Tom Farsides ATP PAID 3: Socio-Cognitive Aspects of Personality Socio-Cognitive Aspects of Personality

Tom FarsidesATP PAID 3: Socio-Cognitive Aspects of Personality

Socio-Cognitive Aspects of Personality


Lecture contents

• Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory Repertory Grids

• Rotter’s Social Learning Theory

• Mischel’s Cognitive-Affective Personality System Behavioural signatures

• Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory


George Kelly’s Personal Construct Theory

• The Psychology of Personal Constructs (1955)• Fundamental postulate:

“A person’s processes are psychologically channelized by the way in which he anticipates events.” (Kelly, 1955, p. 46)

"Man looks at his world through transparent templates which he creates and then attempts to fit over the realities of which the world is composed." (Kelly, 1955, pp.8-9)

"Constructs are used for predictions of things to come, and the world keeps on rolling on and revealing these predictions to be either correct or misleading. This fact provides the basis for the revision of constructs and, eventually, of whole construct systems." (Kelly, 1955, p.14)


Repertory Grids

1. Select elements (e.g., roles, self-elements)

2. Select or elicit bipolar constructs (e.g., original triad method)

3. Rate each element on each construct (e.g., 1-7)

4. Analyse ratings

CONSTRUCT (Similarity)

Self Mother Father CONSTRUCT (Contrast)

Old (7) /2 /5 /6 Young (1) Fun-loving (7) /7 /2 /6 Serious (1) Emotional (7) /5 /7 /1 Cold (1)


Julian Rotter’s Social Learning Theory

• Social Learning and Clinical Psychology (1954)

• Behaviour potential Likelihood of one of several possible behaviours being adopted

Behaviour potential is a function of expectancy and reinforcement value

• Expectancy Subjectively expected consequences of each possible behaviour (e.g.,

trust, locus of control of reinforcement)

• Reinforcement value Subjective evaluation of those consequences’

costs and rewards


Walter Mischel’s Cognitive-Affective Personality System (CAPS)

• Personality and Assessment (1968)

• Reviewed correlations between trait scores and behaviours, and between behaviours across (sometimes very similar) situations. Seldom found correlations above .30


Behavioural signatures

“Might the same person who is more caring, giving, and supportive than most people in relation to his family also be less caring and altruistic than most people in other contexts? Might these variations across situations be meaningful stable patters that characterize the person enduringly...?”

Mischel (quoted in Pervin & Johns, 1996, p. 403)


Intraindividual profiles for verbal and physical aggression for one person

01

2

3

-1-2

-3

01

2

3

-1-2

-3


Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory

• Observational learning

• Vicarious conditioning

• Self-efficacy

• Goals and standards


Observational Learning: Bandura (1965)

0

1

2

3

4

No incentive

Incentive


Vicarious conditioning

Berger (1962)• People witnessed a tone followed by the appearance of

another reacting in pain to an electric shock.• These witnesses later exhibited a conditioned emotional

response to the tone.

Mineka et al. (1984)• Rhesus monkeys developed an intense, enduring, and

generalised fear of snakes after briefly witnessing intense parental reactions to real or toy snakes.


The General Self-Efficacy Scale (Schwartzer)

• I can always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough.

• If someone opposes me, I can find the ways and means to get what I want.

• I am certain that I can accomplish my goals.

• I am confident that I could deal efficiently with unexpected events.

• Thanks to my resourcefulness, I can handle unforeseen situations.

• I can solve most problems if I invest the necessary effort.

• I can remain calm when facing difficulties because I can rely on my coping abilities.

• When I am confronted with a problem, I can find several solutions.

• If I am in trouble, I can think of a good solution.

• I can handle whatever comes my way.

(1) not at all true, (2) barely true, (3) moderately true, (4) exactly true


From Ellen McCooney’s Homepage

"I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career.

I have lost almost 300 games.

On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to take the game

winning shot... and I missed.

And I have failed over and over

and over again in my life

And that is precisely......why I SUCCEED."

- Michael Jordan

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Tom Farsides ATP PAID 3: Socio-Cognitive Aspects of Personality Socio-Cognitive Aspects of Personality