4.5: social-cognitive and trait theories of personality

social-cognitive and trait theories of personality

A view of behavior as influenced by the interaction between people’s traits (including their thinking) and their social context

reciprocal determinism

The interacting influences of behavior, internal cognition, and environment

self-concept

All our thoughts and feelings about ourselves, in answer to the question “Who am I?”

self-efficacy

Our sense of competence and effectiveness

self-esteem

Our feelings of high or low self-worth.

traits

Characteristic patterns of behaviors or dispositions to feel and act in certain ways, as assessed by self-report inventories and peer reports

big five theory

A model that uses five traits–-openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (or emotional stability)–-to describe personality

agreeableness

A personality trait described as “soft-hearted, trusting, helpful”

conscientiousness

A personality trait described as “organized, careful, disciplined”

openness to experience

A personality trait described as “imaginative, preferring variety, independent”

extraversion

A personality trait described as “sociable, fun-loving, affectionate”

emotional stability

A personality trait described as “calm, secure, self-satisfied”

personality inventories

A questionnaire (often with true-false or agree-disagree items) on which people respond to items designed to gauge a wide range of feelings and behaviors

factor analysis

A statistical procedure that identifies clusters of test items that tap basic components of a trait