Sociocognitive Theories and Views of the Self

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Sociocognitive Theories and Views of the Self (Myers 59)

• Learning Goal 1.4: Discuss the effect of thinking patterns and sociocultural context on personality development.

Sociocognitive Theories

• Claim that our social/cultural context AND our thought processes determine our personality
• Combination of Cognitive and Sociocultural Perspectives

Albert Bandura’s Reciprocal Determinism

• "Behavior, internal cognitive factors, and environmental influences all operate as interlocking determinants of each other."
• We are both the products and architects of our environments.

Cultural Factors: Individualist vs. Collectivist Cultures

• Individualist Cultures:
  • The self is defined as a free agent.
  • Defined and motivated by personal traits and individual goals.
  • Examples: American and most European cultures.
• Collectivist Cultures:
  • The self is defined as part of a group.
  • Defined and motivated by relationships and communal success.
  • Examples: Most Asian, African, and Latin American cultures.

Collectivist vs. Individualistic Culture: Implications

• Collectivist cultures:
  • Have less social pathology (crime, domestic violence, suicide, etc.).
  • Tend to have less illness.
  • BUT may experience slower economic development and industrialization.
  • There is more potential for conflict with out-groups.

Sociocognitive Personality Assessments

• Observational: Studying how people react in different situations and environments
• Behavior patterns: Examining how the participant behaved in the past to predict how they might behave in similar situations in the future

Sociocognitive: Strengths and Limitations

• Strengths:
  • Recognizes that personality is dynamic and responsive to the situation/environment a person is in.
• Limitations:
  • Difficult to make predictions about personality, since it constantly varies (due to environment, thought patterns, mood, etc.)

Self-Esteem and Self-Efficacy

• Self-esteem: General feelings of self-worth.
• Self-efficacy: Sense of competence on a particular task.

Phenomena

• Spotlight effect: We tend to assume others pay more attention to us than they actually do.

Learned Helplessness

• Martin Seligman – 1965
• Found that dogs ‘learned’ helplessness
• Subjects stop trying after repeated failures

Phenomena Continued

• Self-serving bias: We tend to perceive ourselves favorably
  • We often credit our successes to our own efforts and abilities but blame our failures on external circumstances.
  • We tend to view ourselves as better than the average.
• Narcissism: Excessive self-love and self-absorption
  • Ex. Millennials & Gen Z demonstrate more narcissistic traits, agreed with statements like “I think I am a special person” “ If I ruled the world it would be a better place”

Locus of Control

• Internal Locus of Control – You feel that you have the power to change yourself and events in your life.
• External Locus of Control – You feel that outside factors are responsible for the ups and downs of your life.

Optimism versus Pessimism: Attributional Style

• Positive vs. Negative attributional style
  • Positive: Students believe good study habits, hopeful attitude and self-discipline can foster a good performance
  • Negative: student who have a poor performance attribute it to a lack of ability or situations beyond their control
• Excessive Optimism
  • Realistic anxiety over possible future failures can fuel energetic efforts to avoid the dreaded fate (ex. Failing an exam, study extra hard)
  • However, excessive optimism can blind us to real risks -Ex. Students deem themselves less vulnerable than their peers in developing drinking problems, dropping out of school and having a heart attack by age 40
• Excessive Pessimism
  • Can negatively affect emotional and physical health