, and issues in personality
  development, particularly unintended learning.

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• Critics allege that it is a stark theory without
  the richness of psychoanalytic theories.
• They also claim that it doesnt deal with
  psychological conflict, or the nature of
  motivation, arousal, and stress.
• Its great strengths are in process concepts and
  extensive research support.

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Take-Home Messages

• In the late 1950s, when Social Cognitive Theory
  was just developing, behaviourism was in decline.
• Social Cognitive theory gave behaviourism new
  life, making it more cognitive and (Banduras
  claim) more social.

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• A single experiment gave the theory its impetus,
  an experiment on observational learning.
• With no reward for imitation, young children
  repeated the observed aggression of a model.
• Filmed and cartoon models had the same effect.

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• Bandura greatly modified the reinforcement
  principle.
• Behaviour can be acquired just by observation.
• Anticipated reinforcement, attention, coding,
  rehearsal are required.
• Direct reinforcement works, but reinforcement is
  only necessary for performance.

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• Social Cognitive Theory is
• Social we learn by observing other people.
• Cognitive in observational learning, we attend,
  select, remember, and think.
• All cognitive processes.

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• Personal history
• Albert Bandura was born in Mundare, AB.
• BA, University of British Columbia
• PhD, State University of Iowa, 1952
• Influenced by Hullians at Iowa
• Clinical internship
• Stanford University, 1953-present
• A prolific experimenter and writer

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• Emphases in Social Cognitive Theory
• Revision of the reinforcement principle
• Reinforcement is an antecedent, not a
  consequence.
• It is anticipatory.
• A major process of self-reinforcement
• Bandura rejects classical views of determinism,
  arguing for reciprocal determinism.

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• Behaviour is self-regulated. Internal standards
  and goals play a big role.
• 3 processes in self-regulation
• Self-observation
• Judgment
• Self-reaction
• An expectancy concept self-efficacy
• 2 kinds of expectancies
• About the environment outcome expectations
• About self efficacy expectations

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• Personality development
• The significance of observational learning.
• Both intended and unintended vicarious learning.
• Major process concepts of Social Cognitive
  Theory.
• Specify processes of behaviour acquisition and
  change.
• Self-administered reinforcement.
• Vicarious reinforcement.
• A content concept the self-system, the cognitive
  organization of self-observation, judgment, and
  self-reaction.

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• Implications of the theory
• For mass media
• For personality development
• For the traditional view of classical
  conditioning
• For psychotherapy
• The usefulness of modelling
• The even more useful technique of participant
  modelling

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• Research
• A theory based on experimental research
• Social Cognitive theory in perspective
• An exceptionally fruitful theory with important
  implications for social behaviour, social
  influence, personality development,
  psychopathology, and psychotherapy