Week 9 - Social cognitive approach (PSYC3026)

Chapters 14 + 15

Learning

Change of behaviour as a function of experience.

Behaviourism

An approach in which the only valid way to learn about psychological phenomena is through observing one’s behaviour.

Functional analysis

The goal of behaviourism, which aims to map out exactly how behaviour is a product of one’s environmental situation.

Habituation

A type of learning in which one’s response diminishes with each instance of being exposed to a stimulus, to the point where reaction eventually becomes minimal or absent.

Affective forecasting

The tendency to overestimate the emotional impact of future events.

Classical conditioning

A conditioning technique which pairs stimuli with responses, so that a stimuli which previously elicited no prior response will eventually elicit a conditioned response.

Learned helplessness

A product of exposure to unpredictable stimuli, in which one eventually learns there is no cause and effect relationship, and so they can do nothing to alter events.

Respondent conditioning

A type of conditioning in which the conditioned response is passive and has no inherent impact.

Operant conditioning

A type of conditioning in which one learns to operate the world in such a way that they can meaningfully change it. Originates from actively attending to rewards and punishments.

Reinforcement

A consequence of a behaviour which is likely to elicit more of that behaviour.

Punishment

A consequence of a behaviour which is likely to elicit less of that behaviour.

Shaping

A process by which personality is adapted and changed gradually over time by learned responses to one’s environment.

Insight

An attribute developed from coming to understand a cause-effect relationship and why it occurs, beyond merely learning from reward and punishment.

Locus of control

One’s beliefs regarding the forces which can determine the outcomes and consequences in their life. Can be internal (self-directed) or external (other-directed).

Self-efficacy

The internal expectation that one can accomplish something successfully, including one’s beliefs about their own capability. Occurs independent from reality.

Self-concept

A self-judgement about one’s own attributes and identity. Independent from reality.

Observational learning

A method of learning which involves watching someone else perform a task.

Goals

One’s desired ends, outcomes, and achievements.

Strategies

The means employed to achieve goals.

Idiographic goals

Goals which are unique to the individuals who pursue them. Come in many forms:
- Current concerns
- Personal projects
- Personal strivings

Current concerns

Ongoing motivations which persists in the mind until the goal is either attained or abandoned. A type of idiographic goal.

Personal projects

The efforts and tangible outcomes one contributes toward a borader goal. A type of idiographic goal.

Personal strivings

Long-term goals which organise borad categories of a person’s life. A type of idiographic goal.

Nomothetic goals

The relatively small number of essential motivations that almost everybody universally pursues. Include:
- Power
- Affiliation
- Achievement/success
- Esteem
- Avoiding negative affect

Judgement goals

Seeking to judge or validate an attribute within oneself. Leads to helplessness and constant validation-seeking if unbalanced.

Development goals

A desire to improve oneself. Leads to a mastery-oriented learning pattern.

Entity theories

A belief that personal qualities such as intelligence and ability are innate and unchangeable.

Incremental theories

A belief that personal qualities such as intelligence and ability can change and improve with time and experience.

Assessment-focussed

Being focussed on how well they do things and the ways in which other people do, or could, evaluate them.

Locomotion-focussed

Being focussed on avoiding distractions and getting the job done, to any standard.

Defensive pessimism

In which a person seeks to know the worst possible outcome and are reassured that their present outcome does not reflect it.

Optimism

In which a person has a positive outlook and assumes the best will happen, thereby motivating goal-seeking behaviour in order to make those assumptions true.

Procedural knowledge

Skills which cannot be fully expressed or learned through words, and can only be expressed or absorbed through action and experience.
Emotion is thought to be a type of this.

Declarative knowledge

Facts which a person can express, confirm, and learn through explicit communication.

Stages of emotion

1..Appraisal
2. Physical responses
3. Facial expressions + non-verbal behaviours
4. Expression of motives
Can be expressed in any order.

Emotional intelligence

The ability to accurately perceive emotions in oneself or others, and to effectively control or regulate one’s own emotions.

Cognitive control

The use of strategies and rational thinking to control how one feels and responds to their own emotions. These help a person deal with stressful situations or avoid temptation.

Cognitive-Affective Personality System

A stable system which mediates how the individual selects, construes, and processes social information and generates social behaviours. Generates “if-then contingencies”.

If-then contingencies

Learned behaviour patterns specific to the individual which describe the likely pattern of behaviour they will express in a given situation. Thought to be a potential replacement for personality traits due to its specificity in describing how a given person will act and react.

Beliefs, emotions, and action tendencies (BEATS)

A hierarchical system describing the way personality emerges from an individual’s inner representations which are relevant to their goals. Describes seven fundamental needs, which combine like colours.
Primary needs:
- Trust
- Control
- Respect
Secondary/emergent needs:
- Predictability
- Acceptance
- Competence
Tertiary/final need:
- Self-coherence/sense of meaning

Ontological self

The “I” - a mysterious entity which does the observing and describing, experiencing one’s life and making decisions. The soul, or homunculus.

Epistemological self

The “me” - a sort of object which can be observed and described. A collection of statements one could make about themself.

Declarative knowledge

Knowledge consisting of facts and impressions one can consciously know and describe.

Procedural knowledge

Knowledge which is expressed though actions and is difficult to express through words. Includes the relational self and the implicit self.

Declarative self

Self-knowledge comprised of:
1. Self-esteem
2. Perceived capabilities and traits

Self-esteem

One’s own opinion about oneself.

Self-schema

A memory system containing all of one’s ideas about the self, organised into a coherent system. Can be measured usinr S-data or B-data.

Long-term memory (LTM)

Permanent memory storage, into which information is most likely to enter if it is thought bout and considered in great depth.

Self-reference effect

The enhancement of LTM by considering how a piece of information relates, or might relate, to oneself.

Self-discrepancy theory

Two desired selves exist, and the extent to which one fails to attain either or both of these ideal selves determines how they feel.
1. The ideal self (what I want to be) → depressed if fail to attain
2. The ought self (what I should be) → anxious if fail to attain

Procedural self

Self-knowledge consisting of behaviours through which one expresses who they are, generally without conscious awareness. The unique aspects of what an individual does, and how.