Unit 4 · Topic 4.5

Social-Cognitive and Trait Theories of Personality

The social-cognitive view explains personality as reciprocal determinism among person factors, behavior and environment, with self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy as key person factors.

Practice 1: Concept ApplicationPractice 2: Research Methods and Design

Part 1 · Hook

Why this matters

A friend you have known since kindergarten was the loudest kid in class and is still the one who starts conversations with strangers. Yet she is quiet in her new job, where the boss criticizes every idea. Is she "an extravert", or does it depend on the situation? Psychologists answer with two tools: traits that describe what is stable, and a social-cognitive view that explains how people and situations shape each other.

Part 2 · Before you start

What this builds on

Part 3 · Prerequisite check

Quick check before you start

1. A child watches an older sibling get praised for sharing and later shares too. Which concept explains this?

  1. Social learning through observation
  2. Classical conditioning
  3. Instinctive drift
  4. Habituation
Show the answer

Learning by watching others and the consequences they receive is social learning, the base of social-cognitive theory.

  • Correct: Social learning through observation:
  • Classical conditioning:
  • Instinctive drift:
  • Habituation:

2. Scores on two measures rise and fall together across many people. What does this show?

  1. A positive correlation
  2. A negative correlation
  3. That one causes the other
  4. Random assignment
Show the answer

When both rise together the correlation is positive; correlation alone does not show cause.

  • Correct: A positive correlation:
  • A negative correlation:
  • That one causes the other:
  • Random assignment:

Part 4 · See it

See it first

A triangle of three boxes joined by two-way arrows. Person: thoughts, beliefs, self-efficacy and expectations. Behavior: what you actually do. Environment: people, places, feedback and opportunities. Examples on the arrows: believing you can succeed leads you to practice more; a supportive coach raises your expectations; joining a team changes the people you spend time with. Each factor influences the other two.
Reciprocal determinism: person factors, behavior and environment each influence the other two. LevlPrep original diagram.

Part 5 · Step by step

How it works, step by step

  1. You believe you can succeed at a task (high self-efficacy)you try it and keep going when it gets hard
  2. You keep tryingyou improve and find settings, such as a club or team, that support you
  3. Success and support in that settingraise your self-efficacy further: person, behavior and environment shape each other
  4. Researchers rate many people on many trait words and run factor analysisthe ratings cluster into five broad traits, the Big Five, measured with personality inventories

Part 6 · Key ideas

Key ideas

  • The social-cognitive view (Albert Bandura) explains personality through reciprocal determinism: person factors (beliefs, expectations), behavior and environment influence one another.
  • Self-concept is who you think you are; self-esteem is how you value yourself overall; self-efficacy is your belief you can succeed at a specific task.
  • Trait theories describe stable tendencies. Factor analysis of ratings gives the Big Five: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism.
  • Traits are measured with personality inventories: many clear self-report items scored against norms. Traits are fairly stable in adults but still change across the lifespan.

Part 7 · Misconception

A common mistake

The wrong idea: Self-efficacy and self-esteem mean the same thing.

What actually happens: Self-esteem is your overall sense of worth. Self-efficacy is your belief about one task or area. You can value yourself highly and still doubt you can pass calculus.

Part 8 · Check yourself

Check yourself

Exam-style questions. Anything you miss goes into your review queue.

1. Before a free throw, Marcus thinks, "I have made this shot hundreds of times in practice. I can make it now." Which concept does his thought show most directly?

  1. Self-efficacy
  2. Self-esteem
  3. Self-concept
  4. External locus of control
Show the answer

Self-efficacy is a task-specific belief in your ability to succeed.

  • Correct: Self-efficacy: Right: self-efficacy is his belief that he can succeed at this specific task.
  • Self-esteem: Self-esteem is his overall sense of his own worth, not his belief about one shot.
  • Self-concept: Self-concept is his whole set of beliefs about who he is, broader than one task.
  • External locus of control: An external locus of control would credit luck or others; he credits his own practice.

2. Sam always arrives early, keeps a detailed planner and double-checks his work. On which Big Five trait would he most likely score high?

  1. Openness to experience
  2. Conscientiousness
  3. Agreeableness
  4. Extraversion
Show the answer

Conscientiousness describes organized, careful and dependable behavior.

  • Openness to experience: Openness is curiosity and interest in new ideas and experiences, not organization.
  • Correct: Conscientiousness: Right: conscientiousness is being organized, careful, dependable and goal-directed.
  • Agreeableness: Agreeableness is being warm, cooperative and trusting toward others.
  • Extraversion: Extraversion is being sociable, energetic and drawn to social settings.

