Cognitive Approach to Personality

Personality is a set of learned responses to the environment

1. Systematic observation and controlled experimentation --> only studies observable behavior which can only be assessed objectively2. Personality comes from learning through classical and operant conditioning -- can be changed through reinforcement and punishment

A unconditioned stimulus (ex. Smell of food) leads to an unconditioned response (hunger) that occurs naturally in response to it. The conditioned stimulus (sound of a whistle) is the previously neutral stimulus that becomes associated with the unconditioned stimulus, and eventually triggers a conditioned response (feeling hungry)

1. Behavioral evidence still seen as strongest (ex.

Emotional expression research and subjective reports are still not as strong of evidence2. Good to study mental states3. But prob is that he was too closed minded

Focuses on social learning - how behaviors of others are being rewarded, how you use your mind to connect their receival of rewards to yourself, and if you decide to behave similarly

It is an approach to personality that emphasizes the cognitive and social processes by which people learn to value and strive for certain goals over others

1. Observational learning (modeling) - acquire a behavior by watching someone else do it and observing the consequences --> Seen through study on this bobo doll - where kids attacked doll after modeled2.

Individuals will also be motivated to participate in behaviors due to expectancies/incentives which they experience or observe (anticipated consequences)

After 3 months, babies prefer helpers to hinderers

1. Direct reinforcement of play or past reinforcement of similar behaviors2. Observational learning (parent)3. Vicarious reinforcement (older sibling)4. No direct reward, but due to incentives and expectancies (aka anticipated consequences)

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Increases aggressive behavior, thoughts and feelings2. Increases physiological arousal3. Decreases pro-social behavior (ex. Helping)

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Classical conditioning - video games are fun to play thus the pleasurable feelings become associated with violence2. Operant conditioning - video game player is directly rewarded for being violent (ex. Accumulate points)3. Observational learning - role models (ex. Movie stars) are rewarded for violence

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Gratuitous, realistic violence2. Old westerns don't -- minimally violent3. Horror films don't -- violence seems fake, observers can discount it

1. Scarlet A2.

Men convicted of soliciting prositutes are identified in newspapers, radio shows, and billboards3. A man living in houston was sentenced to stand in front of a store each day for a week carrying a sign that reads: "I stole from this store" don't be a thief or this could happen to you4. An Ohio judge ordered a man convicted of harassing his ex-wife to let her spit in his face5. In Memphis, Tennessee Judge Joe Brown likes to escort burglary victims to the thieves' homes and invite them to take whatever they want

1. When there is observational learning - observe someone else punished for antisocial act2.

Expectancies of punishment - imagine self on billboard

by shaming offenders it can make them feel bad about themselves, which can increase the likelihood that they will commit further crimes

1. Motivates escape, hiding, and avoidance2. Leads to blaming others, and aggression3. More adaptive to feel guilt in response to failure -- which promotes reparation, apology, and confession --> focus on what u did, not who u are

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Says our personality how we process information about ourselves, others, and the world2. How we process information reflects our mental representation of ourselves, other people and the world3. Mental representations work as filters or lens through which we experience reality - personal constructs, schemas, and scripts

1. Says that overarching perceptions shape ones interpretation of reality and thus leads to their personality2. Thus If your cognitive take on the world determines your personality, you can change who you are by changing the way you see the world

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People have different cognitions which shape personality2. These cognitions (beliefs, attitudes, values, self/other schemas) constitute the information that guide people's behavior

It is a concept that describes a person's perception of responsibility for the events in his or her life

1. External locus - belief that fate, luck, or outside forces are responsible for what happens2. Internal locus - belief that one's own ability, effort, or actions determine what happens

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people have increased academic performance2. more effective health-prevention behaviors --> better eating3. Social/political activism4. Better spending habits --> thus credit rating

Learned helplessness Studied dogs through shocks - animals gave up -- leads to depression

Some things are truly outside our control - while people accept this may cope better with death, disease, etc -- however there can still be Survivor guilt --> can lead to the roots of addiction

When people encounter a new situation, they base their expectancies about what will happen on their generalized expectancies about whether they have the ability to influence events.

1. Is an emphasis on the locus of control in discrete areas of ones life2.

For example, people could be focused on health or academics depends on their own actions or actions outside of them

1. The ways in which people habitually explain the causes of negative event2. Locus - internal (its me) or externality (something in the environment)3. Stability - stable (its gonna last forever) or unstable (its going to go away)4. Globality - global (its going to undermine everything) or specific (its effects are limited to this one domain)

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Internal, stable, global - I did it, I always do it and I do it on everything2. People who tend to explain bad events in terms of these things = more depressed3. If just stable and global cause --> more health problems4. Solution - internalize but don't globalize -- internal, unstable, specific attributions --> its my fault, but its because I didn't study hard this time

1. Terman longitudinal study2. Found that people often castrophized (attributing bad events to global causes).

This was associated with increased mortality -- especially accidental and violent death

1. Deals with people beliefs, expectations, explanations and thinking styles and their affect on feelings and behaviors2. Tries to change negative schemas -- by converting to positive schemas or compartmentalize3. Try to change explanatory style4. Interpret failure as an opportunity to learn5. "Talk" to self differently before, during, and after stressful situations