Social-Cognitive Theory in Psychology

These flashcards cover vocabulary and key concepts from the lecture on the Psychology of Personality, specifically the Social-Cognitive Theory.

Human agency

The concept that humans are active participants in their lives, not just passive receivers of experience.

Cognitive processes

The mental processes that guide behavior, emphasizing that humans are active thinkers.

Self-efficacy beliefs

The perception of one's own capabilities to perform actions in future situations, crucial for achievement.

Competencies

Skills or traits that are interpreted as abilities, such as social skills or emotional regulation.

Expectancies

Beliefs about the likelihood of various outcomes that influence behaviors and decision-making.

Evaluative standards

Mental representations of what is considered good or bad, shaped by social and cognitive influences.

Reciprocal determinism

Albert Bandura's principle indicating that the environment, personal processes, and behavior influence each other.

Cognitive-affective Processing System (CAPS)

Mischel and Shoda's meta-theory that describes personality in terms of cognitive and emotional units that lead to behavior.

Vicarious conditioning

Learning that occurs by observing the behaviors of others and the outcomes that result from those behaviors.

Implicit theories

Beliefs regarding the malleability of traits or abilities, such as the difference between incremental and entity theories.

Regulatory focus theory

The theory that distinguishes between motivation driven by aspirations (ideal-self) and obligations (ought-self).

Self-schema

Cognitive structures that represent a person's beliefs about themselves, influencing behavior and information processing.

Moral disengagement

Cognitive strategies that allow individuals to justify unethical behavior by distancing themselves from their evaluative standards.

Idiosyncrasy

The unique characteristics or tendencies that distinguish individuals from one another.

Phenomenological perspective

An approach that emphasizes subjective experience and perception as central to psychology.

Observational learning

A learning process characterized by observing and imitating the behavior of others.