Figure

Reciprocal determinism

A triangle of three boxes joined by two-way arrows. Person: thoughts, beliefs, self-efficacy and expectations. Behavior: what you actually do. Environment: people, places, feedback and opportunities. Examples on the arrows: believing you can succeed leads you to practice more; a supportive coach raises your expectations; joining a team changes the people you spend time with. Each factor influences the other two.
LevlPrep original diagram.

3. Using the figure, which example shows the environment influencing a person factor?

  1. A student practices the piano for an hour each day after school
  2. A teacher's praise leads a student to expect she can learn piano
  3. A student's belief in her ability leads her to practice more
  4. A student who practices more is invited to join a band
Show the answer

Environment to person: something outside you, such as feedback, changes your beliefs or expectations.

  • A student practices the piano for an hour each day after school: Practicing is a behavior; the example needs something in the setting changing a belief.
  • Correct: A teacher's praise leads a student to expect she can learn piano: Right: the teacher (environment) changes the student's expectation (person).
  • A student's belief in her ability leads her to practice more: That is person influencing behavior, a different arrow.
  • A student who practices more is invited to join a band: That is behavior changing the environment.

4. According to the figure, why would a trait-only account of a shy student be incomplete?

  1. Because traits are measured mainly with ambiguous projective tests
  2. Because traits are unconscious wishes held back by defense mechanisms
  3. Because her shyness shapes the settings she picks, which shape her in turn
  4. Because shyness is caused by the environment rather than the person
Show the answer

Reciprocal determinism adds the back-and-forth that a trait description leaves out.

  • Because traits are measured mainly with ambiguous projective tests: Traits are usually measured with personality inventories, not projective tests, and the figure is about interaction.
  • Because traits are unconscious wishes held back by defense mechanisms: That is the psychodynamic view, not a description of traits.
  • Correct: Because her shyness shapes the settings she picks, which shape her in turn: Right: the arrows run in all directions, so a fixed trait label leaves out how person, behavior and setting change one another.
  • Because shyness is caused by the environment rather than the person: The figure shows two-way influence, not the environment acting on its own.

5. A teen with low self-efficacy in math avoids hard problems, so she gets less practice, and her test scores stay low. In the figure, which two factors does this cycle connect most directly?

  1. Person and behavior
  2. Environment and environment
  3. Behavior and the unconscious
  4. Environment and traits
Show the answer

Low self-efficacy shapes behavior, and the behavior's results confirm the belief.

  • Correct: Person and behavior: Right: her belief (person) leads to avoiding problems (behavior), and the results feed back into her belief.
  • Environment and environment: An influence runs between different factors, not within one.
  • Behavior and the unconscious: The unconscious is not part of this model.
  • Environment and traits: Neither her setting nor a trait label drives this cycle; her belief and her actions do.

Data

Conscientiousness and grades

Researchers gave 10 high school seniors a personality inventory and recorded each student's grade point average (GPA). The scatterplot shows each student's conscientiousness score (0 to 50) and GPA.

1520253035404550012345Conscientiousness scoreGPA

6. A school leader concludes from these data that raising students' conscientiousness would raise their GPAs. What is the main problem with this conclusion?

  1. The sample of 10 students is too small to show any pattern at all
  2. The scatterplot shows a negative relationship
  3. GPA is a grade, so it is not a true number that can be correlated
  4. It is correlational; a third variable such as sleep could explain both
Show the answer

A correlational study cannot show that one variable causes the other; name a possible third variable.

  • The sample of 10 students is too small to show any pattern at all: Ten students is a small sample, which calls for caution, but the pattern is clear. The main problem is that the study is correlational.
  • The scatterplot shows a negative relationship: The relationship is positive.
  • GPA is a grade, so it is not a true number that can be correlated: GPA is a number; that is not the problem.
  • Correct: It is correlational; a third variable such as sleep could explain both: Right: correlation does not show causation; sleep or home support could raise both scores.

7. On the inventory's published norms, conscientiousness scores follow a normal curve with a mean of 30 and a standard deviation of 6. By the 68-95-99.7 rule, about what percent of people score below 36?

Type a number (%). No calculator needed: work it out by hand, as on the exam.

Show the answer

3636 is one standard deviation above the mean. Below it lie 50%+34%=84%50\% + 34\% = 84\% of scores.

  • Answer: 84 %

Part 9 · Summary

Summary

The social-cognitive view explains personality as reciprocal determinism among person factors, behavior and environment, with self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy as key person factors. Trait theories describe stable tendencies; factor analysis of trait ratings yields the Big Five (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism), measured with personality inventories. Traits are fairly stable across adulthood but still change, and situations shape how they show.

Part 10 · Up next

What comes next

Part 11 · Connections

Connections

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