Chapter 7: Cognitive & Social Cognitive Aspects

Schema

A cognitive structure that organizes knowledge, experience, & expectations about one’s environment.

Script

A schema that guides behavior in social situations, specifying the roles and actions of all participants.

Categorization

The process of filtering and sorting complex pieces of information into a smaller number of groups based upon familiar features.

Stereotypes

A schema or belief about the traits that are typical of some group.

Personal Construct Theory

A theory proposed by George Kelly stating that people actively attempt to understand the world and construct their own theories about human behavior.

Explanatory Style

A person's habitual way of interpreting events in life, characterized by a key dimension of optimism vs. pessimism.

Locus of Control (LoC)

Pertains to where the person locates the source of control over situational outcomes.

High Internal LoC

Individuals with a high internal locus of control are more achievement oriented and independent.

High External LoC

Individuals with a high external locus of control are less independent and more prone to experience stress and depressed mood.

Social-Cognitive Learning Theory

A theory by Albert Bandura emphasizing that behavior is affected by external factors and internal cognitive factors.

Observational Learning

Learning through observation alone without direct experience with the conditioning.

Outcome Expectancies

The anticipated consequences of a behavior that influence whether a person will perform that behavior.

Self-regulation

The ability to monitor and modulate one’s behavior based on varying internal cognitive factors.

Self-efficacy

An expectancy regarding how competently one can perform a behavior in a specific situation.

Prior Experience

One of the factors determining self-efficacy, based on past success or failure.

Vicarious Experience

Observing others perform a behavior, which influences a person's self-efficacy.

Verbal Persuasion

Encouragement by others that affects a person's belief in their self-efficacy.

Emotional Reactions

How a person feels about a behavior, influencing their self-efficacy.