module 47 ~ cognitive Theories and the Self in Psychology

Social-cognitive perspective

A view of behaviour as influenced by the interaction between people's traits.

Social-cognitive theories

Theories that believe we learn many of our behaviours through conditioning or imitating others.

Reciprocal influences

Behaviour, internal personal factors, and environmental influences all operate as interlocking determinants of each other.

Flow

When extraverts experience focused concentration.

Spotlight effect

Overestimating others' noticing and evaluation of our appearance, performance, and blunders.

Self-esteem

Our feelings of high or low self-worth.

Self-efficacy

Our sense of competence and effectiveness.

High self-esteem correlates with

Less pressure to conform, persistence at difficult tasks, and happiness.

Different people choose different environments

The reading we do, the social media we use, and the careers we pursue are all things that shape us.

Our personalities shape how we interpret and react to events

If we perceive the world as threatening, we will watch for threats and be prepared to defend ourselves.

Anxious people

Often attend to and react strongly to relationship threats.

Our personalities help create situations to which we react

How we view and treat people influences how they will treat us.

Excessive optimism

May lead to complacency.

Dunning-Kruger effect

People are most overconfident when most incompetent.

Random rewards and unlearned praise

Giving people random rewards may hurt their productivity.

Learned helplessness

Earning things randomly like coins from a slot machine produces learned helplessness and passiveness.

Self-esteem benefits

High self-esteem correlates with less pressure to conform, persistence at difficult tasks, and happiness.

Expectations of others

If we expect that others will not like us, our efforts to win their approval might cause them to reject us.

Architects and products of our environment

We are both architects and products of our environment.

Extraverts and introverts flow

In social situations, extroverts experience flow while introverts experience flow when alone.

Unlearned praise

Being told you're doing a great job for doing nothing can lead to passiveness.

Self-serving bias

Involves a readiness to perceive the self favourably, suggesting that people accept responsibility for good deeds than bad deeds and for successes rather than failure.

Narcissistic people

Forgive others less, take a game-playing approach to their romantic relationships, and engage in sexually forceful behavior.

Defensive self-esteem

Is fragile, threatened by failure and criticism, and more vulnerable to perceived threats that feed anger and feelings of vulnerability.

Secure self-esteem

Is less fragile, less contingent on external evaluation and more likely to achieve a greater quality of life.

Social-cognitive theories

Many critics say that social-cognitive theories focus so much on the situation that they fail to appreciate the person's inner traits.

Psychoanalytic theory

Emotional disorders spring from unconscious dynamics, such as unresolved sexual and other childhood conflicts, and fixation at various developmental stages.

Defense mechanisms

Fend off anxiety.

Personality

Consists of pleasure-seeking impulses (the id), a reality-oriented executive (the ego), and an internalized set of ideals (the superego).

Free association

A method used in psychoanalytic therapy.

Projective tests

Used in psychoanalytic and psychodynamic assessments.

Humanistic theory

Emphasizes how healthy people may strive for self-realization and self-actualization when basic human needs are met.

Unconditional positive regard

A climate in which individuals can develop self-awareness and a more realistic and positive self-concept.

Trait theory

We have certain stable and enduring characteristics, influenced by genetic predispositions.

Big Five traits

Include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism.

Social-Cognitive theory

Our traits interact with the social context to produce our behaviors.

Conditioning

Interacts with observational learning and cognition to create behavior patterns.

Observational learning

A process where behavior is learned by observing others.

Behavior patterns

Best predicted by considering our past behavior in similar situations.

Therapy sessions

Used in psychodynamic and humanistic approaches to explore personality.

Life story approach

A method used in humanistic assessments.