PSY 301 1st Edition Lecture 17 Outline of Last Lecture I Humanistic Approach II Maslow s Hierarchy of Needs III Roger s Self Theory IV Positive Psychology V Cognitive Theories VI Key cognitive Concepts Outline of Current Lecture I Positive Psychology II Cognitive Theories III Key cognitive Concepts Current Lecture Positive Psychology Principles underling the new field of positive psychology 1 stresses the role of positive emotions experiences and traits 2 also focus on character strengths and virtues a wisdom knowledge b courage c humanitarian concerns d justice e temperance f transcendence The content of self schemas varies culturally 1 people in individualistic cultures see traits that apply across situations themselves in terms of broad stable 2 people in collectivist cultures view situations and social roles themselves as having traits within Social Cognitive Personality Theory Social cognitive approach views personality in terms of how the person thinks about the situations encountered in daily life and behaves in response to them Began with the behaviorist learning theory approach to personality 1 personality work should focus on what people do not what they feel or experience 2 see personality as much more modifiable than other approaches do 3 emphasize learning in explaining personality 4 personality has specific components which are influenced by consequences Cognitive theories viewed personality as being the result of an interaction between people and their social contexts The basic principle is reciprocal determinism personality involves a constant interplay between the world and the way in which a person processes information about the self and the world 1 personality produces cognitive views which produce feelings behaviors 2 these behavior have results 3 the results influence personality Behavior emerges from an interplay of external and internal influences Key Social Cognitive Concepts 1 Control people want control over their lives and benefit from feeling that they have it a paradox of choice 2 Attributional style a self serving bias attributing our successes to dispositional factors and our failures to situational factors b self handicapping arranging for an obstacle to performance so that failure can be attributed to the obstacle instead of one s own limitations i all of this is less likely in collectivist cultures 3 Self control the ability to pursue a goal while managing internal conflicts about it or delay pursuing a goal because of other considerations or constraint a delayed gratification the ability to wait to obtain something that a person wants i depends on how people interpret a situation and on innate qualities 4 Outcome expectancies a person s assumptions about the likely consequences of a future behavior combine with goals to produce characteristic style of behavior a self efficacy expectations the belief in how effective a person can be in some area 5 Locus of control a person s tendency to perceive the control of events as being internal to the self or external in the environment a internal locus of control the person is largely responsible for the things that happen to him b external locus of control things that happen to a person are largely determined by factors outside that person s control 6 Learned helplessness repeated aversive experiences over which the person has no control leads to the belief that nothing can be done to change such experiences
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